Blackwater set to sign Bobby Ray Parks to 3-year, P10.4 million deal

MANILA, Philippines — Bobby Ray Parks will receive a three-year P10.4 Million offer to play for Blackwater in the PBA and team owner Dioceldo Sy said yesterday he’s ready to talk terms with this year’s second overall draft pick who’s now seeing action for San Miguel Alab in the ABL.

Sy said the PBA Board of Governors recently increased the monthly salary cap for rookies from P150,000 to P200,000 in the first year and asserted that Parks deserves no less than the max. The offer will include a monthly salary of P250,000 in the second year and the maximum for veterans P420,000 in the third. He said Parks will be released by Alab once there is an agreement with Blackwater to play in the PBA starting the Philippine Cup which opens at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan on Jan. 13.

Sy also said Blackwater will bring in NLEX first round choices Paul Desiderio and Abu Tratter plus a future second round pick in exchange for Poy Erram once the PBA approves the trade. The deal also involves NLEX sending Michael Miranda to Blackwater then moving the 6-5 center to TNT for a future second round pick. The three-team transaction is expected to be approved by the PBA Technical Committee on Thursday, the first working day after the Christmas holidays.

Sy said he is prepared to offer Desiderio and Tratter two-year contracts with a monthly salary of P100,000 in the first year and P150,000 in the second. Another draft pick Diego Dario, who was Desiderio’s teammate at UP, will be offered a one-year deal at P70,000 a month. Sy said he hopes to build a connection with the Fighting Maroons fan base and even plans to sign up Kobe Paras as a Blackwater endorser.

“We’re waiting for Kobe’s mother Jackie Forster to give a counter proposal and we’ll take it from there,” said Sy. Paras is serving his one-year residency at UP before becoming eligible to suit up in the UAAP next season.

A player whom Sy wants to recruit is Gab Banal who saw action in four games over two conferences for GlobalPort bridging the 2015-16 and 2016-17 PBA seasons. Banal, 28, has been a top performer in the PBA D-League and MPBL since leaving the PBA. He’s due for a comeback. “We offered Gab P100,000 a month and he appears very interested to join us,” said Sy. “But his father Joel owes a lot to the Bacoor team owner in the MPBL for helping to take care of his hospital bills when he had a mild heart attack recently. Maybe, Gab’ll be ready to join us after the MPBL season ends but it depends if there’s still a spot open. We’re waiting for Gab to come to us. We extended his brother Ael for a year to give him one more chance to prove he belongs in the PBA.”

Sy said PBA legend Romel Adducul will join the team as a big man coach starting Dec. 27. From last season’s lineup, Blackwater has released guard Mark Cruz and dealt Paul Zamar to San Miguel Beer for second round picks in 2021 and 2022. Sy said Zamar’s father Boycie, a San Miguel Beer assistant coach, asked to be reunited with his son. “I couldn’t turn down a father’s request for his son to join his team,” he said.

Blackwater coach Bong Ramos said the team started practice three weeks ago to get ready for the coming season. A player whose contract has expired but is in negotiations for a renewal is Nards Pinto.

Ramos said he anticipates Tratter to play a major role “if he can follow what I want.” Adducul’s addition to the coaching staff is expected to hasten Tratter’s development. Tratter, a 6-5 1/8 center-forward, was the tallest player in the recent draft. He’ll fill in Erram’s spot. Ramos said Parks and Desiderio will be key additions to the roster. Desiderio will take over Zamar’s position while Parks will deepen the rotation at the three spot with Allein Maliksi and Mac Belo.

“We don’t intend to trade Ray-Ray,” said Sy. “In the two previous drafts, we’ve kept our first picks – Mac in 2016 and Toto Jose in 2017. We’re offering Ray-Ray a three-year contract to play with us. If for some reason, things don’t work out with Ray-Ray, then we’ll study what options are available. But we’re not thinking of that possibility. We’re looking for a long-term relationship with Ray-Ray and making our team a championship contender with him.”

Blackwater sports director Ariel Vanguardia said Parks leaving Alab for the PBA won’t diminish San Miguel’s chances to retain the ABL crown. “This season, the ABL allows each team to sign up three imports and the rest are locals,” said Vanguardia. “No Asian heritage players this time. So Alab can bring in one more import (possibly Justin Brownlee) to join (Renaldo) Balkman and P. J. (Ramos). Even with two imports, Alab is unbeaten so far. Next season, the ABL will limit a team to two imports, five locals and the rest may be Asian heritage recruits. I foresee a lot of Fil-foreigners flooding the lineups.”

Sy said instead of the Fil-foreigners filling ABL rosters next campaign, the PBA might consider facilitating their entry to the pro league. “Why require the DOC clearance when a Fil-foreigner can show a Philippine passport?” he asked. “The DOC clearance was made a requirement to guard against Fil-Shams but now, every Fil-foreigner is legitimate. Fil-Shams are a thing of the past. It’s time to review our rules on Fil-foreigners. If not, we might lose quality Fil-foreigners to the ABL. Maybe, we should also relax the rule of playing 14 games in the PBA D-League before becoming eligible for the draft.”