ABL squad Alab Pilipinas Rises out of the Shadows

After being kept quiet since announcing that they would join the ASEAN Basketball League for the upcoming season, Alab Pilipinas has finally surfaced.

[อ่านภาษาไทย คลิกที่นี่เลยครับ]

In a report via Fox Sports Asia, Alab Pilipinas have already been practicing with potential players on board awaiting for the arrival of their two imports.

This report should come to the delight of many ASEAN Basketball League fans, who might have felt a little uneasy with how quiet Alab Pilipinas has been. The memories of how Racal Motors pulled out at what seemed like the very last second of competing last season are still fresh and no one would like to see that happen again this year.

According to the same reports, the Alab Pilipinas roster has been shaping up and should be good to go for their opening day on the 27th of November when they host the Singapore Slingers.

Among those players in the Alab Pilipinas practice named in the report are Mark Isip, Jens Knuttel, Jeric Fortuna, and JR Cawaling.

Fortuna and Cawaling both have ABL experience with the 2013 Champions, San Miguel Beermen. Fortuna averaged 3.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 14.4 minutes while Cawaling averaged 4.1 points on 39.4 3P% shooting in 13.1 minutes.

Both Cawaling (San Mig Coffee, Blackwater Elite, Kia Sorento) and Fortuna (Barako Bull, San Miguel Beermen, Global Port) played limited roles in the PBA and were eventually free agents before potentially joining Alab Pilipinas.

Mark Isip may have zero ABL experience, but he will bring in plenty of PBA experience which he has gathered over his 10-year career in the top league of the Philippines. The 6’4″ (or 1.93 M) power forward was drafted 6th overall in the 2006 draft and has since bounced around the league for various teams, most recently with Global Port. His peak season was in 2010-11 playing for Barako Bull/Meralco when he averaged a career high in minutes (24.3), points (11.5), and rebounds (5.6).

Finally, the last name mentioned is Jens Knuttel. The guard out of Far Eastern University (like Isip and Cawaling) has been unable to find a niche in the PBA (with Ginebra and Phoenix Fuelmasters) and maybe this stint in the ABL is something he might need to jumpstart his confidence.

Interestingly not mentioned in the report is Fil-Am, Lawrence Domingo.

Domingo surfaced on the scene early in September when he won the NABA 2016 tournament in Philadelphia teaming up with other Filipino-Americans Phil Morrison (ex-Saigon Heat, Singapore Slingers), Alli Austria (ex-MX3 Kings, potential Singapore Slinger), Taylor Statham (drafted in PBA D-League), and Jawhar Purdy (drafted in PBA).

His team mates were quick to get his name into the the radar until his attention began to spread very quickly. Domingo flew out to the Philippines early in November and quickly signed with Virtual Playground, the agency that is leading the recruit for Alab Pilipinas.

The fact that Domingo signed with VP along with Domingo himself posting a picture of the ASEAN Basketball League basketball on his personal Instagram account makes it very convincing that he will be joining the Alab Pilipinas team.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMh60zijJDC/

In a recent conversation I had with Domingo in mid-October, he mentioned that:

My mother is full Filipino. I’m going to the [Philippines] to finish the paperwork for my dual citizenship and Filipino passport at the end of the month.

This likely makes it harder for him to join the PBA draft or the PBA D-League draft in the near immediate future, which makes it more practical and beneficial to play in the ABL as an ASEAN/Heritage import. Again, there are no official reports on this issue so far, but all signs seem to be pointing that way.

Domingo is a 6’5 forward who not only likes to drive to the rim, but does it powerfully and finishes with authority as well. Domingo is a fresh graduate from Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU), an NCAA Division II school where Domingo played for all 4 seasons of his collegiate eligibility. Domingo was a Lone Star Conference Honorable Mention in his senior season where he averaged 11.8 points and 7.9 rebounds.

Let’s look at some other possibilities for Alab Pilipinas:

Gary David (last with San Miguel Beermen)

David’s name was thrown ferociously into the rumor mill the moment that news got out that he was waived by the San Miguel Beermen. While David is obviously an awesome scorer with an awesome degree, he’s also 37 years old already.

Rashawn McCarthy (drafted by San Miguel Beermen)

Even though he was drafted in the PBA draft with the 6th pick (of the first? second? regular? round), San Miguel seems to be unable to sign him yet because of the limit of 5 Fil-Foreigners per team. So why don’t the Beermen shake hands with Alab to take on McCarthy’s contract until they can (or if they ever will) clear room for him. It would kind of be a shame to draft someone so high … but not be able to use him in some way. And he already played in the ABL for the KL Dragons two seasons ago anyways, he has a brief idea of how to play in this league.

Bobby Ray Parks Jr. (drafted by Weschester Knicks in the NBA D-League but waived)

So … Parks played in the D-League last season and got drafted again this season with the very last pick in the draft. However, he was unable to stick around on the roster this time and was waived from the final roster. Now you have an ABL Philippines representative who seems determined to win it all. Wouldn’t that seem like a nice place to go?

Kiefer Ravena (attended in NBA D-League training camp but was not drafted)

Before you laugh this off … think about it. Like Parks, the NBA D-League is off the table for the time being. You have nothing to prove in the PBA D-League or the PCBL anymore. Why not represent the Philippines in the ABL for now? Mighty Sports was able to sign him to play in the Merlion Cup in Singapore. The ABL can’t be out of the picture.

*update: It was announced not long after I published this that Kiefer would be signing with the DLeague team Texas Legends as a development player.*

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With the ASEAN Basketball Season closing in quickly, expect more news from Alab Pilipinas and from the other teams as well. Until then, stay tuned for more at Tones & Definitions!!

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