11 October 2013

Gary David Joining Bolts?

Gary David
When the Meralco Bolts was unceremoniously taken out by the San Mig Coffee Mixers in their best of five series, everyone had this feeling that the management will be making some big moves soon.

The most obvious piece that they can let go is Chris Ross. The Filipino–American point-guard has been performing below par lately and committed several miscues and errors in important games. The last straw would have been the defensive lapse that led to a Mark Barroca basket. Ross left Barroca open as he provided a double-teaming defense on Marcus Blakely, the Mixers import.

After his crucial feed on Barroca, Blakely a little later grabbed a big offensive rebound and knocked in two charities as the Mixers secured a 24th finals in the history of their franchise.

The arrival of a more reliable shooter, Mike Cortez, from an earlier trade also made Ross indispensable. And now, that time may have come.

According to Snow Badua of Spin.ph, GlobalPort’s prolific scorer Gary David is reportedly being sent to the Bolts in a trade involving four players, including Ross. Meralco Bolts will receive the prolific 6'2" shooting guard along with rookie AJ Mandani by giving up Ross, Chris Timberlake and two second-round draft picks.

Badua also reported that the trade proposal was already sent to PBA commissioner Chito Salud for approval.

After winning the MVP plum in 2003 in the PBL, David was chosen to be part of the Philippine team that would compete in the 2003 Southeast Asian Games, starring alongside college rival Ranidel De Ocampo, University of the East star James Yap, Ateneo de Manila's Rich Alvarez, and PSBA's Marc Pingris. They won the tournament and brought home the gold medal. David was then chosen to be part of the Smart Gilas Pilipinas 2.0 that would be build to compete for the 2014 World Championships.

In August 2012, the national team competed in its first international tournament, the 2012 William Jones Cup. In the team's third assignment, they faced long time rival South Korea. David bailed out the Nationals, who squandered a 14-point lead before trailing by 12, with two clutch baskets in a row to propel the Philippines to a 3-0 start. They then beat Japan in the next game thanks to a rally that was started by David after hitting a three-pointer after being down by nine. After losing to Lebanon, David helped the Nationals beat 3-time defending champions Iran, 77-75 in thrilling fashion. He then lead the Nationals along with LA Tenorio, to win the gold medal in the 2012 Jones Cup after beating the USA select team, 76-75. It was the country’s first championship in the Asian level since the Philippine Centennial Team anchored by coach Tim Cone ruled the 1998 edition of the Jones Cup.

David entered the 2004 PBA Draft, and was selected as the tenth overall pick by the then-Coca-Cola Tigers. The Tigers, headed by then-coach Chot Reyes, were coming of a banner year in which they finished runner-ups in the first and second conference's and winning the 2003 Reinforced Conference title in which Johnny Abarrientos, Rudy Hatfield and Jeffrey Cariaso was still in the fold. During his rookie season, David found himself coming off the bench with insignificant minutes due to the depth of the team. As the season progressed, David played more minutes as the team's sixth man but was then shipped to the Air21 Express in the middle of the season.

Ross, on the other hand, was originally selected as the fourth pick of the 2009 PBA Draft. He was later traded to the Coca-Cola Tigers for the latter's first-round pick in the 2010 Draft. After a one year stint with the Coca-Cola Tigers in the 2009-2010 season, he was traded to Sta. Lucia in exchange for Paolo Mendoza before ending with the Bolts when Meralco acquired the Sta. Lucia franchise.

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