Manny Pacquiao selected in PBA Draft
If there’s a national sport in the Philippines, it has to be basketball. So when Manny Pacquiao was chosen by the new KIA Motors team in the PBA draft, the diminutive boxer (5’7″, 1.69 m) became even a larger figure; a bigger national icon in the Philippines – a country that already loves and adores him.
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This news comes a week after the eight-time world champion boxer was named the team’s coach for the expansion club, paving the way for Pacman to become a player-coach for the team. As the leagues oldest-ever rookie at 35 years old, Pacquiao was selected 11th out of a pool of 87 players.
It’s no surprise that Pacquiao is trying his hand at basketball. He’s mentioned in several interviews that the hoops is his first love and that he would love to play basketball after he retires from the sport that brought him international fame . So when Pacman announced that he would retire from boxing in 2016, he dove into basketball.
As mentioned, Pacquiao is beloved in the Philippines and he wasn’t going to chill out on a beach. In addition to his foray into basketball, he has announced his intent to run for a Senate seat in the Philippines after two successful runs for Congress.
PBA Draft Board (First Round)
Stanley Pringle, a 6-1 Filipino American guard out of Penn State University was drafted with the number one overall selection by Globalport Batang Pier. Kevin Alas was chosen with the second pick by Shine Elasto Painters. Here’s how the rest of the first round went:
| pick | name | team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanley Pringle | Globalport Batang Pier |
| 2 | Kevin Alas | Rain or Shine Elasto Painters |
| 3 | Ronald Pascual | San Miguel Beermen |
| 4 | Matt Rosser Ganuelas | NLEX Road Warriors |
| 5 | Chris Banchero | Alaska Aces |
| 6 | Rodney Brondial | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel |
| 7 | Anthony Semerad | Globalport |
| 8 | Jake Pascual | Barako Bull |
| 9 | Jericho Cruz | Rain or Shine Elasto Painters: |
| 10 | David Semerad | Barako Bull Energy |
| 11 | Manny Pacquiao | KIA Motors |
| 12 | Juami Tiongson | Blackwater Sports |
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Yep, Manny Pacquiao was chosen 11th overall and was the first pick in the rookie draft for KIA Motors, so essentially he chose himself. In his defense, the new coach didn’t have much choice but to draft himself. Another team could have chosen Pacquiao and leveraged him for a trade for one of KIA’s better players. Luckily for KIA Motors, that drama was avoided?
That said, why didn’t KIA Motors strategize better? Couldn’t they have announced Pacquiao as coach after the draft? That way, maybe they could have taken a younger, taller player in the first round instead of sweating out the first ten picks and being forced to use their first selection on their player/coach?
Manny wasn’t the only Pacquiao that was chosen by KIA Motors that day, his much-taller and younger cousin Rene Pacquiao (6’4″, 27) was taken in the third round.
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