By Jonas Terrado
A mix of holdovers and fresh blood will comprise the roster of the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas for its defense of the ASEAN Basketball League crown which begins on Dec. 9.
Reigning Local Most Valuable Player Ray Parks Jr., world import Renaldo Balkman and Lawrence Domingo will be joined by ex-Kia import PJ Ramos and Fil-Americans Caelan Tiongson, Ethan Alvano and Brandon Rosser as Alab braces for a tough journey to retain the title this season.
Alab, which became the third Filipino ABL champion after beating Thailand’s Mono Vampire in five games, will be up for a tougher task with the regional league having a record 10 teams coupled with new eligibility rules.
Starting this season, teams are allowed to field three world imports while local players can play for other teams from countries whose parent is a citizen.
“I know we all heard of there that everyone’s saying that the Philippine team is so strong, but I’m not really much into that,” said Alab coach Jimmy Alapag during yesterday’s press launch at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.
“We still have a job to do, and we’ll keep continue to work as we get ready for Dec. 9. Every team has gone better and we know when you are the defending champion, you know you gonna get every team’s shot,” he added.
Out to foil Alab’s title-retention bid are Mono, Macau Black Bears (formerly Chong Son Kung Fu), Hong Kong Eastern, Singapore Slingers, Indonesia’s CLS Knights, Vietnam’s Saigon Heat, Westports Malaysia Dragons, Taiwan’s Formosa Dreamers and expansion team Zhuhai Wolf Warriors of China.
