Since he started playing for Meralco in 2016, Allen Durham never really had a chance to play alongside a legitimate big man.
But now, as he returns for his fourth straight tour of duty with the Bolts, that’s about to change.
Durham will create a formidable frontcourt duo with Raymond Almazan, whom the Orangemen acquired via trade with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters earlier this season.
And the former two-time Best Import looks forward to playing alongside the athletic 6-foot-8 center.
“He’s gonna be a big help down low,” said Durham. “I just remember playing against him. He always changes shots on the defensive end and cleans up rebounds and stuff.
“So, to have that in addition to Bryan [Faundo] and Papa Rey (Reynel Hugnatan) and stuff like that, that’s only gonna make us stronger. Hopefully, we can make a run with that addition.”
Besides the key addition of Almazan, Durham – who’s been with the team for two weeks now – also likes the new offense. He believes they will be tough for opposing teams to contain.
“They put in a new offense. I like it. It’s more movement and it’s gonna make the defense have to react and move a lot more versus keying on me or keying on (Chris) Newsome, or any of our players.
“I think our offense is gonna be difficult for the opponents to guard us,” added the 31-year-old forward.
Durham and the Bolts are fueled by last season’s disappointment. Then, they saw their goal of going to the Finals for the third straight time spoiled when they fell to the Alaska Aces in the semis.
The 6-foot-5 forward is optimistic of Meralco’s chances this time around. But for them to accomplish what they really want, Durham said that they all need to stay healthy all throughout.
“I think the biggest thing is just staying healthy. [Before] we’re gonna play well during the regular season and then we’ll get to the playoffs, somebody will get hurt, somebody will go down. And that kinda just messes up our chemistry,” he said.
“So if we can stay healthy throughout the conference, I think we can be where we wanna be in.”
