CHOICE CUTS: Guiao confident with RoS’ Draft selections

Rain or Shine (RoS) mentor Yeng Guiao believes Filipino-American Caelan Tiongson will play a lot better than his placing in the Philippine Basketball Association Draft.

The fiery mentor got the players he wanted in the Draft held last Sunday, hoping that the incoming talents will give significant contributions to the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup opening next month.

Guiao is particularly excited about the energy and leadership Tiongson, picked seventh overall, will inject into the Elasto Painters.

“With Caelan we have another leader in our team. We’re expecting him to be a leader since he’s been a veteran playing around the world,” Guiao said of the 6-foot-5 banger.

Tiongson has vast experience playing in international competitions as he suited up for Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League.

He also saw action in Taiwan.

He skipped the Draft proceedings to play for Strong Group-Pilipinas in the Jones Cup in Taiwan.

“We know his abilities. We know he’s someone who can score, who can defend. We know also that he has leadership capabilities. Those will be useful for a young team like ours,” Guiao added about the 32-year-old cager, who, back in 2019, announced his retirement only to have a change of heart two years later.

Rain or Shine, which advanced to the quarterfinals of the Commissioner’s Cup and semifinals of the Philippine Cup last season, had six selections in the stacked Draft class.

The Elasto Painters used their eighth pick for Fil-Swedish Felix Lemetti as a surprise in the first round.

“We felt that he has potential when we saw him in practice. We thought maybe he’ll be a great addition to the team. He’s a true point guard, solid point guard. He can score and at the same time he can command the team,” Guiao said of the 6-foot-1 Lemetti who once suited up for the Swedish junior squad.

“We’re looking for somebody like that.”

Guiao also tapped De La Salle University sniper Francis Escandor as 13th overall pick, Mike Malonzo (16th), Miggy Corteza of College of Saint Benilde (20th) and University of the Philippines’ Darwish Bederi (32nd).

“We’re happy with what we got during the Draft. We’re happy we got the chance of picking Caelan Tiongson, whom we thought would be drafted earlier,” said the former national team tactician.

“Basically, we got everyone we want. We’re excited to have them in practice and try and blend them with the team. Of course, we can’t absorb them all, so they have to fight for their slots. We only have two vacant slots in our team.”