Bey leads race for Best Import plum
Tyler Bey looks poised to win the highly-coveted Best Import award provided the Magnolia Hotshots make it to the championship round of the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.
In the event Bey and the Hotshots advance, there should be no stopping the 25-year-old athletic forward from bagging the award and becoming the first reinforcement from the Purefoods franchise to win it in over a decade.
Marqus Blakely, who helped San Mig Coffee to a grand slam in 2014, was the last Best Import winner from the franchise and he pulled it off during the 2013 Governors’ Cup.
Bey has averaged 28.1 points, 13.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game, but his overall value can be seen more on the defense and hustle charts as he proved to be the right fit for Magnolia.
“I think this guy is capable of carrying us all the way,” said Hotshots coach Chito Victolero. “Not only is he’s a good import, but he also has a great character.”
“It’s rare to find a good import with great character and with Tyler, we’re fortunate to have an import possessing these qualities.”
Bey’s closest rival for the award is Jonathan Williams of Phoenix and unless he does something spectacular to help turn around the fortunes of the Fuel Masters, Bey is expected to run away with the top individual plum.
Like Bey, Williams is also a great fit to the system of the Fuel Masters as they have found somebody who could become their primary contributor on offense and interior defense.
Most of the time, imports who succeed in carrying their respective teams to the finals and imports of champion teams end up taking top honors.