Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao doesn’t see the need for a drastic overhaul of his lineup following yet another semifinal exit in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup.
Guiao rather hopes for the return of his injured players come Season 50.
The Elasto Painters lost rookie Felix Pangilinan-Lemetti to a conference-ending fractured left hand while veteran leader and big man Beau Belga has yet to recover from his vertigo issues. Center Luis Villegas has been out of commission since the season-opening Governor’s Cup due to a knee injury.
Despite the injury woes, Rain or Shine still reached the all-Filipino conference semis.
However, the Elasto Painters fell short of extending the best-of-seven showdown against grand slam-seeking TNT to a decider with a Game 6 exit, 89-97, last Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I don’t think the team needs a big overhaul,” Guiao said after Rain or Shine’s third straight Final Four defeat against the Tropang 5G and fourth semis exit in a row.
“What’s important for us is for Bo to come back, Luis to play and for Felix to come back,” the fiery mentor added.
Guiao did mention, however, getting a talent or two from the Draft or through some possible deals and other resources.
“There’s also a draft. Although we haven’t talked much about the draft because we don’t know how deep the draft is,” he said, citing that he has not seen solid names declaring for the Draft and Rain or Shine’s selection is on the tail-end of the first round.
“We still can’t fully utilize our draft. I think our Draft might not be that deep,” he added.
“But we are also open to upgrading our team from other resources.”
Overall, Guiao would consider the Elasto Painters’ campaign a positive sign of what’s to come for his team composed mostly of young guns in Adrian Nocum, Leonard Santillan, Andrei Caracut, Anton Asistio, Keith Datu, Gian Mamuyac, Jhonard Clarito and Caelan Tiongson.
“We still look at it as a victory overall for us. The consistency of the team, making it to the semifinals, going through all of that. I think that adds to the experience and knowledge of our young players,” he said.