Alaska Milk acquired yesterday 2007 PBA Rookie Draft top pick Joe Devance from Rain or Shine (formerly Welcoat) in exchange for Solomon Mercado and Eddie Laure plus two future draft picks.
The Uytengsu franchise dealt Mercado to the Asian Coatings Corp. ballclub less than 24 hours after tapping the Fil-Puerto Rican player from the 2008 draft exercise held at the Market! Market! in Taguig.
Alaska coach Tim Cone said it’s a gamble on their part to fill a vacuum in their lineup at big forward position.
“Mercado will be a great player without a doubt but Devance is to fill an immediate need for us,” said Cone of the trade deal consummated the morning after the 2008 draft where they picked Mercado at No. 5 behind Gabe Norwood, Jared Dillinger, Jason Castro and Rob Reyes.
“We’ll miss Eddie but he’ll be able to play a bigger role at Rain or Shine,” said Cone on Laure, now reunited with his former PBL team.
The Aces hope to gain added offensive clout on the entry of Devance, a 6-foot-7 Fil-Am who played college ball for the University of Texas at El Paso.
The Honolulu, Hawaii native, son of an ex-US serviceman and a Filipina from Escalante, Negros, led the Dragons in scoring with 16.1 points a game in the Philippine Cup. He also normed seven rebounds, one assist, 0.7 steal and 0.8 block in the same tournament.
Alaska had a mediocre showing in the 2007-08 season despite its acquisition of rookies Ken Bono and JR Quinahan and later the arrival of Larry Fonacier and LA Tenorio.
The Rain or Shine management, meanwhile, said they agreed on the trade since they wanted a different look for their team in the coming season.
The Dragons picked Norwood and TY Tang from the draft. The team earlier took Gherome Ejercito from the free agent pool and reactivated Denver Lopez from the list of injured players.
Tenth and last in their first four PBA conferences, the Dragons hope to finally make an impact with their new acquisitions.