PBA tackles Marcus Douthit bid to play as import

PBA IMAGE/ Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines – Marcus Douthit’s desire to play in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup will be tackled by the league’s board of governors in its regular meeting scheduled Wednesday.

The naturalized center of the Smart Gilas national team has expressed his willingness to play even if he has a commitment to play in China until Feb. 15. The second conference opens three days before that.

The possibility of Douthit playing as an import cropped up last year when the league board held a meeting in Hong Kong, and there were suggestions that his services be raffled off to all interested teams in the field.

Teams owned by Pangilinan
The Smart Gilas team, by all intents and purposes, is closely associated with the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters and the Meralco B-Boys teams owned by business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, who also heads the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Talk ‘N Text, Meralco, Barako Bull, Air21 and B-Meg have expressed interest in Douthit although they already have reinforcements for the Commissioner’s Cup, where ballclubs are allowed imports of unlimited height.

The hard-working, 6-foot-11 Douthit showed his mettle in several international tournaments for the Nationals last year. His last competition exposure came in the Fiba Asia championship where he held his own against some of the continent’s best centers.

NBA veteran for Powerade
Powerade, which is down 0-2 vs Talk ‘N Text in the Philippine Cup Finals, has enlisted NBA D-League veteran Dwayne Jones, while Rain or Shine will be bannered by NBA old hand Jake Voskhul.

Voskhul, now 32, played nine seasons and a total of 450 games in the NBA, including stints at Golden State, Chicago, Phoenix, Toronto, Milwaukee, Charlotte and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Chris Alexander, the charismatic 7-footer who led Barangay Ginebra to the Fiesta Conference crown in 2008, will be back for another tour of duty with the crowd-darling Gin Kings.

Alexander won the Best Import award along the way as the Kings came back from a 2-3 deficit to nip Bo Perasol, the Air21 Express and import Steve Thomas in the rubber match of a pulsating seven-game series.

B-Meg’s face-saving plan

Denzel Bowles will be playing for B-Meg and this early, the Llamados’ 6-10 find has reportedly been one of the most impressive in the lot.

B-Meg needs a face-saving act after being eliminated by No. 8 Powerade in the quarterfinals of the Philippine Cup.

The Llamados came into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and were just the third squad ever to suffer such fate in the history of the league.

Dermarr Johnson suits up for Barako Bull, Jelani McCoy will be Meralco’s import, Nick Fazekas will play for Petron Blaze, Matt Saryas will be Alaska’s man and Omar Samhan will strut his stuff for Talk ‘N Text.