It’s official. George King will return to the Blackwater Bossing for the Commissioner’s Cup Season 49 Philippine Basketball Association set to start next month.
In a tournament with no height restriction for imports, Blackwater team owner Dioceldo Sy is making a bold move to field the 6-foot-5 former Phoenix Suns guard.
“The King is coming back at the end of October after he formally signed just recently,” Sy told BusinessMirror on Friday. “We will be sacrificing height this conference. So it is going to be a lot quicker for us.”
King led the Governors’ Cup elimination round in four-point shots made with 17 and 11 three-point made in just seven games.
Unfortunately, the Bossing were edged out of the quarterfinals by NLEX on superior quotient of +6 after ending up with similar 5-5 records in Pool B.
With Troy Rosario not returning to the Bossing next conference as he enters free agency, Sy remains confident that Bradwyn Guinto and Clifford Jopia can get the job done in the shaded lane alongside their prolific guards Sedrick Barefield and RK Ilagan plus King.
King averaged 40.2 points, 13.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists in seven games for the Bossing as a replacement for import Ricky Ledo.
King posted 64 points in his last game to guide Blackwater on a 139-118 rout of Rain or Shin on the final day of the elimination round.
“I told coach Jeff [Cariaso] let us face reality we cannot go to finals. But with the King, we can reach quarters and bonus if it is semifinals,” Sy said, noting that they are tired of hiring new import that might be a “lemon” again.
