Pilipinas Smart-Gilas stalwarts Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz lead the first 10 applicants to the
2011 PBA Rookie Draft even as the PBA Commissioner’s Office has set August 18, 2011 as the
deadline for both homegrown and Fil-foreign players to submit their application and other
requirements.

Lassiter and Lutz are key players on the Rajko Toroman-mentored national squad which will compete in
the FIBA-Asia men’s championship in Wuhan, China this September where the winner secures a spot in
the 2012 London Olympics. 

These two players are expected to go high in the Draft. Contesting the No. 1 overall pick in the 
Draft lottery to be held during the Governors’ Cup Finals are the Powerade Tigers and Air21
Express. 

So far, 10 players have applied for the 2011 PBA Rookie Draft which will be held on August 28 at
Robinson’s Place Manila. The other rookie hopefuls are Nino Nabong, Christopher Pestano, Raymond
Montaniel, Marc Cagoco, Alvyn Cabonce, Christopher Concepcion, Felimon Fernandez and Marvin Graebel.

The move to have a common deadline gives Fil-foreign applicants, who had to apply by July 29 in the
original timetable, three weeks more to complete their requirements.

For this year’s Rookie Draft, however, only Fil-foreign players who have played for the Philippine
men’s basketball team and are over the PBA D-League age limit of 26 years old will be allowed to
join.

The papers of all the applicants will still have to go through an evaluation process before the
Commissioner’s Office comes out with the final list of candidates who will then have to attend the
Rookie Camp on August 23 to 26.

source: pba.ph