MANILA, Philippines – Johnny O’Bryant has to get his act together if he wants to stay as the Meralco Bolts’ import.

Bolts head coach Norman Black admitted there are talks of a potential import change as Meralco continues to struggle in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, winning just one of its first five games.

It did not help the Bolts’ cause that O’Bryant got limited to a conference-low 7 points in an 89-82 loss to Phoenix on Wednesday, October 19, that saw Meralco suffer its worst five-game start since the 2019 Philippine Cup.

The former NBA player delivered in the other departments with 16 rebounds and 9 assists, but he shot poorly and went a horrid 2-of-17 from the field on top of his game-high 6 turnovers.

“I have to talk to (team manager) Paolo (Trillo) about it – we’ve actually already been talking about it,” said Black when asked if the Bolts are sticking with O’Bryant.

“Obviously, you don’t want your import scoring 7 points. Gives you almost no chance of winning.”

When it comes to putting up big numbers, O’Bryant had done a stellar job as he averaged 29.8 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.3 steals through his first four games.

But it is his scoring inefficiency which has been the Achilles’ heel for O’Bryant, who shoots 38.5% (47-of-122) from the field.

That mark ranks last among all imports.

“[H]e’s having a problem shooting the ball from the perimeter, which I think is really one of his strengths, but he hasn’t shot the ball well,” said Black. “We’ll see what happens.”

“But certainly, I have to sit down with Johnny and make him understand that he’s got to raise the level of his performance because he’s an import and a lot more is expected from him.”

Already without injured guards Chris Newsome and Chris Banchero, Meralco hopes for a big bounce-back game from O’Bryant as it tries to get back on track with a win over Rain or Shine on Saturday, October 22.

“It doesn’t help that we’re still missing some key players so I was hoping that his performance will go up during this stretch while we are waiting for guys to return from injury,” Black said. – Rappler.com