PBA Analysis: San Miguel and TNT, did they made the right decision to change import?

 

Two of the title contenders in this 2021 Governors' Cup of the PBA decided to maximize this long break to replace their imports.

The question is, did they do the right thing?

TNT
TNT was forced to replace their import after McKenzie Moore suffered an injury. According to the news, their new import will be Aaron Fuller. 

What is happening now is very ironic because Fuller came from NLEX and the current import of NLEX, came from TNT. In a way, they traded imports.

Fuller though is proven in the PBA. In 2018, Fuller averaged 31.1 points, 16.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 52% FG per game. I think TNT will be fine adding a heavy scorer because the majority of their star players are capable defenders and play-finishers.

In short, this is a very good decision by TNT.

San Miguel
San Miguel's case is trickier. Unlike Moore, Brown did show that he is a fine PBA import. He manufactured 23.4 points, 12.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 44% FG per game. 

Brown's biggest problem is his fit with San Miguel. I was not a fan at first but after seeing more games, I did realize that there is a path for them to work out.

Unfortunately, they replaced him now with a heavy scorer in  Orlando Johnson. Orlando is the type of import that coach Leo Austria is familiar with. 

Overall, this has a much bigger chance of backfiring than that of TNT.