Raymundo debuts in Gin King jersey

Raymundo debuts in Gin King jersey
SATURDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2012 19:45 JOEL ORELLANA

KERBY RAYMUNDO debuts for Baragay Ginebra on Sunday as the Kings battle sister team Petron Blaze in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Dealt during the break from B-MEG, the six-foot-six lanky forward will be the focal point in the Gin Kings’ 6:30 p.m. duel with the Boosters.

Rain or Shine squares off with Alaska at 4:15 p.m. with the Aces hoping to bounce back from a 78-98 loss to Barako Bull at the start of the midseason conference on Friday.

Raymundo, who like James Yap was the face of the Llamados in the last two years, has started to feel at home in his new team.

“Kerby is getting fine. Hindi naman biglaan na makuha niya agad ang sistema. But he’s getting there,” said Kings head coach Siot Tanquingcen.

“Sila nila Dylan [Ababou], they’ve been here almost a month pa lang but slowly, nakakasabay na. We’re happy to have them both in the team,” he added.

In that deal, Ginebra lost Ronald Tubid and Reil Cervantes to the Energy and JC Intal to B-MEG—for the veteran Raymundo and the rookie Ababou.

The Kings will again be reinforced by Chris Alexander, the six-foot-nine reinforcement who helped Ginebra win its last crown in the PBA in the 2008 Fiesta Conference.

Petron is also boasting of a potent import in Nick Fazekas, who was the first of the reinforcements to arrive in the country. Listed at six-foot-11, the 235-lb Fazekas was Nevada’s all-time leading scorer and was the only player in US NCAA history to score 2,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds and shoot 50 percent from the field and 80 percent from the line.

Those impressive numbers allowed Fazekas to join the ranks of Rick Barry, Larry Bird, Bill Bradley, Christian Laettner and Keth Van Horn as the stars of the NCAA.

The Boosters would be playing the Kings without Marcio Lassiter, the spitfire they intend to secure from Powerade. Commissioner Chito Salud has yet to act on the proposed trade.

Assistant coach Caloy Garcia will handle the Elasto Painters in lieu of head coach Yeng Guiao, who is still out of the country.

Rain or Shine is parading Duke Crews, the smallest import in the tournament at six-foot-eight. The team’s original pick, Jake Voskhul, an NBA veteran, is not in game shape and was shipped home.

Crews will be pitted against seven-foot Adam Parada, who scored 16 points in their loss to the Energy on Friday.

(Joel Orelana)

Source: Business Mirror