PBL teams begin to rebuild

With the best of the Philippine Basketball League now in the Philippine Basketball Association, teams start their hunt for their replacements.

Reigning Platinum Cup titlist Fash Liquid Laundry Detergent, for one, is eyeing some players from its farm team in Cebu City as part of its plan of filling the gap left by pro-bound Peter June Simon, Rich Alvarez, Wesley Gonzales and Niño Gelig.

One player the Lamoiyan franchise is interested in is Red Juntilla, whom a Fash team official described as a bigger version of Simon, who won MVP of the conference and finals series honors.

"There are contingency plans but we will definitely get replacements from out farm team in Cebu," said Baculi, a few days after clinching his seventh title following a 3-2 triumph over Welcoat Paints.

Welcoat, for its part, is looking for players who could fill in the vacuum left by Paul Artadi, James Yap, Marc Pingris, Ervin Sotto and Mac Cuan, who all have contracts with their respective PBA squads.

Leo Austria, the Paint Masters’ coach for three conferences now, said he is keen in getting Chester Tolomia, whose two-year contract with Barangay Ginebra has just expired.

"Sabi sa akin ni Chester (Tolomia) mas gusto niya sa akin maglaro kung sakaling babalik siya sa PBL," said Austria.

The problem, however, is that Blustar Detergent, the mother company of his former PBL team, is also interested in the 6-foot-3 Cebu City native.

Although none from their team was signed up in the PBA, Blustar is reportedly ready to enlist Tolomia as part of its plan for a player overhaul.

Aside from Tolomia, the DSS Productmakers, Inc. franchise is also bent on signing up American Alex Compton.