Former PBA player Sol Mercado admitted that he was not impressed with Justin Brownlee when he first arrived in 2016.
In an episode of Jared Dillinger’s “Let It Fly” podcast, Mercado reminisced about the moment when he first saw Brownlee.
The three-time PBA Best Import of the Conference came in as a substitute for Paul Harris in the middle of the 2016 Governor’s Cup.
“In his first practice, me and Joe (Devance) were like, ‘We’re in trouble; this boy is trash,’” Mercado said. “He couldn’t get through like 30 minutes of practice.”
“Lot of people expect these imports to come out here and just kill right away, dominate. They come in just off the flight. This is a whole different time zone. But he was like garbage, bro,” Mercado continued.
The “Sol Train” added that he thought Brownlee would not get past the first quarter of their actual game as he suffered cramps during their practice.
Brownlee even failed to finish his debut game in the PBA after suffering cramps. However, he proved Mercado wrong in the succeeding games. Brownlee slowly got his groove and led Ginebra to the 2016 Governor’s Cup title, capped with his buzzer-beating triple against Meralco in Game 6 of the finals.
Brownlee won the hearts of Ginebra fans as he became an embodiment of their “Never Say Die” spirit. (MJD)
