Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian will have to do a lot of soul searching as he has yet to pick their import in their succeeding games in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.
Goorjian, who led Australia to its best finish in the Olympics last year, admitted that he has yet to make up his mind on who between Myles Powell and Andrew Nicholson will reinforce them in their remaining games in this midseason conference.
Powell, a former Philadelphia 76ers playmaker, served as the Dragons’ import in their first four games in which he averaged 35.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
Prior to their game against Meralco, the 6-foot-10 Nicholson was averaging 34.7 points and 11.3 rebounds.
Goorjian said he rues the missed chances of not fielding Powell and Nicholson at the same time in compliance with the league rule of fielding only one import together with other local clubs.
“I have yet to make up my mind,” Goorjian said in an interview with All Work and Play of Non-Stop Sports Podcast late Thursday.
“These guys came in with the understanding that they are going to play — and going to play together.”
Goorjian admitted the fact that one of their two reinforcements riding the bench is a little frustrating, especially for a competitive professional team like the Dragons.
“It’s not just the fact that playing together, but the fact that one of them is not playing,” he said.
“So, you’re in a situation that you’re training here. You’re training Myles now on an every day basis and you’re not playing in the game. There’s a frustration, not just because they’re not playing together, but the major issue is that one guy is not playing in the games and he’s training.”
“It started with Nic (Nicholson). He’s been working hard, doing skills training, weights training, strength and conditioning and then Myles follows.”
The two imports shared their frustrations of not playing together, but they have to live with it in compliance with PBA rules.
“Andrew is so experienced and being such a great player, I’ve learned so much from him to play my role, doing what the team needs me to do,” Powell said.
“I’ve learned so much from this program and listen to Coach.”
Powell said he is looking for the opportunity of sharing the court with Nicholson and bring their A-game together to help the Dragons in the East Asia Super League.
“Once we play together in East Asia Super League, we’ll be able to showcase to our fans how good of a basketball team we’re really are,” he said.
Nicholson thinks a partnership with Powell would have made the Dragons even more formidable, if not unstoppable.
