Best Import race: Wild, wooly
BROWNLEE, PHELPS, HARRIS, FULLER AMONG TOP BETS
Reigning back-to-back Governors Cup Best Import Allen Durham and Commissioner’s Cup King Justin Brownlee lead a wide-open fight for the coveted plum among imports entering the post-elims play of the PBA season-ending tourney.
NLEX’s Aaron Fuller, San Miguel Beer’s Kevin Murphy, Phoenix Petroleum’s Eugene Phelps and Alaska Milk’s Mike Harris are also all legitimate Best Import contenders.
Blackwater’s Henry Walker and Magnolia’s Romeo Travis are down on the stats but are making a case for themselves as they are making the players around them better.
The race, however, could well go down to only among the imports of the teams that will make it to the Final Four. PBA commissioner Willie Marcial is among those who consider the current batch as among the best assemblies of imports seen in the local pro league.
It features no less than five former Best Import winners in Durham, Brownlee, Travis, Marqus Blakely and Arizona Reid and legit NBA players in Walker, Murphy and Harris.
Brownlee, Harris and Travis are among the stats leaders, piling up huge numbers in leading their teams to a Top Four finish in the elims.
The three also happen to be among seven imports hooked up with their teams from the start.
Standouts among import replacements are Fuller and Murphy.
Fuller, a sub to injury-hit Olu Ashaolu, leads all comers in scoring with 32.3 points a game. He also norms 17.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks.
Next in the scoring ladder are Brownlee (31.9), Murphy (31.6), Phelps (31.1), Harris (29.8), Durham, Ashaolu and Woods with similar averages of 27.0, and Walker (25.7).
No. 1 in the business of rebounding is Harris with 21.7, followed by Phelps (18.5), Fuller (17.86), Durham (17.8), Blakely (15.25), Travis (15.09) and Ashaolu (15.0).
Best in playmaking is Blakely (7.75), followed by Durham (7.3), Brownlee (6.5), Walker (5.9), Wright (5.73) and Murphy (5.5).
Deadliest from beyond the arc is Murphy with 4.67 conversions per game. Next is Wright (2.45), then Walker (2.4), Woods (2.36), Harris (2.18) and Brownlee (2.10).
Percentage-wise, Murphy is also on top on his 47-percent clip, followed by Walker (41 percent), Blakely and Harris both at 33 percent, then Wright at 31 percent.