RAIN OR SHINE isn’t done tinkering its lineup.
A few days after trading one of its key players — Jeff Chan — and shipping guard Mike Tolomia for another Gilas Cadet member Ed Daquioag, the Elasto Painters are still considering changes to shake up their future.
Rain or Shine co-owner Raymond Yu didn’t discount the possibility of changes, although he admitted the team isn’t in a rush as of the moment.
“We’re open to changes, but we’re not rushing,” Mr. Yu told BusinessWorld in a telephone interview. “We’re looking to get future draft picks.”
A few days ago, Rain or Shine parted ways with Chan, a member of its two champion squads, who was traded in exchange for Mark Borboran and Phoenix’s 2020 second round draft pick.
Hours after consummating the trade, the Elasto Painters agreed on shipping Mr. Tolomia to the Meralco Bolts for Mr. Daquioag, a dead shot from University of Santo Tomas who hardly saw action for his previous team.
“We asked Meralco if they’re still interested, and they said they are so we made the trade,” added Mr. Yu.
Mr. Yu, on the other hand, cited the reason on trading Mr. Chan, a marquee player.
Fans were surprised to see Mr. Chan, a former member of Gilas Pilipinas, to be traded by the Elasto Painters.
“We have two players on loan to the national team — Gabe Norwood and Raymond Almazan. These two players are long and have been helping us big in rebounding and defense. We opted to get Borboran because he could give us some length and shooting,” added Mr. Yu.
For Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia, this would also be an opportunity for two-time Most Valuable Player James Yap to step up.
“Of course, he’ll be playing more minutes now, but it will depend on how he plays,” Mr. Garcia said. “We also made the trades because of various reasons. First, Jay Washington is injured and we don’t know when will he come back or if he’s already out of the season due to a hamstring injury. Second, our lineup is depleted because we lost Norwood and Almazan to the national team and third, we trade Tolomia for Daquioag to give more balance to the team. Daquioag is another off guard who could come in to replace James and we signed up free agent guard Jeremy King.” — Rey Joble
