ENTER Hong Kong Eastern.
The PBA Commissioner's Cup commences Wednesday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig marked by the return of giant imports and the debut of another EASL ball club in Asia's pioneering play-for-pay league.
The Phoenix Fuel Masters, with import Donovan Smith, will be the first to test Hong Kong Eastern's mettle as they clash in the 7:30 p.m. mainer succeeding the 5 p.m. opening setto between Converge and Terrafirma.
The HK team is expected to be a good added spice in the tourney just like what the Bay Area Dragons provided in their runner-up finish behind the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the 2022 Commissioner's Cup.
Familiar faces in the Hong Kong Eastern squad are import Cameron Clark, and Hayden Blankley, Kobey Lam and Glen Yang who were among the hotshots in the Dragons team that barely came up short of reaching the mountaintop.
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Of course, that would be Hong Kong Eastern's target as it plunges into action in the PBA as part of its seasoning goal for the EASL.
Apart from Clark, Blankley, Lam and Yang, coach Mensur Bajramovic will have at his disposal Ramon Cao, Leung Shiu Wah, Chu Tsz Yung, Chan Siu Wing, Cheung Yin Lung, Pok Yuet Yeung, Zhu Hao, Adam Xu, Leung Ka Hin, Muhammad Sulaiman Sheikh, and Steven Guinchard.
Their initial PBA assignment is the Phoenix Fuel Masters team aching for a rebound from a poor showing in the recent Governors Cup.
With import Jayveous McKinnis then Brandone Francis, the Fuel Masters of coach Jamike Jarin was good for just one win in 10 games.
But the Fuel Masters have high hopes they can contend with Smith. The 6-foot-10 behemoth, 30, has seen action in Spain, Romania, Georgia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Austria and Kosovo. He was on the Kosovo team that won the Balkan League title this year.
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To team up with Smith are Larry Muyang, Sean Manganti, Jason Perkins, Raul Soyud, Ato Ular, RR Garcia, Jayjay Alejandro, Kai Ballungay, Matthew Daves, RJ Jazul, Simon Camacho, Tyler Tio, Ken Tuffin, Raffy Verano and Ricci Rivero.(SB)
