2013-2014 PBA Rookie Ladder as of March 26, 2014

This month’s edition of the PBA Rookie Ladder will be a little different. Instead of looking at the rookies’ stats for the entire season, we will only rank them based on their stats for the current conference. Now that every team has played at least three games (It’s the morning of March 26 as I write this), it stands to reason that we can more or less have a good representation of how well, or how bad, these greenhorns have performed thus far.

As always, this list is principally based on the Efficiency Ratings (EFF) as calculated by the sublime stat website, PBA-Online.net. Once again, this measures production and NOT potential

Anyway, here they are – the top five rookies right now in the 2014 PBA Commissioner’s Cup as of (the morning of) March 26, 2014:

Not surprisingly, Greg Slaughter, Terrence Romeo, and Ian Sangalang
are part of our first rookie ladder for the Commish Cup.
(composite image by Enzo Flojo/Hoop Nut)

5. Justin Melton (SMC) - 4.8ppg, 2.5rpg, 1.3spg, .500 3pt%, 18.6 EFF

Last Game: 3 points, .500 FG%, 130 EFF

- Quick-Melton is one of my biggest arguments for expansion. This kid is good enough to be a starter in the PBA. Given the right system, like what he had in the ABL with the Malaysia Dragons, he can be effective at both point guard and shooting guard. His numbers aren’t exactly drool-worthy, but do remember that he plays under 16 minutes a game. I mean, if Melton played as many minutes as, say, Alex Cabagnot, who currently leads the league in minutes player per game, then the Pampanga-born playmaker would lead the league with about 3 steals a game.

4. Terrence Romeo (GLO) - 10.0ppg, 3.2rpg, 1.7apg, .818 FT%, 21.4 EFF

Last Game: 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 triple, 23.0 EFF

- Romeo’s ceiling is Mark Caguioa. He’s such a fearless player. No missed shot has ever made this cager think twice of taking another shot, even if the difficulty level is beyond insane and his team is down by double-digits with two minutes to go in the game. Romeo is just wired to be a volume-type of offensive player. It is both his best asset and his jinx. In his last game, however, he did do a bit of everything, but, judging by his history, that’s more the exception rather than the norm.

Terrence Romeo tries to storm past former collegiate rival Simon Atkins.
(image by Paolo Papa/Sports 5)

3. Ian Sangalang (SMC) - 9.3ppg, 5.3rpg, 23.7 EFF

Last Game: 2 points, 3 rebounds, 10.7 EFF

- Sangalang struggled in SMC’s loss to the Energy Cola, playing just 11 minutes and uncharacterisctically missing all five of his shots. Prior to that game, the former Golden Stag was hitting nearly 50% of his field goals, but his big fat egg against Barako Bull pulls his percentages down significantly. He is still one of the most dangerous young second unit bigs out there, but he’ll have to regain the consistency he showed when the conference began.

Ian Sangalang tosses one over Jay Washington.
(image by Paul Ryan Tan/Sports 5)

2. Raymond Almazan ROS) - 7.8ppg, 4.5rpg, .765 FG%, 25.8 EFF

Last Game: 5 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, .667 FG%, 23.0 EFF

- All of a sudden, the #3 overall pick is playing really well for the struggling Painters. He has normed just over 15 minutes per outing for coach Yeng Guiao, but he has really made the most of that limited playing time. I mean, if Almazan were playing as many minutes as Greg Slaughter this conference, the former Letran center would be norming around 12.3ppg, 7.1rpg, and 1.3bpg.

1. Greg Slaughter (GIN) - 9.0ppg, 7.0rpg, 1.2bpg, .483 FG%, 29.0 EFF

Last Game: 8 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 31.1 EFF

- Slaughter’s production is both promising and deceiving. It’s promising because he is still putting up decent stats in a conference where big imports are dominant. Scoring has been much more difficult now, but he is still crashing the boards and blocking shots. This still makes him relevant. On the other hand, his stats are also a little deceiving, since he plays around 24 minutes per game, which is second only to Terrence Romeo among the guys on this list. This means Gregzilla’s per minute numbers aren’t actually all that impressive. In addition, his Gin Kings are currently caught in a tailspin. Still, despite everything, the former Ateneo slotman has been relatively consistent – with the exception of his 5-point, 1-rebound, 4-foul effort against the Batang Pier.