As the dust finally settles in the PBA Philippine Cup, where San Miguel Beer beat TNT Tropang 5G in six games to clinch a second-straight title, teams are now looking to bolster their lineup for the next conference.
Unlimited height for reinforcements
While the Philippine Cup is often considered the crowning glory of the PBA as it features all local players, the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup will have its own twist – unlimited height for all imports.
The PBA is also reportedly looking to add a guest team, which will certainly provide more excitement to the league.
With an unlimited height for reinforcements, teams lacking in size will be able to get tall imports to offset this and will surely improve competitiveness in the league.
Blackwater and Terrafirma, two teams that languished at the bottom of the team standings in the Philippine Cup, are looking to take advantage of this. Blackwater has tapped 6-foot-11 Daniel Ochefu for the upcoming conference, which begins on March 11.
Terrafirma is likewise banking on 7-footer Mubashar Ali to give the team a huge lift.
Meanwhile, the Meralco Bolts have recruited 6-foot-9 Ismael Romero for their campaign.
The big man played for the team already in the recent EASL and his early play for the team will surely go a long way in building chemistry.
The 6-foot-9 Terrell Brown-Soares will showcase his wares for the Magnolia Hotshots with coach LA Tenorio looking forward to seeing their reinforcement on the floor with the rest of the solid local group of the team.
Jaylen Johnson, who has a similar height, will play for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
The NLEX Road Warriors likewise took advantage of the unlimited height and will be bringing in Cady Lalanne, who is listed at 6-foot-10.
Phoenix will go with James Dickey, who has a similar height as Lalanne as they see action under new coach Charles Tiu.
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Ginebra goes with Justin Brownlee again
Barangay Ginebra will be with tried and tested Justin Brownlee. The veteran Brownlee usually plays the small forward spot, or sometimes power forward for Ginebra, and he will again be tested against the new group of imports that are much taller than him.
Brownlee has actually proven himself even against taller imports as Ginebra reached the finals of the same conference last year but they lost to TNT Tropang 5G, which was bannered by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
With RHJ out due to an injury, TNT will surely look to parade an equally impressive import to defend their title in the conference.
Unconfirmed reports surfaced that 7-foot-3 former NBA player Bol Bol is being eyed by TNT but there is no formal announcement at the moment.
Unconfirmed imports
Curiously, Philippine Cup champions San Miguel also has yet to name its import for the conference.
Their former import, Bennie Boatwright, seems the obvious choice after leading the team to the title several years ago but he is currently playing overseas.
San Miguel coach Leo Austria said in an interview that they are indeed in contact with Boatwright but he is playing overseas and will miss the first few games if ever they agree on another deal.
The Beermen have been in the same situation last year when Boatwright was still recuperating from injury.
They ended up switching imports several times and failed to build chemistry, bowing out in the semifinals.
Other teams who have yet to announce their imports are Converge, Titan Ultra and guest team Macau Black Bears, with the latter rumored to tap NBA veteran import Dwight Howard but nothing is certain yet and no announcement has been made.
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