PBA: Commissioner quashes Lassiter-to-Petron deal

PBA Commissioner Chito Salud on Monday vetoed a proposed trade that would have sent Powerade Tiger Marcio Lassiter to the Petron Blaze Boosters in exchange for Nonoy Baclao and Rey Guevarra.   In a statement released by the league office, Salud said, "Upon close evaluation of the trade at hand, this office is exercising its right to VETO [sic] it and is hereby returning the same to the parties who may revise it to make the trade more balanced."

"my main concern as commissioner is to find out whether a sale or not has been consummated between coke and san (cont) tl.gd/g11r4v — pbaconnect (@pbaconnect) February 20, 2012  

The controversial trade had been proposed last February 7, but the league had declined to make a ruling on it until the status of the Powerade Tigers ownership was cleared up.   Last February 14, Salud released a statement in an attempt to dispel rumors that the Powerade team was to be bought by the San Miguel Corporation, which also owns the Petron franchise.   Because the league does not allow teams under the same owner to trade directly with each other, the aforementioned trade would have been perceived as a go-around to the rule.   In the February 14 statement, Salud shared the contents of a letter sent by William Schultz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. (CCBPI), the current owners of the Powerade franchise, in which Schultz assured the league that ownership of Powerade had not yet changed hands.   "Having established anyway that having no sale was consummated, these two teams can now make trades," Salud said, though he still reserved the right to veto one-sided trades, as he did in this situation.   Lassiter, the number four overall pick in the 2011 draft, helped propel the Tigers to a spot in the All-Filipino Cup finals, behind averages of 16.93 points, 6.04 rebounds and 3.93 assists. In their first assignment in the Commissioner's Cup, Lassiter put up 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block.   Baclao, the overall number one pick in the 2010 draft, has yet to see action in the current conference, though he did norm 1.95 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.76 blocks in 21 All-Filipino Cup games. Guevarra, drafted fourth overall in the same year as Baclao, saw spot minutes in Sunday's win over the B-MEG Llamados, finishing with six points and one rebound. He saw action in just 10 games last season, and finished with averages of 2.9 points and 1.4 rebounds. -- Adrian Dy/OMG, GMA News