Freeman leads 'balik-imports' in PBA Fiesta tilt

Former Best Import Gabe Freeman of San Miguel Beer will bring his act anew along with other "balik-imports" when the Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference opens shop on March 20.

Freeman is currently in town playing for the Philippine Patriots in the Asean Basketball League finals and he’ll be hooking up with the Beermen after his stint in the fledging league. Also set to return for a tour of duty in the PBA are Jai Lewis for Rain or Shine, Anthony Johnson for Sta. Lucia and Chris Porter for Ginebra. Lewis steered the Elasto Painters to their first-ever semifinals stint in the league last season. The burly but shifty Lewis is a former teammate of Gabe Norwood with the George Mason University Patriots in the US NCAA, who went all the way to the Final Four. Johnson will be on his third outing in the country. An energetic player who plays solid at both ends of the court, Johnson first played for the Coca-Cola Tigers in 2007 but was replaced by Jeff Varem. The following year, he was picked up by Sta. Lucia and suited up for the Realtors in the Brunei Cup and the Fiesta Conference. Porter, on the other hand, played for the Gin Kings in the 2005-06 season. He piloted the team to the semis but went a game short of reaching the championship round after losing to James Penny and the Red Bull Barakos in Game 7 of the semis. But while teams are bringing in old faces, Coca-Cola has decided to shop around for a young reinforcement. The Tigers are now looking at Jason Forte, brother of former Boston Celtics and Seattle Supersonics guard Joseph Forte. Coca-Cola coach Bo Perasol revealed that Forte is now in town to try to land a spot in the team. “He agreed to come here and paid his own travel ticket just to tryout for a spot in the team," said Perasol of Forte. “There’s no guarantee yet. We will evaluate him." - GMANews.TV