Desperate to change their fortunes, San Miguel Beer and Air21 are both definitely in a race against time. After shaking up their respective local line-ups following their multi-player trade deal, the Beermen and the Express hope to finally find luck when they parade new imports starting on their next games.
Former Seattle Supersonics draftee David Young will play for the Beermen’s next outing against the Alaska Aces on Wednesday at the Astrodome. He will replace Ira Brown, who led the Beermen to their first win in the tournament against the Meralco Bolts, 90-89, last March 4.
The Express, likewise, sent home temporary reinforcement Jeremy Robinson, who was totally outclassed by his counterpart, Talk N Text import Paul Harris, in the Tropang Texters’ convincing 124-110 triumph last Saturday.
Air21’s import choice, Alpha Bangura, arrived on Monday and was immediately brought to the PBA Office for measurement.
The former member of the Libyan national team to the FIBA Africa Championship was measured at 6-foot-3 and 15/16 inches. He will suit up in the Express' next assignment — against the steady Pilipinas-Smart Gilas squad.
Young also had no problem making the 6-foot-4 height limit. He was measured at 6-foot-3 and 9/16 inches.
“It was pretty obvious why we lost in our last game," said Express mentor Bong Ramos. “Our import was totally outclassed. Paul Harris scored 28 points while Robinson had only 12. Normally, imports would just cancel each other out in terms of point production."
Ramos even decided to stick it out with an all-Filipino line-up in several stretches of the game, as Robinson just couldn’t get anything going for Air21. The newly-installed mentor hopes Bangura will bring the energy and the experience his team needs in this short import-laced conference.
Young was drafted by the Sonics (now known as the Oklahoma Thunder) and was signed to a contract in 2004, but was waived a month later. He played in Greece, where he led the league in scoring with an average of 20.5 points per game while suiting up for Trikala.
A cousin of American Football player Leon Washington of the Seattle Seahawks, Young also played in the NBA D-League where he finished the season second in scoring average with 18.5 points per game.
KY, Rey Joble, GMA News TV
