Rain or Shine is Paul Lee's Team

"You reach, I teach." - MJ

The writing was on the wall since day one.

Rain or Shine wanted change. They wanted to contend. They brought in fiery and feisty mentor Yeng Guiao and had young coach Caloy Garcia slide down a notch. They had enough of Sol Mercado's on and off, "buddy basketball" game opposite cornerstone Gabe Norwood. They signed a bunch of Guiao guys.

Then the draft came in and they picked the only guy among all the PBA hopefuls who could put it all together.


Attitude wise, Alaska's Mac Baracael is arguably the best fit in terms of someone who could excel in Guiao's system. Plays well and hard, has all the skills you could ask for, and is fearless on the court. One thing Baracael isn't, is a natural born leader.

Enter Paul Lee.

After an abysmal showing in the second conference where Lee hit an obvious rookie wall and had to defer or build his game around import Duke Crews, the Mico Halili proclaimed "Angas ng Tondo" is doing what he does best. Yes, the import is still scoring a bunch of points-- but this one doesn't need isolation sets all night and can actually move without the basketball (I'm a Crews fan, but he's quite limited in the team game).

While others will credit the team's success to sudden All Star and elite shooter Jeffrei Chan-- or even the all-around (when he brings it) game of Norwood, Rain or Shine will go only as far as Lee takes them.

His game is methodical and crafty over athletic and speedy, the crossover is painfully slow yet he hardly turns the ball over and the drives to the hoop aren't blitzkrieg quick ala Talk 'n' Text's Jayson Castro or Ginebra's Mark Caguioa. But he is effective and deliberate, no wasted movement, nothing out of the ordinary.

Based on stats from the great people behind PBA Online.net, Lee is average a 15-3-3 stat line while shooting 57% from deep. Those numbers are as solid as you can get from a guy who only plays 27 to 30 minutes a game.

Watching the game closely (like the Ginebra one last week where Lee played cold blooded killer in the clutch), the offense runs smoother when Lee's in charge. Guys' roles are set. Chan runs from one side of the arc to another for the kick-out three, the bigs are playing the rectangular lines of the paint and even the freelancing Norwood is made to look like a genius on the floor when he makes all the 50-50 plays for Rain or Shine.

Is Lee a great basketball player? I'm a fan but I wouldn't rank him over Mark Caguioa (even at his current physical state and age) just yet. But for Coach Yeng and Rain or Shine, he's just what they need to get to the top.

Oh, and Norwood's posting 7 points and 5 rebounds a game. Blah.