Columbian Dyip head coach Johnedel Cardel is thrilled to have gotten his top choice CJ Perez on Sunday in the 2018 PBA Draft.
The Dyip got a bona fide star in Perez, the former NCAA MVP, with the first overall pick.
"First and foremost, the team, the players, the management are very happy we got CJ in the draft," Cardel said in Filipino.
The feeling is mutual for Perez.
"I'm so happy. I hope I'll do well for the team come the new PBA season," said Perez.
The former NCAA MVP can immediately inject life into the Dyip who had struggled the entire season after trading away their top pick last year that was used by the San Miguel Beermen to tab Christian Standhardinger.
Perez has drawn comparisons to Phoenix star Calvin Abueva
"He's a big addition. He can give more energy. He has great character. He's a team player. That's why I'm very proud we got him," Cardel said.
Although he has emerged as one of the best players out of college, Perez said there is a lot of work cut out for him. That's why he's excited to hop back on the court and play with the Dyip.
"I will learn a thing or two while playing in the PBA. I will definitely grow as a player here," he said.
The addition of Perez, as well as other draftees in JP Calvo, Tey Teodoro, Cyrus Tabi, and Oliver Arim will not translate into success right away. But Cardel has more than enough reasons to believe that the team will eventually prop up its sagging fortunes since joining the PBA in 2014.
"I'm looking forward to improve our performance. Hopefully we can win more with the addition of CJ and the other guys," Cardel said. "We look forward to a great conference in the All-Filipino. It's a very important conference."
Meanwhile, the Meralco Bolts are also pleased with their first-round pick as Fil-Am guard Trevis Jackson was available at No. 5.
It was one of the shockers during the draft that took a surprise turn when NLEX selected University of the Philippines star Paul Desiderio with the No. 4 overall pick.
Meralco coach Norman Black said the defensive-minded Bolts need a spark on offense Jackson can provide that.
"We took into consideration the last few years, we're in the top three on defense in the PBA, but offensively, our pace is quite slow," said Black, who also got Letran leader Bong Quinto in the second round with the 14th pick.
"We think Trevis brings a lot of speed. He's a good point guard in terms of facilitating for others and we just want to pick the pace a little bit faster and score a little bit more points."
There were a handful of quality big men in the 47-man pool. Abu Tratter and Javee Mocon were among the top big men available but Black thought "the bigs in the draft were not much better than what we have already."
The only big man the Bolts plucked from the draft was Steven Cudal.
"We just wanted to take the best available talent. If you don't think you'll bring in people who can bring in a huge difference immediately, then you want to make sure you get the best available players, and that's what we did today," Black said.
"I'm just extremely blessed and thankful. I feel as if my dedication and hard work to the game has paid off," Jackson said. "I'm ecstatic, I'm so happy. I loved my workout with them and just the atmosphere at that gym, it made me excited to play basketball. I'm so happy to go there and get ready to work."