MANILA, Philippines - Alaska Milk and Rain or Shine have dismissed their original import choices without playing a single game with the Aces signing veteran PBA import Adam Parada in place of Jake Voskuhl and the Elasto Painters enlisting Duke Crews for Matt Haryasz.
Meralco is weighing its options with Jelani McCoy nursing a strained calf muscle.
Meanwhile, San Miguel Corp. has reportedly tapped former Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman as coaching consultant.
In another development, Powerade and Petron have forwarded to the PBA Commissioner’s Office the official document for their trade involving Tiger Marcio Lassiter and Boosters Noy Baclao and Rey Guevarra.
“I will consider and evaluate the trade at the appropriate time,” said PBA commissioner Chito Salud in a text message.
The league chieftain is currently out of the country. He’s returning in time for the PBA board meeting Friday where they tackle the reported resale of the Coca-Cola franchise to SMC.
Alaska and Rain or Shine quickly effected import change considering the PBA Commissioner’s Cup is a short tourney starting Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Aces battle the Barako Bull Energy at 5:15 p.m. while the Bolts clash with the B-Meg Llamados at 7:30 p.m. on opening day.
The next play date Sunday pits the Elasto Painters versus the Aces at 4:15 p.m. then the Petron Blaze Boosters against the Barangay Ginebra Kings at 6:30 p.m.
Each team plays only nine games in the elimination round with only the top six advancing to the playoffs.
It’s like a sprint race where the competing teams hardly have a room for mistake.
Having this in mind, the Aces brought in Parada, a tested player who helped Red Bull to a strong showing in 2008.
The seven-foot behemoth is likely to provide the Aces their needed inside presence, complementing backcourt stars LA Tenorio and Cyrus Baguio.
The Elasto Painters opted for real talent than size in signing up Crews, a 6-foot-7 forward out of Bowie State.
An All-American in high school, Crews had a one-year stint with University of Tennessee before moving over to Bowie State. He’s a vital cog in Tennessee’s run to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2007.
He was dismissed at Tennessee for violating team rules after a search of his campus apartment turned up what university police said was a “minor” amount of marijuana.
At Bowie State, Crews performed well enough in his final two years of college to become an NBA prospect.
Other imports seeing action in the Commissioner’s Cup are Denzel Bowles for B-Meg, DeMarr Johnson for Barako Bull, Chris Alexander for Ginebra, Nick Fazekas for Petron Blaze, Omar Samhan for Talk N Text, Dwayne Jones for Powerade and Marcus Douthit for Air 21.