Filipino fans will finally get a chance to size up highly touted Asean Basketball League stars in Jason Brickman and Matthew Wright as guest team Blustar Detergent makes its entry in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup set on June 2.
The Dragons will be composed of the core of the reigning ABL champions Westport Malaysia Dragons led by former ABL coach of the year Ariel Vanguardia.
With two PBA prospects at the helm, Vanguardia recently steered the Westport Malaysia Dragons to the 2016 ABL title with Brickman nabbing the Finals Most Valuable Player award in the process.
The 5’10 guard finished with 22 points in the decisive Game 5 victory as they fended off the Singapore Slingers 77-65 for their first ever ABL title.
Wright on the other hand is no slouch as well as he was named the ABL Heritage MVP in his lone season with the Dragons.
The 6’4 sweet-shooting Fil-Canadian averaged 23.1 points, 4.2 boards and three assists for the season.
With the two leading the way, the Dragons can definitely make some waves in the D-League despite the absence of imports Reggie Johnson and Calvin Godfrey.
“We are looking to develop our Malaysian locals that’s why we are joining the D-League. We want to expose them to competitions outside of Malaysia,” said Vanguardia.
The entry of the Dragons completed the seven-team cast of the Foundation Cup which for the first time will be played in a double round robin format in the eliminations, before getting the top four teams for the semis.
Defending champion CafeFrance and Aspirants’ Cup champion Phoenix Petroleum will still be the two teams to watch as Caida Tiles, Tanduay Rhum, AMA Online Education and Mindanao Aguilas return for the league’s go-home conference.