MACAO – Coach Garrett Kelly of the Macau Black Knights isn’t planning to switch imports in the Commissioner’s Cup, which he can do as per an agreement with the PBA as part of the concessions given to guest teams.
Although the decision to change personnel isn’t entirely in his hands, Kelly still believes Tony Mitchell’s height and heft are exactly what the guard-heavy team from Macau needs at this point in its campaign.
“That’s not my call. Lukas Peng is over here and he’s our president,” said Kelly, who arrived in this former Portuguese territory on Saturday, or less than 24 hours after the Black Knights suffered a 110-93 beating at the hands of Barangay Ginebra at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I love Tony and I think you saw what Tony can do,” he told SPIN.ph. “We’re a guard-heavy team. I think most PBA teams have all Filipino homegrown guards and then they bring in Bol Bol, or they bring in Kylor Kelley, or they bring in Jaylen Johnson. They bring in a massive, scoring punch.”
And for the Black Knights to be on even terms with these teams with giant imports, Macau needs the presence of the 6-foot-7 Mitchell, a former NBA player who had stints in the PBA before suiting up for Magnolia and NLEX, respectively.
“We need Tony to rebound and play defense. He gets the ball around the rim, just dunk it,” said Kelly. “We just needed for him to do it for 35-40 minutes a game.”
Initially, Mitchell and massive 7-foot-6 Maltese Sam Deguara were pencilled to alternate as imports for the Black Knights in the mid-season conference, until Deguara decided to accept an offer to play in Taipei.
Serving as Macau’s other import now is Oscar Lopez, one of five naturalized player who suited up for Cambodia in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games. Lopez though is a wingman, and stands at 6-foot-4.
Garrett, a product of Loyola University Maryland, admitted though, Mitchell isn’t in top playing shape yet.
“Right now I think he can try to do it for 20-25 (minutes). And he’s in practice every day. As soon as practice ends, he’s doing sprints. He’s doing 10 dunks in a row,” he said.
“He’s putting in the work. He’s just got to get his body to that point. As your career progresses, your body changes. And you learn different ways to take care of yourself and what is required of you to get to a point where you can deliver what you need to be able to deliver. And Tony is working on that.”
Besides, Kelly said Mitchell’s athleticism suits the Black Knights’ run-and-gun, guard-dominant style of play.
“We now have an athletic big that can run the floor, block shots, and do different coverages on defense,” said the veteran coach. “We just got to get him to get his wind back so he can do it the whole game.”
In three games with Macau, Mitchell has averaged 16.6 points and 9.0 rebounds.
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