MANILA, Philippines—NorthPort added another high volume scorer as it acquired Jerramy King from Columbian for newly-traded guard Juami Tiongson.
Even though King spent much of the 2019 season sidelined with an injury, his form in the 2018 Governors’ Cup was spectacular.
King unleashed an average of 20.2 points in last season’s third conference while also resigtering 6.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.4 steals.
Tiongson was initially traded for Michael Miranda, who spent his brief time with the Batang Pier in the reserve list, but he now joins the Dyip’s backcourt with 2018 top overall pick CJ Perez and Rashawn McCarthy.
NorthPort also shipped bruisers Joseph Gabayni and Lervin Flores to the Dyip for Russell Escoto.
The 6-foot-6 Escoto, a part of the Gilas cadets back in 2016, played sparingly in the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup with an average of 3.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in nine minutes a game but NorthPort head coach Pido Jarencio has a knack of finding hidden talent.
A classic case of a player finding his niche under Jarencio’s system is big man Moala Tautuaa.
Tautuaa was an under-utilized big man under TNT, averaging just 8.6 points and 7.8 rebounds in the 2018 Philippine Cup but found a resurgence with the Batang Pier and put up 18.4 points and 8.8 rebounds a season later.