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Blackwater made an attempt to acquire Wright, Tautuaa
By Rey Joble
Owners of three first round picks and two second round selections in the coming PBA Rookie Draft, Blackwater made a bold move in trying to acquire dead shot Matthew Wright and big man Mo Tautuaa.
But Phoenix Super LPG and San Miguel Beer, two solid contenders in the ongoing Governors' Cup, are in no mood to make changes as they try to turn things around in the import-laced tournament.
"We tried to do the right protocols by asking for a trade. We don't want to be accused of tampering," said Blackwater coach Ariel Vanguardia in jest.
Turning serious, Vanguardia and the Bossing are determined to change their fortunes as they are staring at a 24-game losing skid. They have not won a game since October 17, 2020 or a period of 455 days and counting.
Just recently, the Bossing tried to shake things up by acquiring Justin Melton, a member of the 2014 grand slam team San Mig Coffee and elevated John Ambulodto, a hard working big man, to the regular roster from being a practice player.
Blackwater also welcomed new import Shawn Derrick Glover, a solid scorer from the Icelandic League, as replacement of previous reinforcement Jaylen Bond.
Prior to the start of the conference, Blackwater also made significant changes in the team, bringing in veteran guards JVee Casio and Rashawn McCarthy, two players who have championship experience, as well as young big man Barkley Eboña.
The Bossing also added Jay Washington, who was part of the deal that sent Carl Bryan Cruz to TNT.
Blackwater tried to engage in a trade with Phoenix and San Miguel Beer, two teams which don't have a first round pick this year.
The Fuel Masters had already dealt their first round pick this year for the services of Vic Manuel, the star forward, who played for the team for only one conference.
Manuel was later on shipped to NorthPort for hardworking forward Sean Anthony, but the Batang Pier then traded 'The Muscleman' to the Beermen for Arwind Santos.
San Miguel, on the other hand, had already unloaded its first round pick in the 46th season and also next year's draft, as part of the deal involving two-time scoring champion CJ Perez, which the team acquired prior to the start of the season.
In this year's draft, San Miguel's first round pick now belongs to Blackwater, which also secured the first round choice of TNT as part of the Poy Erram trade.
The Bossing's own first round pick is also expected to be a quality one as they are expected to pick high in the draft being the first team to get eliminated last conference.
Sensing there's a need for these teams to retool their respective line ups via the rookie draft, Blackwater initiated a move to trade for Wright and Tautuaa, but both teams called it off.
Both Wright and Tautuaa played under Vanguardia on separate teams.
Wright and Tautuaa played when Vanguardia was with Westport Malaysia Dragons in the Asean Basketball League.
When Vanguardia coached Phoenix a few years ago, Wright became his team's star player.