Standing at 6-foot-10 and with a wingspan that could easily hug a bantam car, Cebuano Jun Mar Fajardo will be the hands-down favorite to emerge as No. 1 pick in the 2012 Rookie Draft of the Philippine Basketball Association for its 38th season on Aug. 14.
Fajardo was measured with a wingspan of 85 inches or more than seven feet in the recent biometrics measurement conducted by the league for the 71 aspirants who have staked their chances in the Draft which will be held at the Robinsons Mall in Malate.
And those physical dimensions will be the prime reason why Petron Blaze, which holds this year’s right to pick No. 1 in the Draft, would find it irresistible in making Fajardo next season’s top rookie.
Fajardo had long played behind the shadow cast by seven-foot Greg Slaughter in the Cebu collegiate leagues. He had played for the University of Cebu Webmasters while the latter debuted with the University of Visayas before cutting short his stint and transferring to Ateneo de Manila. Slaughter has put off plans of turning pro, choosing instead to see the Blue Eagles through to a fifth straight UAAP title while finishing his business degree.
But both are reputed to have been taken under the wings of Cebuano legend, four-time PBA MVP Ramon Fernandez when they were still in Cebu. And from there, Fajardo chose to hone his skills further with a stint with the San Miguel Beermen in the recent Asean Basketball League wars.
Fajardo is also bringing in the much-needed heft in the Boosters’ inside game as he was also weighed at 122 kilos, the heaviest among this year’s aspirants.
But then again, all those kilos weigh down Fajardo who could register a vertical leap that reached only 11 feet.
That was a good four inches shorter than that recorded by 6-foot-4 Christoper Ellis, a shifty forward who could bring in more speed at that position when he posted a time of 5.86 seconds in the 50-meter sprint.
Nearly matching those biometric numbers was Clifford Hodge, 6-3, who ran a fast 5.87 in the sprint and also leapt 11.4 feet.
Both Ellis and Hodge, who earned their spurs as bruisers from the PBA’s Developmental League, are expected to go high on the Draft.
Significantly, the times of the jaded Fil-Am cagers in the sprints were faster than the homegrown pointguards in the Draft, particularly, Jeric Canada, Lester Alvarez and Eman Monfort who ran at 5.99 seconds at best and 6.27 at worst in the 50-meter sprint.
Calvin Abueva, San Sebastian’s do-it-all forward who stands 6-foot-1, may likely be picked second by Alaska after he did a respectable 6.27 seconds in the sprint and was measured at 10.9 feet on his vertical jump.
And should the other teams go for height, Gian Chiu, at 6-foot-8, and Yousef Taha, at 6-foot-6, could also go high in the Draft since both will be coming in with at imposing 110 and 105 kilos, respectively, adding more beef in their selectors’ inside presence.
The rest of the aspirants comprise a prodigious list of future PBA stars which would come at a time when nearly a quarter of the current players are nearing the end of their careers.
For the rest of the first round of the Draft, Petron picks anew at third, Meralco at fourth, Barako Bull fifth and Barangay Ginebra at sixth.
Recently-crowned Governors’ Cup champion Rain or Shine takes the seventh pick before the Gin Kings pick anew at eighth. B-Meg is at ninth pick while the new ballclub owned by businessman-sportsman Mikee Romero, which is still unnamed, will take over the 10th pick owned by Powerade.