RAIN or Shine’s title win in the pre-season 39th Kadayawan Invitational basketball tournament late last month is just a bonus.
For Elasto Painters coach Yeng Guiao, the tourney served as a perfect gauge on his charges’ readiness for the season-opening PBA Governors’ Cup set to fire off this Sunday, Aug. 18 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, and more importantly helped in building chemistry.
“Maraming nangyari doon sa Davao. Of course, it was capped by a championship. Pero sa tingin ko ang importante doon is the time we spent together,” Guiao said. “The time that we’re able to know each other better especially for the three rookies (Caelan Tiongson, Felix Lemetti, and Francis Escandor). Nag-team building na rin kami doon sa Davao. At the same time, our rookies we’re also able to gel.
“There was a bond with our rookies, and we were able to introduce to them our culture, our philosophies. Maganda naman,” he added.
Guiao also said veteran forward Gabe Norwood will now serve as playing-assistant coach. That’s just fine, especially with the addition of Tiongson.
“Tinitignan namin iyong transition niya doon sa role ni Gabe. He is going to be our parang Swiss army knife,” Guiao said, referring to the 6-foot-5 Tiongson tabbed seventh overall in the annual rookie Draft.
“He can guard almost all positions, he can play almost all positions, very similar to what Gabe has been doing for us for years, for the whole of his career.”
Aside from Tiongson, 32, Lemetti, tabbed at No. 8 and second round pick Francis Escandor had also signed on the dotted line for Rain or Shine.
But it’s Tiongson whom Guiao has high hopes for.
“Saktong sakto doon sa hinahanap namin. He has an outside game. He has a three-point shot and since we’re pushing the ball a lot and playing in transition kaya niyang sumabay even if he’s our four or five he can keep up with the pace of the game,” Guiao said. “He’s a high character player. We also understand that he’s a capable leader, si Gabe, sila Beau (Belga) are recognized leaders sa team and we will have additional maturity experience and leadership from Caelan Tiongson.”
The Painters reached the semifinals of the last Philippine Cup and now with an able reinforcement in Aaron Fuller, Guiao is hoping they can hack it in the import-spiced meet.
“Alam namin kung ano pa iyong kulang namin. Alam din namin kung saan iyong strengths namin,” he said. “Kaya in the off-season, we tried to improve on those aspects as we aim to build a contender team.” — With Abby Toralba
