Philippine Sports News and Updates

Manila, Philippines -- After keeping quiet for most of the off-season, Talk ‘N Text hopes to make a lot of noise when it matters.

And the Phone Pals will hope to do it by bringing back the core of last season’s roster.

The Phone Pals will welcome back Asi Taulava, Jimmy Alapag and Renren Ritualo and hope that nothing stands in the way of a renewal of Don Allado’s contract in time for the start of the 33rd Philippine Basketball Association season on Oct. 14.

The Phone Pals didn’t have a chance to take a direct part in the recent PBA draft, dealing away their selection rights last season, but managed to pick up No. 8 pick Yousif Aljamal via a trade with Air21.

“We are just looking to complete our roster by adding a No. 3 and a No. 4 (shooting guard and shooting forward),” team manager Frankie Lim told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “The team is still in the United States and we will finalize the lineup when they return.”

The Phone Pals are hoping that Aljamal will fill in the No. 3 spot.

Lim said they will definitely sign the 6-foot-4 multi-tasker from Pampanga, who has been the center of a row between the collegiate varsity league NCAA and San Beda College.

The Phone Pals finished second to Alaska in the Fiesta Cup even with the absence of Alapag, Ritualo and Taulava, and their return has dissuaded the team from tinkering with its roster.

“We will not touch the nucleus of the team,” he said. “We just need to sign a couple of role players.”

Allado and the TNT management will sit down for a new pact when the team planes back home, though Lim said that he does not have an inkling on what the 6-foot-5 center wants and what management is willing to give.

Allado’s old pact, which paid him the maximum P350,000 a month, expired at the end of last month.

Source: Inquirer.net