May 18, 2019

New imports Chris Daniels, Kyle Barone draw attention as Alaska and Columbian collide

No rest for the weary.

With the Philippine Cup barely done, the Philippine Basketball Association opens its second conference - the Commissioner's Cup - Sunday with a double-header featuring former champ Alaska Milk versus Columbian Dyip in the 6:45 p.m. mainer at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

The Aces and the Dyip, together with the NLEX Road Warriors, finished in the all-Filipino tourney with identical 4-7 win-loss records.

Alaska gained the eighth and last berth in the playoffs upon the application of the quotient tiebreak system. But the Aces failed to make it past the quarterfinals, succumbing in one game against the top-seeded Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters.

Both the Aces and the Dyip look to fare better in the second conference, banking on highly touted reinforcements -- Chris Daniels for Alaska and Kyle Barone for Columbian.

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The impressive list of imports in the mid-season tourney includes Justin Brownlee (Ginebra), Charles Rhodes (San Miguel), Rob Dozier (Phoenix), Denzel Bowles (Rain or Shine), former Houston Rocket Terrence Jones (TNT), Gani Lawal (Meralco), Prince Ibeh (NorthPort) and Alex Stepheson (Blackwater).

Daniels and Barone are among the new faces.

Daniels is a 6-foot-9 forward from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi who is veteran of the Korean league with titles won with Jeonju KCC Egis and Anyang KGC.

He's a winner who has also been part of a champion team in the NBA G-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2013.

Barone, an inch shorter at 6-foot-8, brought his stuff most recently in the ABL with the Saigon Heat, averaging 21.1 points, 13.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 blocks. He has had stops in Poland, Hungary, Japan and Taiwan, making him a certified veteran of international wars.(SB)

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