THE SEASON-ENDING Governor’s Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association gets underway today with a lone road game in Tacloban City.
The Derby Ace Llamados will be parading new recruit Joe Devance when they face the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters starting at 6 p.m.
Devance is a welcome addition for the Llamados, especially since Kirby Raymundo will be out for several months after injuring his foot in a recent exhibition game in Cebu.
The tournament will be spiced up by a mixture of newcomers and returning imports.
The conference will have nine competing teams after the Barako Bull Energy Boosters decided to skip the tournament. They also missed the previous Commissioner’s Cup.
Based on their rankings in the previous two conferences, the nine competing teams will have imports with different height limits.
Rain or Shine, Air21, the Alaska Aces and the Meralco Bolts can hire import as tall as 6-foot-4. The Powerade Tigers are allowed to tap a 6-foot-6 import, while the grandslam-seeking Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, Petron Blaze (formerly San Miguel Beer), the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings and the Llamados can have imports not taller than 6-foot-2.
Today’s lone match will feature debuting imports with Stefhon Hannah suiting up for the Llamados and Arizona Reid playing for the Elasto Painters. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA