PBA fans will be seeing another Teng in action as Jeron suits up for the Alaska Aces this upcoming season.
The son of PBA legend Alvin Teng, the former La Salle star was one of the biggest steals in this year’s draft, falling into the lap of Alaska which selected him with the No.5 pick.
But one couldn’t help but wonder if Jeron can carve out a PBA career different from that of his older brother Jeric who has struggled since entering the league four years ago.
Like Jeron, Jeric became a star in the UAAP, playing for UST. Many thought Rain or Shine found a gem when it nabbed him in the second round of the 2013 draft.
But Jeric failed to live up to expectations. Under Yeng Guiao’s equal-opportunity system when he was still coaching the Elasto Painters, he was rarely given a chance to showcase his wares.
He also didn’t have significant playing time during his time with Kia, his team last season.
Alaska coach Alex Compton shared that being successful in the PBA will depend on a lot of factors, and his new player Jeron is not immune to them.
“You know the life of a pro player, Compton told InterAksyon. “There’s really no guarantee whether Jeron or any other player can succeed. Success can be a combination of a lot of things, but I could name ability as one and the second is injury. We saw how many athletes who have high potential to succeed go down immediately because of injury.
“But one thing I like about Jeron is he’s a good kid and he has tremendous work ethic.”
As a 6’2″ wing scorer, Jeron will have to learn how to play alongside Alaska star Calvin Abueva who remains as the Aces’ anchor on both ends of the floor.
Compton said figuring that out is a “good problem” to have.
“I welcome this because you know in our system, we usually rotate players and no player plays more than 30 minutes per game, so we always need fresh legs out there,” Compton said.
“I don’t see Jeron playing the power forward, but at 6-foot-2, he’s a legit player to play the small forward along with Calvin, JP Mendoza and KRacs (Kevin Racal).”
