THE start of the trading period and dispersal draft saw teams working double time in hope of shoring up their respective squads for the tough grind halfway the elimination stage of the MPBL Datu Cup.
Ex-pros Jai Reyes and Jerwin Gaco headline the list of players who ended up with new teams.
Gaco was a member of the multi-titled Purefoods squad in the PBA before he was released to play for the D-League the past two seasons. When the MPBL Datu Cup started, he was signed up by the Imus Bandera-GLC Truck and Equipment but was released to the free agency by the team.
Pasig, which was lined up to select first in the dispersal draft owing to its tournament-worst record, grabbed the 6-foot-4 forward from La Salle.
Picking second in the dispersal draft was Cebu and the Casino Ethyl Alcohol-supported Sharks tapped Edrian Lao, who previously played for the Davao Occidental Tigers-Cocolife.
Lao hails from Cebu and his inclusion in the Sharks line up would mean a homecoming of sorts for him.
Caloocan was third on the selecting order and Longrich-sponsored Supremos selected Reyes, who was released to the free agency by the Laguna Heroes-Krah.
The spitfire guard, who had a brief stint playing for the TNT Ka Tropa and Powerade Tigers in the PBA, was traded right away by the Supremos to the Navotas Clutch in exchange for hardworking guard Monbert Arong.
Rizal, fourth in the dispersal draft order, decided to pass up, which means the remaining 22 teams can now start negotiating with any of the players released in the free agent market.
But even before the start of the trading period, other teams had already started negotiating with players from different squads.
The most active was the Pampanga Dong Lanterns, who did not only shook up their player roster but also decided to tinker their coaching staff.
Aldrin Morante, who led the Muntinlupa Cagers-Angelis Resort to a perfect 7-0 start in the ongoing tournament and piloted the squad to the championship round in the inaugural staging of the fastest growing regional amateur basketball league, was named the new head coach of the Lanterns.
Joining Morante in the coaching staff is Bong dela Cruz, who previously worked with him in Muntinlupa.
The Lanterns also acquired the services of ex-pros Levi Hernandez and Pari Llagas in separate deals with the Navotas and Muntinlupa, respectively.
Hernandez, a 6-foot-2 swingman, was shipped to his hometown Pampanga in exchange for burly frontliner Marlon Gomez.
Llagas, a key figure in the Cagers’ championship run last season, was traded to the Lanterns for young frontliner Daniel de Guzman. — Rey Joble
