Wilkerson dropped from Best Import race, Ratliffe new stats leader

 

San Miguel Beer's Tyler Wilkerson has been dropped from the Best Import race after the team sent him packing in Game Three of their semifinals series against Rain or Shine.

 

In the statistical tally released by the Philippine Basketball Association on Friday, Wilkerson's name was no longer included in the list of candidates. He would have been the runaway winner after enjoying a huge lead over his rivals at the end of the elimination round.

 

The new leader is Ricardo Ratliffe, who led the Star to a quarterfinals berth while finishing with 52.63 statistical points. He played eight games for the Hotshots after filling in for Denzel Bowles midway into the conference.

 

Al Thornton is right behind him with 52.58 SPs after leading NLEX to seventh seed in the playoffs.

 

GlobalPort's Shawn Taggart comes in at third despite playing only five games, finishing with 49.2 SPs for the cellar-dwelling Batang Pier squad.

 

Tropang TNT's David Simon and Barangay Ginebra's Othyus Jeffers round up the top five with 48.1 and 46.6 SPs, respectively.

 

Meanwhile, the imports of the two teams who made it to the finals are in the bottom half of the standings after coming in for their squads at the tail end of the eliminations.

 

Alaska's Rob Dozier is at ninth place with 38.0 SPs, while Rain or Shine's Pierre Henderson-Niles is dead last at 12th with only 33.4 SPs.

 

Dozier sat out most of the elimination round after suffering a plantar fascia injury before the conference, while Niles is the Elasto Painters' fourth import of the conference. — APG GMA News