RETURNING imports Allen Durham and Aaron Fuller get another opportunity of leading their respective teams anew in the coming 49th season of the Philippine Basketball Association, which unfurls on August 18.
A three-time Best Import winner, Durham will have another tour of duty, hoping to get the job done for the Meralco Bolts, this time.
He led the Bolts to three finals runs during his stints with the squad then being handled by multi-titled coach Norman Black, but lost in all those championship matches against the Justin Brownlee-led Barangay Ginebra.
"It would be nice if aside from all my accomplishments, I could add a championship," said the 36-year-old reinforcement, who is coming off a stint playing in the Japan B. League with the Ryukyu Golden Kings where he won a title last year and emerged as the Finals MVP.
Fuller, on the other hand, is back in the PBA, reuniting with his old coach, Yeng Guiao, this time with Rain or Shine. Both worked together with the NLEX Road Warriors when the 34-year-old lefty reinforcement came in as a replacement import for the then injured Olu Ashaolu during the 2018 Governors' Cup.
Sponsored content:
"We're pleased with our import's performance based on what we saw during the Kadayawan Invitational Tournament where we won the championship as well as his games during the tune up matches," said Guiao.
"But of course, he needs to prove himself more during the actual games, but I don't think he's going to have problems with the system because Aaron knows my system and I'm sure, he also has something to prove."
Fuller provides the inside presence the Elasto Painters badly need. Outside of the import, only Beau Belga and Keith Datu are considered the inside threat of the squad with Santi Santillan and incoming rookie Caelan Tiongson playing both forward spots and Luis Villegas, who missed the team's entire season campaign in the season just passed, still completing his full recovery from an ACL injury. (RJ)
Sponsored content:
