Back to the grind

The PBA unveils this season’s second conference at the PhilSports Arena today, featuring two retooled teams and foreign guest squad Eastern. Converge and Terrafirma face off at 5 p.m. while Eastern tangles with Phoenix at 7:30 p.m.

Commissioner’s Cup defending champion San Miguel Beer won’t be in action until Dec. 3 so coach Jorge Gallent has a week to decide which import to tap. His choices are San Miguel’s EASL reinforcement 6-8 3/4 Quincy Miller and 6-9 Troy Baxter, Jr. Gallent’s Governors’ Cup import EJ Anosike, who’s also playing in EASL, is another option. Miller, 32, was Denver’s second-round pick in the 2012 NBA draft and played for the Nuggets, Sacramento and Detroit in a three-year NBA career. He suited up for Converge in 2022 and TNT in 2023. Baxter, 28, came close to playing for the Chicago Bulls in 2021 after seeing action for Morgan State University. He has played in the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Lebanon, New Zealand, Uruguay and Canada.

Since the conference has no height limit for imports, measurement isn’t required. Excluding San Miguel’s import, there are five returnees – Ginebra’s 6-4 5/8 Justin Brownlee, 36, TNT’s 6-5 5/8 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, 29, Blackwater’s 6-4 1/2 George King, 30, Magnolia’s 6-7 3/4 Ricardo Ratliffe, 35, and Eastern’s 6-5 5/16 Cameron Clark, 33. The newcomers are Converge’s 6-8 Cheick Diallo, 28, Meralco’s 6-9 Akil Mitchell, 32, NLEX’ Mike Watkins, 29, NorthPort’s 6-9 Kadeem Jack, 32, Rain or Shine’s 6-11 Kenneth Kadji, 36, Phoenix’ 6-9 Donovan Smith, 31, and Terrafirma’s 7-0 Ryan Richards, 33. It’s a diverse group of imports. Diallo is from Mali, Kadji was born in France and is from Cameroon, Mitchell is a naturalized player for Panama, Richards was born in England, Brownlee plays for the Philippines and RHJ, for Jordan. Ratliffe was with the South Korean national team. The oldest players are Brownlee and Kadji, both 36 (Kadji is a month younger). King, Diallo, Mitchell and RHJ are NBA vets.

There are 78 single-round elimination games scheduled on 40 days up to Jan. 31. After the quarterfinals, the PBA will take a break to give way to the third FIBA Asia Cup qualifying window. Two out-of-town contests are in the calendar – Converge against Ginebra on Dec. 21 in Batangas City and San Miguel against Meralco in Candon, Ilocos Sur on Jan. 18. A Christmas doubleheader is set at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with Meralco taking on Converge in the initial match and Ginebra engaging Magnolia in a Manila Clasico battle. For the elims, three games will be played at Araneta, eight at PhilSports Arena, 11 at Ynares Center Antipolo, 15 at Ninoy Aquino Stadium and one at FilOil EcoOil Arena.

Converge will introduce Jordan Heading and Pao Javillonar with Balti Baltazar waiting in the wings (joining after the MPBL Finals) while Terrafirma welcomes Terrence Romeo, Vic Manuel, Mark Nonoy, Keith Zaldivar, CJ Catapusan and Aljun Melecio. Magnolia will bring in rookie Jerom Lastimosa, Ginebra is deeper with veteran Troy Rosario and San Miguel is checking in with Juami Tiongson and Andreas Cahilig. New coach is Terrafirma’s Raymond Tiongco, replacing Johnedel Cardel and new assistant coach is NLEX’ Siot Tanquingcen.