Pacquiao-led KIA team ‘quite competitive already,’ says team manager

MANILA, Philippines – Following the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) expansion draft on Friday, July 18, Eric Pineda, team manager of new franchise KIA Motors, believes the team they built is already a formidable bunch.  

“I think it’s quite competitive already,” he remarked. “It’s going to be a different kind of team, especially with the kinds of plays we’ve already set up and the kind of game that we want to play based on the recommendation of coach Manny (Pacquiao).”

Pineda was all smiles after KIA selected 12 players from a pool of rookie and veteran free agents during the expansion draft held at Tito Chef’s, Microtel in Eastwood City, Libis. Their first selection and second overall was Reil Cervantes, a former FEU standout who restarted his career with Big Chill and Blackwater in the PBA D-League after failing to make some noise as a rookie in the PBA 3 years ago. 

They also picked Mike Burtscher, Jai Reyes, LA Revilla, and Nic Belasco among others. 

According to Pineda, the team landed most of the players they initially wanted and that most of them have already been training with KIA for the past month and a half.

“They played and tried out with us and we narrowed them down to 17 players,” he explained the process KIA undertook right after finalizing head coach Manny Pacquiao’s assistant coaches.

“We are very happy that the majority of the players we got from this draft came from that pool of players. So it will not be hard for them to adjust anymore.”

Starting next week, Pineda said the team will hold practices 5 days a week which Pacquiao will oversee. From there they will begin putting the players through training specifically to boost their stamina and endurance.

Pineda relayed Pacquiao’s plans to strengthen his players and be at par with the league’s best as far as conditioning is concerned, allowing them to relentlessly play hard all game long and at the very least give themselves a chance to win.

“Manny wants a team that can keep up with any team even if they play for 96 minutes because that’s how he trains. If he trains for a 12-round fight, he trains like it is a 30-round fight. That’s what he wants for his basketball team,” Pineda explained.

“We are hoping with the kind of training they will undergo, hindi kami mahihirapan masyado (we won’t have a hard time). There’s a chance for us to win. In case we lose, we might lose by just a few points, which is a big achievement for the team.”

Ahead of the 2014 PBA Rookie Draft on August 24, KIA will look to boost their roster some more. KIA already holds the 11th overall pick and Pineda already confirmed they will definitely use it to draft Pacquiao, who already submitted his application for the rookie draft on Friday as well.

“The 11th pick is sure to be for Pacquiao,” said Pineda. 

You can view all the picks of both KIA and Blackwater from the expansion draft here. – Rappler.com