Batang Pier, who suddenly became a contender with the acquisition of Sol Mercado and Japeth Aguilar in separate deals, and the Boosters meet at 5:15 p.m. to be followed by the San Mig Coffee-Barako Bull tussle in the main game at 7:30 p.m.Globalport also has a new coach in Junel Baculi, who replaced Glen Capacio, now the first assistant coach in the squad.
“With the players that we got from trades, Globalport looks competitive on paper,” said Baculi. “But we still have to build chemistry. Good thing is, they are all veterans.”
Mercado, the top scorer of the previous Philippine Cup, will join forces with reigning scoring champ Gary David and two-time MVP Willie Miller.
The Batang Pier are pararding Justin Williams, who will be pitted against NBA veteran and Petron Blaze’s reinforcement Renaldo Balkman, regarded as the yardstick among the imports this conference.
“It’s going to be tough versus Petron but we will compete. Justin Williams is very coachable and has good attitude towards his teammate and the game,” said Baculi.
In the main tiff, the Mixers start their title defense bid against the Energy Cola, who also made a lot of acquisitions during the break.
Barako Bull retained Bong Ramos as interim coach and signed ex-SMART-Gilas coach Rajko Toroman as team consultant. The team has Evan Brock as reinforcement.
“Barako Bull, with Coach Toroman, their new additions and Brock, has the opportunity to be very good this conference. They are truly a dark horse in this race,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone, who also has new players in Leo Najorda, Alex Mallari and Lester Alvarez.
But the Mixers lost JC Intal and Jonas Villanueva, who are now with the Energy Cola, and Aldrech Ramos, now with Alaska, in the multi-player trade deal.
San Mig Coffee is parading Matt Rogers as its import.
“It will be a tough game for us. We need time for our new players and for everyone to get used to the system we want,” said Toroman.
source
