Meet the imports

The PBA Commissioner’s Cup begins today with a doubleheader featuring Talk ‘N’ Text against Blackwater and the Star Hotshots against Meralco at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The Texters are the defending champions but they’ll start off crippled as import Ivan Johnson will serve a one-game suspension for scuffling in a tune-up with the team they’re facing in the opener.

The height limit for imports is 6-9. The exceptions would have been Mahindra and Blackwater if they failed to make the playoffs in the recent Philippine Cup. As it turned out, Blackwater sneaked in at No. 10 to advance to the quarterfinals and lost the privilege of bringing in an import with no restriction. Mahindra finished at No. 11 and is the only team allowed to sign an import with no height limit this conference.

The Commissioner’s Cup eliminations will be a single round-robin format where each team plays 11 games. The top eight finishers move on to the quarterfinals with the last four given the pink slip. In case of a tie for the No. 2 and No. 8 spots, the league will set single breaker playoffs. The All-Star event will interrupt the eliminations on March 10-13. Two overseas and four provincial playdays are in the schedule.

The quarterfinals will start April 24. The pairings will be No. 1 against No. 8 and No. 2 against No. 7 (with the two top seeds enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage) and No. 3 against No. 6 and No. 4 against No. 5 in separate best-of-three duels.  The semifinals will begin April 30 with the winner of No. 1-No. 8 playing the winner of No. 4-5 and the winner of No. 2-No. 7 playing the winner of No. 3-No.6 in separate best-of-five series. The semifinal winners advance to face off in the best-of-seven Finals, beginning May 13.

The imports for the 12 teams are 6-5, 200-pound Othyus Jeffers, 30, of Barangay Ginebra; 6-9, 275-pound Brian Williams, 28, of Globalport; 6-10, 240-pound Augustus Gilchrist, 26, of Mahindra; 6-8, 240-pound Tyler Wilkerson, 27, of San Miguel Beer; 6-9, 240-pound Malcolm J. Rhett, 23, of Blackwater; 6-9, 255-pound Arinze Onuaku, 28, of Meralco; 6-9, 255-pound Denzel Bowles, 26, of Star; 6-9, 225-pound Rob Dozier, 30, of Alaska; 6-8, 255-pound Ivan Johnson, 31, of TNT; 6-8, 213-pound Al Thornton of NLEX; 6-9, 245-pound Wayne Chism, 28, of Rain Or Shine and 6-9, 240-pound Kenny Adeleke, 33, of Phoenix Petroleum.

Here’s a rundown on the imports. Two were drafted in the NBA – Dozier was the Miami Heat’s second round pick in 2009 and Thornton, the Los Angeles Clippers’ first round choice in 2007. Three are NBA veterans – Thornton played for the Clippers, Washington and Golden State from 2007-08 to 2010-11, Jeffers for Utah, San Antonio, Washington and Minnesota from 2009-10 to 2013-14 and Johnson for Atlanta from 2011-12 to 2012-13.

Two are Nigerian. Adeleke was born in Lagos while Onuaku was born in the US to Nigerian parents. Onuaku’s father Christopher left Nigeria to go to school in the US when he was 13 in 1973 and went back to marry Nwaneka in 1982. Onuaku’s parents settled in the US in 1983. Previous Nigerian PBA imports include Julius Nwosu, Gabe Muoneke, Champ Oguchi, Jeff Varem, Reggie Okosa and Solomon Alabi.

Adeleke is the most travelled import with stops in Israel, Turkey, Italy, Uruguay, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, China, Ukraine, Spain, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. He played three years at Hofstra before ending his US collegiate career at Hartford, averaging 20.7 points and 13.1 rebounds in 28 games in 2005-06. Adeleke and Rhett are both left-handed.

Three are former Best Import awardees in the Commissioner’s Cup – Bowles in 2012, Dozier in 2013 and Chism last season. Three led their teams to the Commissioner’s Cup title – Bowles in 2012, Dozier in 2013 and Johnson last season.

Making their PBA debut are Williams, Wilkerson, Rhett, Onuaku, Gilchrist and Adeleke. The returning six are Jeffers, Bowles, Dozier, Johnson, Thornton and Chism. Two imports were varsity teammates at the University of Tennessee. Chism and Williams played together with the Tennessee Volunteers for three seasons from 2007-08 to 2009-10. Williams saw action for Petron when the Blaze Boosters captured the ABL crown in 2013. Aside from the ABL, Williams suited up in leagues in Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Bahrain. Chism played in Turkey, Hungary, France, Israel and Lebanon. His wife Deedee Harrison is a professional volleyball player coming off a stint in Bangkok.

Onuaku was lined up to play for San Miguel last season but chose to try his luck in the US leagues. He is Meralco’s third choice after NBA D-League rebounding champion Alex Stephenson declined the offer and Malcolm Thomas of San Diego State was injured in practice. Onuaku played four years with the Syracuse varsity and finished his collegiate career as the Orangemen’s all-time field goal percentage leader at .648.

The youngest import is Rhett who ended his varsity career at Mississippi as a post-graduate student in 2014-15. The 23-year-old center is fresh from playing in the Italian Serie A2 league. The oldest is Adeleke who turns 33 today.

Wilkerson’s varsity teammates at Marshall University included San Miguel Beer’s Chris Ross and Chris Lutz so they’ll be reunited at San Miguel. Wilkerson has the most impressive offensive stats among the imports. Last year, he averaged 35.1 points and 15.3 rebounds in 19 games with Hang Sen Guayzhou in the Chinese second-tier National Basketball League. Wilkerson shot at least 40 points in eight games, once hit 51 and grabbed at least 20 boards in four outings.