In this five-part series, we look back at the PBA drafts from 1985 - the year the league instituted a rookie draft - to 2015 and try to identify the biggest steals of each draft. We start with the first six.
The PBA Draft was institutionalized in 1985 when new the Shell Azodrin Bugbusters took on the franchise of the disbanded Crispa Redmanizers. Prior to this, the league's member teams had directly recruited players and teams with the biggest spending power routinely signed up the best available talent.
In the middle of the 1981 season, Crispa acquired several members of the defunct national team program and signed the likes of Yoyoy Villamin, Bay Cristobal, Padim Israel and Mon Cruz. When the 1985 national team opted to participate as a guest team under the auspices of Northern Consolidated Cement (NCC), the PBA finally adapted a draft system in hopes of eventually balancing the competition. Shell had the first selection and used that pick to get Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL) MVP Santiago "Sonny" Cabatu as the first ever top overall draft choice in league history.
The Bugbusters-which had also inherited several former Redmanizers, most notably point guard Bernard Fabiosa and 1980 MVP Philip Cezar-were also the only team allowed to pick beyond the first round, a concession given by the league to help the new franchise become more competitive.
History would show that their fourth-round pick became the biggest steal in that draft class, which now leads ESPN5.com to look back at the all the drafts and identify those that were overlooked and went on to become game-changers.
Here is the first of a six-part installment on the PBA's biggest draft steals by year from 1985 to 2015.
1985
Top overall pick (Shell) - Santiago Cabatu C 6'5" Philippine School of Business Administration: Shell
Steal (Shell) - Leovino Austria PG 5'8" Lyceum College of the Philippines (4th round, 10th overall): Shell
Coming into the draft, not very many people remembered Austria for his stint in the 1982 Philippine Youth Team that captured the gold medal in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Youth Championship where the main stars of the squad, namely Hector Calma, Elmer Reyes, Alfie Almario and Joseph "Jong" Uichico went on to stay in the men's program and were in the NCC line-up. The Sariyaya, Quezon native played amateur ball for Masagana 99 and was named the MVP of the PABL's Ambassador's Cup.
Austria went on to be the only fourth round pick in PBA history to nab the Rookie of the Year award despite only averaging 3.9 points per game. After only eight seasons, Austria returned to the PABL and eventually found his niche in coaching and is now among the winningest active coaches in the PBA.
1986
Top overall pick (Hills Bros.) - Reynaldo Cuenco PF/C 6'4" Gregorio Araneta University Foundation
Steal (Ginebra San Miguel) - Cresencio Ampalayo SF 6'3" University of San Jose-Recoletos (3rd overall)
This Cebuano may have begun the second wave of the Visayan Invasion that ushered in the likes of of Al Solis, Zaldy Realubit, Romy de la Rosa and Elmer Cabahug.
The top overall selection by newcomers Hills Bros. went to another 1982 Youth Team standout Rey Cuenco while third year franchise Manila Beer opted to use its second pick to get Lyceum scoring threat Ricky Cui. They had stellar resumes and were touted to be taken in the top two selections.
Ampalayo had a short stint in the PABL with the ESQ Merchants but was not a household name in the Metro Manila circuit. So Ginebra San Miguel raised some eyebrows when they picked a relative unknown.
Ampalayo needed only a few games to earn the love of the Ginebra faithful as he complemented the Ginebra frontline so well that he not only went on to be named the league's Rookie of the Year, but also help the franchise to three championships in his eight-year stint.
1987
Top overall pick (Great Taste) - Allan Caidic SG/SF 6'2" University of the East
Steal (Great Taste) - Allan Caidic SG/SF 6'2" University of the East
Now one would hardly call the top overall pick as a steal in a draft that only had five teams opting to select, but Caidic was practically stolen from the team that originally was intent in acquiring his services, the Hills Bros. Coffee Kings.
On "An Eternity of Basketball", Caidic elaborated on how Great Taste Coffee Makers coach Baby Dalupan engineered this successful pilfer by way of trades as Caidic had already been working out with the future Alaska franchise for several weeks leading up to Draft Day.
Dalupan knew that Shell (which had the top overall selection) was intent on drafting Solis as they were looking to get a point guard with firepower. With Hills Bros. refusing to trade its second pick (which was supposed to be used on Caidic), Dalupan did what many thought was unthinkable at the time by shipping newly minted Mythical Team honoree Manny Victorino along with gunner Jimmy Manansala to Shell in exchange for his aging veterans Fabiosa and Cezar along with the top overall selection.
The thought of having a franchise-changing pivot in Victorino was too much to resist for Shell and they forged a deal that actually involved Hills Bros. when the Coffee Kings dealt Solis and Cuenco to the Oilers for 1981 MVP William "Bogs" Adornado-thus giving the Uytengsu franchise the shooter they needed.
Dalupan's "steal" helped Great Taste to two more championships with Caidic and, of course, 1987 had the "Triggerman" winning Rookie of the Year honors.
1988
Top overall pick (Purefoods) - Edgardo Tanuan C 6'6" Far Eastern University
Steal (Shell) - Ronnie Magsanoc PG 5'10" University of the Philippines
Purefoods had already taken four players from the national team in Alvin Patrimonio (who would only play in the second conference owing to a contract commitment with the RFM franchise in the PABL), Jerry Codiñera, Glen Capacio and eventual Rookie of the Year Jojo Lastimosa. Picking Magsanoc as the top overall pick could have landed them a solid core. During that time, however, the game was still big man oriented and management's choice of picking the 6'6" Tanuan was logical. In hindsight, Magsanoc went on to have a stellar PBA career in his first ten seasons with Shell and his partnership with college buddy Benjie Paras gave the Turbo Chargers two titles.
The "Point Laureate" went on to become one of the PBA's 40 Greatest and left many wondering how his career would have turned out if he were facilitating the Purefoods offense for Patrimonio and Codiñera had he been that year's top overall selection. In an episode of "An Eternity of Basketball", Magsanoc himself said he had wanted to play alongside Patrimonio and Co., and wondered what could have been if he had ended up in a Purefoods jersey. He revealed that Purefoods team management had wanted to sign him up, but only to use him as trade bait to get Al Solis.
1989
Top overall pick (Shell) - Venancio Paras PF/C 6'4" University of the Philippines
Steal (San Miguel Beer) - Renato Agustin PG/SG 5'11" Lyceum College of the Philippines (2nd round, 12th overall)
Many still argue that the 1989 Draft Class is the richest in league history. After the new Purefoods franchise opted not to undergo an expansion draft and build by acquiring members of the national team the previous season, those who stayed with the program were all obliged to enter the draft process, making it go deeper than any of its predecessors.
After big names like Paras, Nelson Asaytono, Paul Alvarez and Dindo Pumaren were off the board, the San Miguel Beer team chose the player that had previously torched them in a PABL All-Star game and the enigma from Lubao, Pampanga was nabbed with the final pick of the second round.
To this day, former San Miguel coach Norman Black (in an interview on "An Eternity of Basketball") still proclaims Agustin as the biggest steal in draft history as he would go on to be an integral part of the team's Grand Slam effort that year and eventually be named league MVP in 1992-the only second round pick ever to win.
1990
Top overall pick (Presto Tivoli) - Peter Jao PG/SG 6'1" University of San Jose-Recoletos
Steal (Presto Tivoli) - Gerald Esplana 5'11" PG Far Eastern University (2nd round, 9th overall)
Once again in 1990, members of the national team that competed in the 1989 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games headlined the draft with Jao (the national team skipper) the consensus top overall selection and was immediately taken by Presto Tivoli.
Jao would prove to be one of the first busts in the draft as Presto immediately leaned on the backcourt duo of Caidic and rookie Esplana towards the middle of the season.
Esplana was the steady playmaker coach Jimmy Mariano had hoped for after erstwhile team leader Ricardo Brown had departed for San Miguel two seasons prior. Esplana also proved to be a gritty defender who seemed to be oblivious about whom he was defending against and even took on legendary Añejo Rhum 65 playing-coach Robert Jaworski as well as Brown himself during the playoffs of the 1990 All-Filipino Conference where Great Taste triumphed against Dalupan and Purefoods in the Finals with the series going the full seven-game route.
It would be the CFC franchise's final title and Esplana's expanded role for the team earned him the Rookie of the Year nod.