The 2016 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) rookie draft was an event which allows teams to draft players from the amateur ranks. The league determined the drafting order based on the performance of the member teams for the 2015–16 season, with the worst team picking first, as a replacement for its lottery system after the controversies that surrounded the 2014 draft.[1][2]
The league was supposed to hold a special draft for players from the national team, popularly called Gilas, separately from the regular one for other rookies.[3] However, a consensus lead to an agreement that the cadet players will not be drafted but will be distributed to each team instead.
The draft order was determined based from the overall performance of the teams from the previous season. The Philippine Cup final ranking comprises 40% of the points, while the rankings of the Commissioner's and Governors' Cups are 30% each.
There was a separate draft for the players in the Gilas pool. The draft rights for the special draft could not be traded. The drafted Gilas players were not allowed to be traded for two years. All players were allowed to play for the teams that drafted them but were pulled out two months before an official FIBA tournament.
As part of the agreement between the PBA and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, all 12 teams released one player from their roster to the Gilas pool, in addition to the player that they selected in this special draft.[4]
The draft order was supposed to be announced on October 27.[5] However, the PBA board agreed that instead of determining the order for the special draft, representatives from the 12 ballclubs agreed to farm out one cadet player per team that was distributed to each team by the board. The results of the consensus was not released during that day and the PBA opted to reveal the results on draft night before the regular draft began.[6]
a On July 3, 2015, Barako Bull (now Phoenix) acquired a first round pick from GlobalPort in exchange for Joseph Yeo.[7] Previously, the Batang Pier acquired this pick and a 2018 second round pick on August 24, 2014, from Star (as San Mig Coffee) in exchange for 2014 and 2016 first round picks.[8]
c On August 24, 2014, Star (as San Mig Coffee) acquired 2014 and 2016 first round picks from GlobalPort in exchange for 2014 and 2016 first round picks.[8]
g On October 27, 2016, Blackwater re-acquired a second round draft pick and acquired James Forrester from NLEX in exchange for Carlo Lastimosa. Previously, NLEX acquired the pick, a 2017 second round pick, and Juneric Baloria on September 12, 2014, from the Elite in a three-team trade with Meralco.[13]
h On September 24, 2015, Rain or Shine acquired a second round pick from Barako Bull (Phoenix) in exchange for Ryan Araña.[14] Previously, Barako Bull acquired this pick from Star in exchange for Josh Urbiztondo.
p On February 18, 2014, Barako Bull (Phoenix) acquired Jason Deutchman, and 2016 and 2017 second round picks from San Miguel in exchange for Rico Maierhofer in a four-team trade with GlobalPort and Air21 (NLEX).[20]
Out of 55 players who signified their intention to join the rookie draft,[21] 38 were selected by their teams in the draft proper, while 16 were undrafted. Charles Caluya, the oldest (43) and the shortest (5'7) applicant for the draft,[22] was excluded from the final list for health reasons.
^The 2016 draft composed of two draft pools: the Gilas pool, which consists of players from the Gilas Pilipinas program and the regular pool. The pick order for the Gilas draft was not revealed and the regular draft started in the second round. Banal was drafted as the first pick of the second round.
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