The recently cornewd Philippine Cup Champion Meralco Bolts may not be the deepest or most talented squad, but they sure are bringing maybe the most imposing team to when the 49th Season kicks off with the Governor's Cup on 18 August 2024. The tournament allows teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m).
The Bolts already brought in a three-time winner of the PBA Best Import Awardee Allen Durham, who is poised to maintain his dominance in the big boys’ league and will aim to bring that one thing he failed to win in the Philippines during his stint, a championship trophy.
Durham first arrived with the Meralco franchise during the 2016 PBA season and immediately made an impact when he led the young team to playoff qualification. With his dominant two-way performance, he was always lauded for his work ethic and great locker-room leadership.
It was Durham who steered Meralco to their first three PBA Finals appearances but lost in all title matches as Justin Brownlee and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel hindered their plans for the golden trophy.
The Meralco Bolts frontline will be spearheded by Durham, Raymond Almazan, Cliff Hodge, Brandon Bates, Kyle Pascual, Raymar Jose and Norbert Torres. That is a massive wall of at least 6-foot-6 tall that can alternately rotate and defend mobile bigs and break through the screens set for jump shooters.
Allein Maliksi, John Quinto, Jansen Rios, Alvin Pasaol and Jose Mendoza can fill in the small-forward role capable of shooting three at any given time. Rios and Mendoza might be relegated to the reserves to give way to the new rookies, but would be effective choices when the All-Filipino campaign starts next year.
The old guard reliables composed of the recent Finals MVP Chris Newsome, the much improved Chris Banchero, the spitfire Anjo Caram and the steady nerves of Diego Dario are still there next month together with the back-from-injury Aaron Black. The question now is, will any of these guards allow themselves to be outshined by rookies CJ Cansino and Kurt Reyson?
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