MANILA, Philippines -- Amid the upheaval in his roster, San Miguel head coach Leo Austria continues to be optimistic about their campaign for the upcoming 2021 PBA Governors' Cup.

San Miguel is among the teams to have already welcomed its import for the conference, with American Brandon Brown completing his quarantine requirements before joining the Beermen in practice.

Brown will reinforce a San Miguel team that recently traded two of its key players, Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot, to NorthPort and TerraFirma, respectively.

"Okay naman (ang import namin)," Austria said recently. "Nakapaglaro na rin dito, 'di ba, sa Phoenix (Super LPG)."

Brown, 36, played for the Fuel Masters in 2017 as a replacement for the prolific Eugene Phelps, with Austria noting that he averaged over 30 points per game in that conference. Phoenix, however, went 0-6 with Brown as their import.

"I hope ma-maintain niya 'yung (kanyang scoring), or he can play better than that," said Austria, who expects Brown to join their practices this week.

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• READ: SMB coach Austria saddened by Cabagnot, Santos trades

The Beermen enter the Governors' Cup with hopes of winning a title for the first time since 2019, when they won both the Philippine and Commissioners' Cups. They fell short of a Grand Slam that year, losing in the Governors' Cup quarterfinals to Barangay Ginebra, and have also endured disappointing finishes in the last two All-Filipino conferences.

Just last month, they bowed to eventual champions TNT Tropang GIGA in seven games, in what would be the final tournament for their famed "Death Five" -- Santos, Cabagnot, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Ross, and Marcio Lassiter.

"Itong mga darating na conferences or season, it will be an exciting game for everybody dahil you cannot predict eh," said Austria. "But in our case, we have to move on."

The Governors' Cup is tentatively set to start on November 28, although PBA commissioner Willie Marcial has acknowledged that this may change as some teams have yet to welcome their imports.

After holding their past two conferences in a bubble forma, the PBA will return to Metro Manila with fans possibly being allowed to attend games for the first time since March 2020.