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AMA set to lock in Jeron Teng as top pick of D-League Draft

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By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA—Right after La Salle won the UAAP championship on Wednesday night, graduating star and eventual Finals MVP Jeron Teng expressed his desire to join the PBA D-League Draft.


AMA coach Mark Herrera is quick to take advantage of it.

Herrera expressed his intent on choosing the 6-foot-2 wingman as the first overall pick of the draft, which will happen on Dec. 20 at the PBA Cafe in Pasig.

"We're sure that Jeron Teng will be our first pick," he said.

Teng, once formalized, will join a Titans crew led by Jay-R Taganas and the key players from their NAASCU campaign this past season.

Tanduay, on the other hand, will pick second and, despite the likely unavailability of Teng, will still have a lot of good players to choose from as San Beda's Davon Potts and Robert Bolick, FEU's Monbert Arong, Letran's Jom Sollano, and SWU's Mac-Mac Tallo are also among the big names in this year's draft applicants.

One hundred twenty-eight players declared for the D-League Draft, 113 of which are locals with the other 15 being Fil-foreign ballers.

Racal will choose third, while Cafe France, once again primarily bannered by newly-crowned UCBL champ CEU, owns the fourth pick. Wangs, which returns after missing the Foundation Cup, has the fifth pick.

Meanwhile, two college teams, NCAA's JRU and NAASCU's MLQU, will join next year's Aspirants Cup starting on Jan. 19 along with fellow newcomers Cignal and Batangas. Their draft order will be determined through a lottery before the draft proper on Draft Day itself.

The Malaysia Dragons will once again join next year's D-League season under the Blu brand but will not join the draft.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno