NLEX taps interim import

NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao said the other day original import pick Arnett Moultrie, who was Miami’s first round pick in the 2012 NBA draft and played two seasons for the Philadelphia 76ers, isn’t certain when he’ll fly in to play for the Road Warriors in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Moultrie, 27, was supposed to report for duty this week but cancelled the trip to settle a salary dispute with his former club Al Muharraq in the Bahrain league. Al Muharraq officials have supposedly refused to talk to Moultrie after the team was eliminated by Al Ahli in the best-of-3 semifinals. Al Muharraq won Game 1 of the series then lost two straight. The clincher was held last Sunday with Moultrie collecting 27 points and 22 rebounds in the 90-87 loss to Al Ahli. Moultrie played only five games for Al Muharraq, averaging 23.2 points and 18.8 rebounds.

The word is Moultrie isn’t leaving Bahrain unless he’s paid what is owed. The problem is Moultrie needs his FIBA release from Al Muharraq to be able to sign up with NLEX. It’s possible that Al Muharraq will agree to release Moultrie but without paying the balance of his salary. Moultrie may bring up the case to FIBA for arbitration. 

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The impasse has left Guiao no choice but to look for an interim import. The replacement is 6-10, 255-pound Adrian Forbes who played two years with the Auburn University varsity.  Auburn is the school that produced NBA legend Charles Barkley and former PBA imports Chris Morris and Chris Porter.  Forbes is expected to arrive here tomorrow.

Forbes, 29, is from Jamaica. One other Jamaican, Jerome Jordan, played with TNT in the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup but lasted only six games, averaging 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds. He checked in as a replacement for Donnell Harvey then was bumped off by Tony Mitchell. The most celebrated Jamaican ever to play in the NBA was Patrick Ewing.

Forbes’ stats are far from impressive. Like Moultrie, he played for Al Muharraq in the Bahrain league this season. His stint was even shorter than Moultrie’s. Forbes saw action in only three games, two of which Al Muharraq lost, averaging 15.3 points and 10 rebounds. He shot a lofty 61.1 percent from the field but hit a lowly 22.2 percent from the line. Forbes played two years of junior college basketball then moved to Auburn to finish his last two seasons of varsity eligibility. He wasn’t a standout at Auburn. In his first campaign in 2010-11, he averaged 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 28 outings, including 14 starts. And in his last season, he normed 2.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 29 games. Forbes played in France, Japan and the Dominican Republic aside from Bahrain.

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Writer Chris Dortch, in Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, called Forbes “a self-described down and dirty player who delights in the blue-collar aspects of post play.” At the 2013 FIBA Americas Cup in Venezuela, Forbes played four games for Jamaica and failed to score a single point. Curiously, the man who coached Moultrie and Forbes at Al Muharraq is Serbia’s Rajko Toroman who used to call the shots for Gilas and Petron and Barako in the PBA. 

The Commissioner’s Cup reels off this Sunday with a twinbill at the Smart Araneta Coliseum featuring Blackwater against Columbian Dyip and TNT against GlobalPort. NLEX won’t play until April 28 when it battles Columbian so Guiao has time to blend in either Forbes or Moultrie, whoever is available.