Simmons leads imports cast

MANILA, Philippines — The PBA Governors’ Cup begins this Sunday with a first-class import cast featuring six newcomers, including highly-touted NLEX recruit Jonathon Simmons and six returnees led by Barangay Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee. The import height limit is under 6-6 or 6-5 15/16 and Ginebra is the defending champion.

Simmons, 33, is the import to watch. He played for two junior colleges before suiting up a year for the University of Houston, averaging 14.7 points. Simmons then declared for the NBA draft but wasn’t picked despite attending workouts with Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta, Orlando, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Indiana. Desperate to play, he wound up with the Sugar Land Legends of the little-known American Basketball League, hitting at a 36.5 clip and shooting 48.5 percent from three. After the stint, he paid a registration fee of $150 to try out for the San Antonio Spurs’ D-League (now G-League) affiliate Austin Toros. Simmons was signed to a $20,000-a-year contract by the Toros and following two seasons, joined the Spurs in the NBA. He earned $14.7 million playing for San Antonio, Orlando and Philadelphia in four NBA seasons, norming 8.3 points in 258 games with 69 starts.

Among Simmons’ NBA teammates were Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler. He spent the last two seasons in the Chinese Basketball Association. The only other NBA veteran among the imports is Meralco’s KJ McDaniels who was picked on the second round by the Sixers in the 2014 draft. McDaniels, 29, played for Philadelphia, Houston and Brooklyn in three NBA campaigns, bankrolling $7.3 million. In 2019-20 Governors’ Cup, he saw action for TNT and averaged a league-high 35.1 points. McDaniels returned to play for NLEX in the next Governors’ Cup. In this year’s Commissioner’s Cup, McDaniels replaced Johnny O’Bryant to play six games for Meralco, averaging 27.3 points.

The other imports are Converge’s Ethan Rusbatch of the New Zealand national team, NorthPort’s Marcus Weathers of Southern Methodist University, Blackwater’s Shawn Glover who averaged 34.8 points for the Bossing in the last Governors’ Cup, Magnolia’s Eric McCree of Louisiana Tech, San Miguel Beer’s Cameron Clark who replaced McDaniels at NLEX in the last Governors’ Cup, Terrafirma’s Jordan Williams of the University of North Texas, Rain or Shine’s Michael Qualls who averaged 32.1 points for NorthPort in the 2019 Governors’ Cup, Phoenix’ Du’Vaughn Maxwell who was the Fuel Masters third import in the last Governors’ Cup, TNT’s Jalen Hudson of the University of Florida and Brownlee.

Hudson, 26, played at LeBron James’ alma mater St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Ohio and has seen action in Poland, Germany, Greece and Israel. Weathers, 25, is the youngest import, fresh out of school. McCree, 29, suited up for Portland, Orlando and Houston in the NBA Summer League and played in Italy, France, Denmark, Greece, Japan and Turkey. Williams, 30, is a seven-year Mexican league veteran with stops in England, Saudi Arabia, Dominican Republic, Argentina and Canada. Rusbatch, 30, averaged 11 points in New Zealand’s two wins over Gilas in the FIBA World Cup Asia qualifiers last year.