JUSTIN Brownlee is more than willing to run it back with Meralco should another East Asia Super League opportunity come along.
The Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player did not mince any word about doing it again with the Bolts if given another shot at donning the orange and blue jersey.
“Hopefully I get the chance to come here again,” said Brownlee after Meralco’s Season 3 campaign came to an end on Wednesday night following an 88-79 loss at the hands of the Ryukyu Golden Kings at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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"One hundred percent," Meralco coach Luigi Trillo butted in about the prospect of Brownlee coming back for another tour of duty.
Brownlee, 37, finished with 12 points, four rebounds, and six assists, but shot just 3-of-13 from the floor in his second and final game in a Meralco jersey.
“I personally think I didn’t play too well (tonight),” he acknowledged. “But I hope I get another opportunity.”
Expectations were high in Meralco’s third straight campaign in the EASL especially after announcing the hiring of Brownlee and old PBA rival Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to reinforce the Bolts in the home-and-away tournament.
Unfortunately, Brownlee got sick and missed out on the first four games of the Bolts.
Asian import Sina Vahedi also didn’t get on board until its third game. By then, Meralco was already on the back foot with a 0-2 slate.
Brownlee finally became available early in December and teamed up with Hollis-Jefferson, Vahedi, and import Ismael Romero in a 93-91 win over the Macau Black Bears.
Unfortunately, Hollis-Jefferson sustained an ACL injury during the game against the Black Bears and was declared out for the rest of the season.
The Barangay Ginebra import called the injury to Hollis-Jefferson ‘very unfortunate.’
“Rondae is an absolutely very special player. Just like myself and the rest of the guys, we would love for him to be here. You can see the rhythm he had with the team will only get better,” said Brownlee of his fellow Best Import awardee.
Cady Lalanne, the import of NLEX in the coming PBA Commissioner’s Cup, was loaned to Meralco on short notice, and while he did blend with Brownlee and Romero, it was obvious the chemistry among them wasn’t there yet.
The end result had Meralco falling short again of making the post-season for the third straight season despite finishing its campaign with the best ever record of any PBA team in EASL history at 3-3.
So given another chance and with Ginebra’s consent, Brownlee is more than willing to be back with the Bolts after averaging 12.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.0 block shot in his two games with the team.
“I really enjoyed the EASL and I definitely would go and play for Meralco,” he said.
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