28 March 2017

Al-Hussaini Traded To NLEX

Rabeh
During his college days Rabeh Al-Hussaini has been dominating the shaded lane and many expect him to lord it over the PBA as well. Everything started well after being drafted second in the 2010 PBA Draft, but then everything slowly degraded after he took a leave of absence from the Meralco Bolts in 2014 to fix his citizenship issues in Kuwait.

What was originally expected to be just a 10-day trip wound up longer, and Al-Hussaini hasn't been seen in the PBA until he was welcome by the Bolts in 2015.

It now appears that the road to greatness will not be easy for the 6-foot-7 center despite the patience and understanding of coach Norman Black.

After a fruitful first season that saw him average 14.2 points and 6.9 rebounds a game with Air21 and Petron - good enough to win him Rookie of the Year - Al-Hussaini’s numbers saw a dip in production.

In his second year his averages dropped to 5.9 points and 2.9 rebounds a contest while having to deal with a torn ACL injury that sidelined him.

Before leaving the Bolts for Kuwait, he averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds a contest in 23 games.

What else can the Bolts do? The former Atenean is now just a shadow of his former self. The only option now is to trade him.

A few hours ago, the NLEX Road Warriors, winless in three tries so far in the 2017 Commissioner's Cup, decided to take the risk and add Al-Hussaini in their roster via a three-team trade.

Since direct trades is not allowed between sister teams, the Bolts sent Al-Hussaini to Blackwater Elite first in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2018 PBA Draft.

The Elite then sent Al-Hussaini to NLEX, in exchange for a 2017 second-round pick that it previously sent to the Road Warriors.

Al-Hussaini has had an underwhelming PBA career. In the last conference, he averaged 6.3 points and 2.1 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per game. He has not suited up for the Bolts so far in the Commissioner's Cup owing to the presence of import Alex Stepheson.

The trade reunites Al-Hussaini with Yeng Guiao, who was his first coach in the PBA.

The question now is, is Asi Taulava going to be move as well?

No comments:

Post a Comment