With Greg Slaughter out, Kings opt for taller import

MANILA, Philippines — Due to the continued absence of 7-foot-1 Greg Slaughter, Barangay Ginebra was forced to drop 6-foot-7 import Shane Edwards for a bigger replacement in 6-foot-10 Charles Garcia.

Garcia, an NBA D-League champ and all-star player with a vast  experience of tours of duty abroad, arrives tonight, eight days before the Kings make their initial outing in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on April 29 against Rain or Shine.

“When we first contracted Shane Edwards, we believed Greg would be healthy and available to play, and Shane could play alongside him,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

“But with Greg’s injury, we feel that we need someone to replace Greg rather than play alongside him. So we’re bringing in a 6’10 big man in Charles Garcia who, a player I have scouted in the past,” Cone added.

The Kings will still be without Slaughter for a good part of the Commissioner’s Cup elimination round as he’s still nursing the same ankle injury that caused him to miss the Philippine Cup playoffs.

Standing just a little over 6’7, Edwards is undersized against hulking imports like Arinze Onuaku, Jarrid Famous and Vernon Macklin.

At first, Cone felt they would enjoy good strengths with Edwards, the former Cleveland Cavalier with a mean perimeter shooting and an ability to attack the basket as he has shown in his previous PBA stint with the Alaska Milk Aces in 2016.

But then the slow healing of Slaughter’s injury prompted Cone to consider looking for a post presence.

Minus Slaughter, the Kings got past the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the quarterfinals but were crushed by the San Miguel Beermen in the semifinals. The eventual champs disposed of the Kings in five games in their best-of-seven series.

The other ball clubs also chose huge guys, obviously in preparation for an uphill battle against June Mar Fajardo, Christian Standhardinger, Troy Gillenwater and the rest of the tall SMB team.

The other imports set to play in the tourney are Alaska Milk’s Antonio Campbell, NLEX’s Arnett Moultrie, Rain or Shine’s Reggie Johnson, San Miguel’s Troy Columbian Dyip’s CJ Aiken, GlobalPort’s Malcolm White, Phoenix’s James White.

Most of the teams opted for post presence, something that could make the Commissioner’s Cup more balanced than the Philippine Cup in terms of strength of the ball clubs.

“That’s the beauty of the import-laden conference. You could recruit an import to fill your need. In our case, we believe we find a good fit in Vernon Macklin,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero.