CHICAGO - Gregzilla is coming home.
After a two-season stint at the Japan B.League, one of the popular if polarizing figures in Philippine basketball is returning to the country where he once firmly established his footing as a dominant force.
Greg Slaughter, the former UAAP star who led Ateneo to two UAAP championships before becoming a four-time PBA champion, is taking his act to the Manila Stars of the MPBL.
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"Greg will arrive "sometime this weekend," team consultant Charles Tiu told me via text message.
The MPBL's Season 6 opened last April 6 and the Stars currently log a 4-2 record in a talent-laden North Division where league-leading San Juan Knights are 4-0 while defending champions Pampanga is 4-1.
Unfortunately for the Stars, they'd have to wait "maybe two weeks" before Slaughter can reinforce the team with the might of his 7-foot, 258-pound frame.
READY FOR TAKEOFF.
"He has to train with the team first and get used to playing with the guys and learn what the team is doing," Tiu explained.
After that immersion period, "we expect him to play every game for as long as he's with the team and we're hoping he can help us win a championship," Tiu added.
Per Asia Basket, Slaughter appeared in 30 games for the Rizing Zephyr of Fukuoka of the B.League's Division 2. He averaged 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds 0.3 blocks in 7.3 minutes of action per outing.
That's about to change in the MPBL largely because Greg is "fully healthy" now.
And that bodes well not just for the Stars, but also for the Manny Pacquiao-founded league that is starving for star power outside of Gov. Delta Pineda's Giant Lanterns who parade Justine Baltazar and Encho Serrano.
Without a known local agent in the Philippines coach Tiu "directly negotiated" with Greg who inked a contract for the remainder of the season which ends in December.
POWER BROKER.
For the record, Tiu is not an agent but he is a power broker who has more connections than PLDT. His network reaches all the way in the NBA.
Coach Charles also assembled billionaire Frank Lao's Strong Group Athletics (SGA) team that finished second in the prestigious Dubai tournament last January.
Tiu did not disclose the terms of Greg's deal but a team source told me Slaughter is getting paid somewhere around what he was banking per season in Japan.
And deservedly so.
Greg is already 35 years old now, but he's still big and long. And good.
Here's hoping this MPBL stint is just a pit stop on his road back to Japan, or perhaps, even in the PBA.
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