IT should be a no-brainer to put the late Bobby Parks among the first on the list of best PBA imports of all-time.
After all, Parks was the only reinforcement to win the Best Import award more than three times, winning it a record seven times.
But while contemporary Sean Chambers was among those who Parks beat for some of his awards, Chambers wouldn’t put him among his greatest rival imports.
Sean Chambers on greatest rival imports
Chambers, the resident Alaska import, reserved the list for two relatively younger counterparts known for their steady consistency that led to team success.
One is Lamont Strothers.
“Bobby Parks was a guy that I absolutely admire the most, but I think playing against Lamont earlier in his career, I was able to get the best of him. Then I was getting older, Lamont was able to get the best of me,” Chambers said on SPIN Zoom In.
Gracing the PBA from 1997 to 2002, Strothers strutted his stuff for San Miguel, which he led to two championships, including the 1999 Governors’ Cup where he was also named Best Import.
Chambers made another choice that early 1990s fans wouldn’t expect.
“I thought Derrick Brown was pretty phenomenal,” Chambers said of the former Purefoods TJ Hotdogs stalwart and two-time Best Import – one of only 10 reinforcements to become multiple-time winners of the award.
D’Flight won his two awards in the 2000 and 2002 editions of the Governors’ Cup, the second one after towing the TJ Hotdogs to the championship.
“A lot of people would think I would select Carlos Briggs or Tony Harris, but I appreciated the consistency of Lamont Strothers and also Derrick Brown, how they were able to maintain their success over a long period of time,” Chambers said.
Those selections probably remind Chambers of himself, a model of consistency evidenced by his two-decade PBA career that saw him lead Alaska to six championships.
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