Meralco Bolts coach Luigi Trillo. –PBA IMAGES
Meralco will parade new import Shonn Miller on Saturday when it faces leader Magnolia in a crucial PBA Commissioner’s Cup tiff in Iloilo City.
The Bolts made it official by putting Miller in lieu of the high-scoring Zach Lofton, who played the previous three games following an injury sustained by Su Braimoh.
Miller is listed at 6-foot-7 and has played in the NBA G-League, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Germany and Mexico.
His arrival comes as Meralco looks to secure one of the three remaining twice-to-beat incentives for the quarterfinals while arresting a skid of three straight losses in all competitions.
After losing to Barangay Ginebra to fall 6-2 in the Commissioner’s Cup standings, Meralco dropped its two home games in the East Asia Super League to South Korea’s Seoul SK Knights and Taiwan’s New Taipei Kings.
Lofton ends his PBA stint with impressive three-game averages of 35.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists. He was initially tapped to play alongside Prince Ibeh as second import in the EASL, but had to be tapped for PBA duties after Braimoh hurt his Achilles against NLEX last Dec. 3.
Meralco initially wanted to have Braimoh’s replacement as someone who can fill its need inside, but eventually went with Lofton on a short-term basis.