December 11, 2017

2018 season looks promising for Rain or Shine

BEING in the semifinals in all conferences of the PBA season was once a sure thing for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. Although they failed to make it in the final four last season, the franchise isn't pressing the panic button as they've decided to stick to almost the exact same unit.

"The only person we added to the line-up is Rey Nambatac to replace Billy Ray Robles," said ROS head coach Caloy Garcia. "We're already happy with what we have. We're happy that we're loaded with guards because teams like Phoenix and Alaska will really test our ball handling with their press."

ROS, even with a line-up that is still without some of their stars, ruled the four-team pocket tournament at The Upper Deck as they defeated Phoenix and NLEX while suffered a loss against Alaska.

"The reason why we joined is to learn, to know what we could improve on ahead of the season," Garcia said. "Ang target namin dito is to give opportunities to other players to pick up the experience that they need."

"Jericho Cruz tweaked his knee in our game against Star (now Magnolia), James Yap is still working with strengthening, Jireh (Ibanes) and J-Wash(ington) are still recovering from their injuries, and Raymond (Almazan) is still resting after Gilas."

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However, the absence of some of their key guys also bore fruit as Garcia was able to test some of his youngsters. Specifically, Ed Daquioag and Dexter Maiquez played very well for the Elasto Painters in the pocket tournament and veteran Chris Tiu also emerged as a leader for the squad.

Almazan, Yap, and Cruz could possibly suit up for ROS in time for the new season while Ibanes and Washington could be back come January.

"The only problem we'll have is pagbalik nina Jireh and J-Wash, kailangan naming magbaba ng players," Garcia said.

It might be a problem in the future, but it sounds like a good problem to have.(Carlo Pamintuan)