Four games into the 2017-2018 ABL Season, the Westports Malaysia Dragons find themselves on the lower end of the standings with a dismal 1-3 record.
Since World Import Marcus Marshall’s 60-point explosion in their first game, they faltered in their next three outings. Their latest defeat came at the hands of Tanduay Alab Pilipinas last Wednesday, losing 90-79.
However, the Dragons aren’t pressing the panic button just yet.
Before their bout against Alab, the Dragons made some significant changes in their roster. They released Curtis Washington and replaced him with AJ West. As for their Heritage Import spot, Joshua Munzon came in for Reil Cervantes.
Munzon of course is no stranger to the Dragons having played the second half of last season with them. In his ABL return against the Philippine team, he put up 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists. He displayed his signature athleticism and speed that gave the Dragons a huge lift despite the loss.
“It [was] fun. A lot of fun. It felt good to make my season debut here in the Philippines,” the Filipino-American happily shared on his first game back. “We lost, but it still felt good to go out there and play for the first time with this group of guys.”
Munzon had been an integral piece for the Dragons last year as they hoped to make the playoffs. For the 2016-2017 season, the 21-year old averaged 19.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.2 steals. He also ended up as one of the league’s premier defenders, finishing with an ABL single-season record 61 steals.
Last year, Munzon was a late addition to Malaysia. This time around however, he is already looking to make an immediate impact.
“It was a great opportunity — a great opportunity to go out here and do what I love. It was only right,” he said on his decision to suit up for Malaysia once again.
Even though they are currently 1-3 in the standings, Munzon and the Dragons still have a lot of basketball in them.
“We got a whole new group of guys. We just got me, Marcus (Marshall), we got AJ [West] in. We [only] got like a couple of practices. We got a lot of time. We have 16 games left.”
The Dragons will be back into the fold on January 12 when they go up against the Mono Vampire Basketball Club for the third time already this season.
“It’s a long season, so you can’t count us out early,” Munzon confidently closed.
