Balik-imports spice up Fiesta Cup

Old faces, including Best Import awardees Tony Lang and Derrick Brown, are to make up the majority number of player reinforcements strutting their stuffs in the PBA Fiesta Cup which fires off Feb.22 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Lang and Brown together with fellow PBA veterans Jarmaine Walker, Julius Nwosu, Art Long, Ron Hale and Lenny Cooke are among those sought by the PBA ballclubs.

Veteran import agent Mike Gonzalez of AMG Sports told The STAR Lang and Hale have committed to play for Barangay Ginebra and Coca-Cola, respectively, after their stints with the Mitsubishi team in the ongoing Japanese league.

However, Gonzalez said Lang’s and Hale’s earliest availability would be mid-March if the Mitsubishi Dolphins make it to the semifinal round.

Last year, AMG Sports brought imports for all the PBA teams except Talk n Text and FedEx. It had Cooke playing for Purefoods, Artemus McClary for Coca-Cola, Ramel Lloyd for Red Bull Barako, Isaac Fontaine for Alaska, Damien Owens and Ray Tutt for Sta. Lucia, Ricky Price for Ginebra and Jamal Kendrick for Shell.

Lang, a member of the Duke back-to-back NCAA champion team in 1991 and 1992 and who saw action for five teams in six seasons with the NBA, had played two conferences with Red Bull, leading the Thunder to the 2001 Commissioner’s Cup championship.

Lang recommended Hale to the Coca-Cola Tigers for the 2003 Commissioner’s Cup. The Tigers finished third in that tournament where the Thunder again reigned supreme with Lang playing in tandem with Nwosu before being replaced by Sean Lampley.

Red Bull is considering re-enlisting Nwosu although it is currently entertaining a try-out in Carlos Willer of Pensacola Junior College. Nwosu is still playing in Lebanon.

With Lang still in Japan, Ginebra coach Allan Caidic is hoping to seal a deal with Walker — the deadly sniper who suited up for the FedEx Express in the 2002 Governors Cup.

Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio, meanwhile, said he’s bringing back either Brown or Cooke.

Brown, a backyard basketball legend in Brooklyn, New York, led the Hotdogs to the 2002 Governors Cup championship. Cooke, a high school standout in the US before LeBron James came, created a stir for the Hotdogs in last year’s Reinforced Conference but went home on a whimper as he cramped out in their do-or-die game versus the Alaska Aces.

San Miguel coach Jong Uichico said he has invited Long to return and he’s only awaiting a reply from the three-year NBA veteran from Rochester, New York.

It would be remembered that Long and Lang drew stiff sanctions from the league in the 2002 Commissioner’s Cup after figuring in a fight that nearly escalated into a full-blown riot among the Beermen and the Thunder at the Astrodome.

According to Gonzalez, a new face confirmed to play in the league is Troy State University’s Lamayn Wilson. Gonzalez refused to say which team Wilson would play for.

According to an Internet report, Wilson is an explosive player for TSU, has the ability to shoot from outside, as well as post up smaller defenders. Wilson led the Trojans in scoring with 19.4 points per game in his final year in the NCAA Athletic Sun Conference.

"Lamayn is the best natural shooter we’ve ever had at Troy State," TSU coach Dan Maestri was quoted as saying. "His touch is just phenomenal. Lamayn is also has great athletic ability and is a real competitor. He’s added a whole new dimension to our team."

In only two seasons, Wilson became the 19th member of the school’s 1000-point club with 1,014.