Sol Mercado

Sol Mercado
No. 3 – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
Position Point guard / Shooting guard
League PBA
Personal information
Born (1984-05-06) May 6, 1984
Sacramento, California
Nationality Filipino / American
Listed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight 200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school Capital Christian
(Sacramento, California)
College Biola (2003–2007)
PBA draft 2008 Round: 1 / Pick: 5th overall
Selected by the Alaska Aces
Playing career 2008–present
Career history
2008–2010 Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
2010–2013 Meralco Bolts
2013–2014 GlobalPort Batang Pier
2014 San Miguel Beermen
2014 GlobalPort Batang Pier
2015 Barako Bull Energy
2015–present Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
Career highlights and awards

Solomon Jemuel "Sol" Mercado (born May 6, 1984) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Professional career

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters

Mercado was originally drafted by the Alaska Aces as the fifth pick in the 2008 PBA draft. However, he was immediately traded to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, together with Eddie Laure for Joe Devance and the 2009 and 2010 second round picks of Alaska.

With all the focus on Gabe Norwood, that year's first pick overall, and not much hype he scored a record 29 points in his rookie debut game, the highest since Asi Taulava scored 32 points for Mobiline in his debut. Since then, he slowly became one of the PBA's elite point guards.

PBA Fiesta Conference 2009

If not for a hamstring injury that sidelined him in a couple of games into their semifinal series against the Barangay Ginebra Kings, Rain or Shine would have gone farther in the Fiesta Conference. A member of the All-Rookie Team, Mercado finished second to teammate Gabe Norwood for Rookie of the Year honors. Mercado emerged as the team's top scorer with 13.5 points per game and his 4.5 assists per night did not only lead the team but was also number 6 overall among locals. The only glitch in his rookie season was his 2.9 turnovers per game which ranked seventh overall and led the rookies in that category.

Sophomore Season (Philippine Cup)

He has been the team's cornerstone as he always led the Painters to winning games. Against the Coca-Cola Tigers in a knockout game, he scored 28 points to lead them. But unfortunately they would end up short after losing to the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants.

PBA Fiesta Conference 2010

He averaged 17.7 points in the eliminations then had a 45-point outburst against the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados. In another knock out game against the Tigers, he delivered crucial plays, despite fouling out, in a come from behind win. Against the Llamados in Game 3, he almost recorded a triple double with 16 points 15 assists 9 rebounds. But, in Game 5 of the series, they lost to the Llamados.

Meralco Bolts

Before the start of the 2011 PBA Commissioner's Cup, he and Jay-R Reyes were among the eight players involved in the three-way trade between Meralco, Rain or Shine and Air21 in what was easily one of the biggest trades that happened in that season. Mercado, along with Paolo Bugia were shipped to the Bolts for Beau Belga. He was still able to perform the same way he did with the Elasto Painters. However, it was not enough for the Bolts to past the eliminations of the latter conference.

GlobalPort Batang Pier

Before the start of the 2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup, he along with Kelly Nabong, Jaypee Belencion and Yousif Aljamal were traded to GlobalPort Batang Pier for Rey Guevarra, Vic Manuel, Josh Vanlandingham and 2015 first round pick.

San Miguel Beermen

Before the start of the 2014 PBA Commissioner's Cup, Mercado was traded to San Miguel in exchange for Alex Cabagnot.[1] At the start of 2014 PBA Governors' Cup, Mercado changed his jersey number from 0 to 7.

Return to GlobalPort

Before the 2014–15 PBA Philippine Cup trade deadline, just before the playoffs, Mercado was traded back to GlobalPort, together with San Miguel's 2018 and 2019 second round picks, in exchange for Cabagnot.[2]

Barako Bull Energy

On January 8, 2015 Mercado was traded again by GlobalPort, this time to Barako Bull which gave up Denok Miranda and a 2016 second round pick.[3]

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel

On May 4, 2015 before the start of 2015 PBA Governors' Cup Mercado was traded to Barangay Ginebra in exchange of Joseph Yeo.[4] Mercado promised that he will do anything for Ginebra because he says he is in his best shape of his career. Mercado debuted for Barangay Ginebra on May 8, 2015 against the team that drafted him, the Alaska Aces, but his new team lost.[5]

Personal life

Mercado is previously engaged to actress Denise Laurel.[6] However, on October 20, 2016, a day after Ginebra won their first title after 8 years, Laurel announced through her Instagram account that they have ended their relationship.[7]

PBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played  MPG  Minutes per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage
 3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game
 PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Correct as of October 19, 2016[8]

Season-by-season averages

Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008–09 Rain or Shine 36 31.1 .389 .263 .622 3.3 4.5 .8 .1 13.5
2009–10 Rain or Shine 46 34.5 .413 .315 .683 3.8 4.6 1.2 .2 16.7
2010–11 Rain or Shine / Meralco 29 37.1 .393 .282 .592 5.0 4.8 1.1 .2 17.7
2011–12 Meralco 37 31.5 .384 .266 .551 3.6 3.8 1.1 .3 13.6
2012–13 Meralco 37 35.5 .393 .272 .691 3.6 6.9 1.0 .2 16.2
2013–14 GlobalPort / San Miguel 33 30.6 .375 .191 .646 3.3 4.2 .6 .1 12.3
2014–15 San Miguel / GlobalPort / Barangay Ginebra 32 27.1 .392 .203 .658 3.0 3.8 .7 .1 8.5
2015–16 Barangay Ginebra 49 24.8 .407 .326 .565 2.7 3.2 .6 .1 7.9
Career 299 31.3 .394 .275 .634 3.5 4.4 .9 .2 13.2

International career

Mercado is also a member of the Philippine National Basketball team, Smart Gilas. He was personally handpicked by Rajko Toroman alongside Kelly Williams and Asi Taulava. He played for the Philippines in the 2010 Asian Games and the 2013 William Jones Cup.

Philippine Team Statistics

[9]

Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2012 William Jones Cup Smart Gilas 8 17.25 .178 0.00 .575 3.125 2.875 0.5 0.125 5.63

References

  1. ↑ Badua, Snow (February 17, 2014). "Petron/San Miguel set to trade Alex Cabagnot to GlobalPort for Sol Mercado". Spin.ph. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  2. ↑ "PBA scraps SMB-Barako Bull trade; new deal sees Cabagnot’s Beermen return, Mercado joining GlobalPort". Spin.ph. December 10, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ Badua, Snow (January 8, 2015). "PBA approves Sol Mercado move from GlobalPort to Barako Bull in swap for Denok Miranda". Spin.ph. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Barangay Ginebra acquires Sol Mercado, sends Joseph Yeo to Barako Bull". InterAksyon.com. May 4, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Alaska overcomes 50-point debut from Ginebra’s Orlando Johnson, holds off Kings comeback for second win". InterAksyon.com. May 8, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  6. ↑ Umbao, Ed (October 18, 2013). "Sol Mercado Opens Up Engagement with Denise Laurel". PhilNews.ph. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Actress Denise Laurel, PBA player fiancé Sol Mercado break up". Inquirer.net. October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  8. ↑ Player Profile at PBA-Online!
  9. ↑ 2013 William Jones Cup Games Schedule and Results
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