Barako Bull looking at West, Hickerson to replace Peterson

AKTV/Paolo Papa

Count NBA veteran Mario West as one of the players on the radar of Barako Bull coach Junel Baculi.

“We’re looking at him right now,” Baculi told InterAKTV in a telephone interview. “He’s one of our options along with LeRoy Hickerson.”

West went undrafted in the NBA, but was signed as a free agent by the Atlanta Hawks during the 2007-08 season. He had three seasons with the Hawks, but the 6-foot-5, former collegiate slam dunk champion out of Georgia Tech, had his finest season in the NBA as a member of the New Jersey Nets in the 2010-2011 season, averaging 3.7 points and 1.2 steals per game in 19.3 minutes.

The rights to former Air 21 Express import Hickerson belong to the Energy, though he might not be available right away.

“He’s currently trying out in Europe,” Baculi explained. “So we have to wait. In searching for an import, we want to make sure that he will make the 6-foot-5 height limit. Alam naman natin ang nangyari sa Meralco. We don’t want that to happen to us at this stage.”

Good thing the Energy won’t have a game until June 8 and Baculi and his coaching staff will have the time to search for an import who could be a better fit for the team than Jamine Peterson.

Peterson finished with only four points in Barako Bull’s 95-90 loss to the B-MEG Llamados.

“It seems magkaiba kami ng philosophy ng import namin,” Baculi said. “I want him to play defense, but he’s more concentrated on scoring. He has been scouted by opponents very well and we want him top contribute on defense. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

Follow @interaksyon