Miller wins award

His golden feat earned the Olongapo City-born Miller the Smart Accel- PBA Press Corps’ Player of the Week

Miller wins award; PBA sets draft guidelines

Two-time MVP Willie Miller showed his old deadly form as he propelled defending champion Alaska Aces to back-to-back wins over higher-placed teams recently in the 2008 Smart- PBA Fiesta Conference.

The 5-foot-8 Miller, a first overall draft pick by Red Bull in 2001, averaged 29 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in Alaska’s 99-91 triumph over Coca-Cola on May 14 and their 101-90 victory over Red Bull last Sunday.

His golden feat earned the Olongapo City-born Miller the Smart Accel- PBA Press Corps’ Player of the Week plum for the May 12 to 18 period.

“When the new guys, LA (Tenorio) and Larry (Fonacier) and (import) Randy (Holcomb) came, he backed off a little bit. He wanted to get those guys involved. He didn’t want to be the big man on the campus. He wanted to step away, as if saying, ‘Welcome to the team,’” Cone said.

“He has since realized how important he is to the team. We were bugging and bugging him how he needs to be aggressive and be aggressive. And finally before the Coke game he came up and he said he was going to be aggressive. It kind of scared us a little bit.”

It readily showed.

Against Coke, Miller had 13 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter, six of them in an 11-3 run after the Tigers took a 95-86 lead with 3:56 left.

Personal high

The 34 is a personal conference-high for last season’s MVP and is the second most by a local this conference, next only to Mac Cardona’s 35 in Talk N Text’s 115-113 win over Sta. Lucia on April 18.

“After the Coke game he’s come back to the realization that for the new guys to be successful, he needs to be aggressive, to be the big man on campus. Without that, we cannot be successful because we rely on him a lot,” said Cone.

Miller had a modest 24 points in the Aces’ win over Red Bull, but he showed his all-around efficiency by spiking those up with seven rebounds and six assists and going 8-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.

Those triumphs over the erstwhile co-leading Coke and previously solo leading Red Bull snapped a four-game slide by Alaska and improved the team’s win-loss record to 4-6.

Procedure

Meanwhile, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) formulated a fix itinerary for this year’s Rookie Draft, assuring a hassle-free procedure leading up to the annual proceedings in August.

Fil-foreign players eyeing to enter in the Draft are required to submit their applications and necessary papers until July 8.

July 11 marks the last time the preliminary list of prospective foreign-bred draftees will be issued and submitted to member teams.

The contestability period on the legitimacy of the Fil-foreign applicants runs for about a month, from July 12 to Aug. 11.

“We’re doing this to make it easier for prospective rookie players and for the teams themselves. At the same time, we want everything to go smoothly when the league holds its annual Rookie Draft on August 31,” said PBA commissioner Renauld Barrios.

On Aug. 12, it’s the local players’ turn to tender their respective application and requirements, followed by the final day of deciding the contestability of Fil-foreign applicants on Aug. 13.

On Aug. 15, the league will issue the final list of rookie candidates for the PBA Draft.

All prospective applicants take part in the expanded Rookie Camp on Aug. 21 to 23 just a week prior to D-day.

Among the possible rookie prospects for this year are highly-touted Fil-Ams Gabe Norwood and Solomon Mercado, reigning UAAP Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jervy Cruz, guard TY Tang, the Ateneo duo of Ford Arao and Chris Tiu, UE big man Mark Borboran and Harbour Centre’s Beau Belga. (FCC) SunStar