Blackwater took the opportunity to boost its front court by acquiring free agent big man Kelly Nabong, marking a homecoming of sorts for the mercurial Fil-American.
Before joining the PBA, Nabong saw action for Blackwater during the team's early days in the PBA D-League, forming a 1-2 punch with Fil-American guard AJ Mandani.
Team owner Dioceldo Sy bared that the 32-year-old Nabong verbally agreed to join the Bossing. He will be signing a six-month contract for this year with the team soon.
"I'm giving him a second chance and this would be like his second coming with the team," Sy told ESPN5.
Sy believes if Nabong plays with focus, he'll be able to provide stability in the paint and form a solid frontline with bruising forward David Semerad as well as rookie Andre Paras.
"He should be a big factor in the paint. Plus now he's got good three-point shooting," explained Sy. "He will bring a lot of hustle and banging inside the paint with our rookies like Andre and (David) Semerad."
Nabong averaged 11.55 points, 5.18 rebounds and over 1 assist for the NorthPort Batang Pier in last year's PBA bubble.
Meanwhile, Sy also confirmed that Paras, a third-round draft choice in the recent Rookie Draft, has agreed to a two-year rookie deal worth P3 million which he will sign after April 4.
Second-round draft picks Rey Mark Acuno and Joshua Torralba likewise are set to sign their respective one- and two-year offers soon.