Roster Preview: The Wings

In my previous post, I previewed GlobalPort's big men for the upcoming season. This time, we'll be taking a look at our wing players, which we'll be featuring an entirely new cast from the ones we began the previous season with.

Stability from the '3' spot has been one of the many issues for GlobalPort last season. Marvin Hayes and Mark Yee were good defenders, but don't provide much offensively. Ronnie Mathias and Mark Macapagal had moments of brilliance, but both lacked consistency. Rookie Nico Salva, a talented scorer, just struggled to find his niche with the team. The same can be said about Val Acuña.

A sneak preview of GlobalPort's practice sessions.

This year, the 'swing' position looks significantly better already, especially with the arrival of Keith Jensen from Barako Bull. This 6'5" 26-year-old is your prototypical small forward. He's an all-around player who provides length, athleticism, shooting and defense. He averaged 8 points and 2 rebounds in just 22 minutes last season for Barako Bull. He's projected to start for GlobalPort and he's likely going to be one of the team's key players.

While known for his mid-range game, Jensen also shot a good 38% from threes, and while his 2 rebounds/game average isn't eye-catching, this could be attributed to him playing mostly in the perimeter. He scored 17 points in the quarterfinal game against Talk N' Text.

Another new acquisition is veteran journeyman Jojo Duncil. While this 6'1" 31-year-old is naturally a shooting guard, he could slide to small forward, and is likely to see more minutes there especially with the trio of Romeo-Pringle-Cabagnot taking up the majority of minutes in both guard spots.

Duncil is tough-as-nails. Every team could make use of that type of player, and we had Hayes and Yee last season. The difference is Duncil being a much better scorer than both Hayes and Yee. Duncil is another solid addition.

Ronjay wowed Coke fans back in the day with his acrobatic moves.

Ronjay Buenafe was one of my favorite players back when he was with the Coca-Cola Tigers. This second-round pick was the steal of the 2007 draft and Tiger fans loved him for his exciting plays and clutch moments as a young rookie. Even after Ronjay was traded, I still continued to root for him and follow his career.

Now 31, Buenafe continues to be a solid contributor for every team he played, especially on the offensive end. He's a streaky shooter who could heat up at any moment, and once in a while he still pulls out those spectacular lay-ups that earned him the nickname of "The Red Dragon" when he was a rookie.

Buenafe's role in this team will probably be more of a spot-up shooter than a go-to shot creator. He could start at shooting guard or play as a sixth man, and just like Duncil, he could slide up to the '3' spot at certain situations or when GP go small-ball.

I can almost hear GlobalPort's lady fans rejoicing
when the team drafted Anthony Semerad.

Model-looks aside, Fil-Aussie Anthony Semerad is a talented young player who like Jensen, has the size and skill set perfectly suited for a small forward. I admittedly haven't seen much of Semerad in the NCAA aside from his rookie year, in which I likened his game to Tony Dela Cruz.

He'll be taking up Nico Salva's spot in the team as a project wing, although I hope he'll be a much better fit. While not quite as good a scorer as Salva was, Semerad is a better defender, and he could find his role as a 3-and-D guy for GlobalPort. He was frequently matched-up against Calvin Abueva back in college, so he'll be no stranger to physical play. He'll have much work to do, but he's got all the tools to become a very good player for the Batang Pier down the road.

There are still other players trying out for the team, and we could probably see another wing player added to the roster, like Adamson's Roider Cabrera.

Next up, I'll be previewing our guards.

Port out.