Juan Gomez de Liano during the 2025 PBA Draft Combine Day 1. –PBA IMAGES
If the scouting report is to be followed in the upcoming 2025 PBA Draft, Juan Gomez de Liaño should be a top-five selection.
Heck, he could even be the first overall pick.
That doesn’t concern the University of the Philippines product. For him, landing on a team that fits him well is the real win.
“I just hope I get in the right situation, honestly. I’m just really excited,” Gomez de Liaño told the Inquirer on Friday during Day 2 of the 2025 Draft Combine.
“The draft is out of our control. It’s not our call, it’ll be the teams’ call,” he said. “All the players out here are just really prepared to get to this point.”
The former Fighting Maroon and ex-Korean Basketball League import is prepared for any eventuality come the proceedings on Sunday at Mall of Asia Music Hall starting 5 p.m.
“You never know. I just hope I land in a good team and situation,” he said. “We’ll see in two days. I’m just very excited, I can’t wait and I can’t wait to get going.”
Gomez de Liaño may talk humbly about where he’s expected to land, but on Friday, he was seen in discussions with Converge officials for a long period of time.
The FiberXers climbed up the draft order after trading Bryan Santos and the eighth pick for Phoenix’s second overall pick this year.
As much as a lot of naysayers have downplayed the talent pool for this year, Gomez de Liaño thinks they’re no pushovers.
Sure, the talents hoping to get their names called aren’t big on the market per se, but that doesn’t make them any less of a commodity.
‘Loaded’ Draft class
The only problem that the former player from Japan, Lithuania and Korea sees in the current rookie class of 2025 is the lack of big men.
Other than that, it’s a “loaded” class filled with very capable guards and wingmen.
“We have a [good] bunch of guys here. I think the quality of players is pretty high,” said Gomez de Liaño. “This draft class is pretty loaded, honestly. I think we just lack some bigs, but in terms of guards, there’re a lot of good guards out there.”
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Literally the biggest name in this rookie class is Geo Chiu, the 6-foot-10 ex-Ateneo ace in the UAAP who could potentially be made the first pick by Terrafirma.
