LAST month, we ran a story about the five PBA big men that Jerry Codiñera found the toughest to defend, with Ramon Fernandez, Abet Guidaben, Manny Victorino, Benjie Paras, and Yoyoy Villamin making his elite list.
Aside from the locals, we also asked Codiñera about the imports that he had to face on the defensive side of the game. ‘The Defense Minister’ obliged with a list of great imports who he said were hard to stop.
Among the names he mentioned were Bobby Parks and Tony Harris, players that were not big men but were nevertheless a tough defensive assignment for the team.
Codiñera described Parks as “fast” while Harris ability to score, as proven by his PBA record of 105 points, made him such a difficult assignment not only for their guards but also for bigs such as him.
“Pipick-up sa taas, ako ang help side. Malas sa 35 (points) ‘yun,” said Codiñera of Harris.
The five-time PBA champion also mentioned the names of Devin Davis and Ronnie Thompkins as imports who were a challenge to defend.
Their size was the primordial concern for Codiñera. The 6-foot-7 Davis played for Alaska, winning the Best Import award in the 1998 Commissioner’s Cup. The 6-foot-8 Thompkins taok the same plum in the 1993 Commissioner’s Cup with Swift.
The next two names were imports who saw action in the PBA when Codiñera was part of the Northern Consolidated national program that played as guest team in the league, and gave him the realization that the pro league is a different stage.
Michael Hackett, known as the import who scored 103 points for Barangay Ginebra in 1985, easily made the list. Codiñera said Hackett’s brute strength was hard to handle at a time when he was still technically an amateur player.
“Malakas at overpowering ang lakas niya at that time. Bago ako sa Northern Cement nun,” said Codiñera, recalling his face-offs with the explosive import.
David Pope may not be as widely-popular as the other PBA imports who came in the country, but Codiñera remembers him. A product of Norfolk State, Pope played for the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA in 1985 but played for Tanduay a year before.
Being a youngster, Codiñera said his role back then was to commit duty fouls against Pope in the hope of containing the Tanduay import.
“Taga-foul ang trabaho ko nun. Hindi naman foul lang ang gagawin mo. Pina-foul din namin nung nasa RP (team) kami,” said Codiñera.
John Best rounds out the names on Codiñera’s list as imports. While he rarely guarded Best one-on-one, he said the former San Miguel and Shell import in the late 1990s was a tough cover because of his capability to play inside and out at 6-foot-8.
“Hindi [ko siya nababantayan personally] pero nilalabas niya ako. Hirap ako sa match-up. Kapag malaki, ilalabas niya. Kapag maliit, ipoposte niya," said the former Purefoods slotman.
"Hindi siya hirap bantayan because of the physical aspect itself. He brings you out of your comfort zone. Effortless on his part,” added Codiñera.
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