Come Rain or Shine (A Fan Commentary)

Beau Belga or not, Yeng Guiao needs
to take a look at Jervy Cruz in 2014
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

This was supposed to be the year that the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, led by the bullish (he's not as temperamental as before though) Yeng Guiao, were able to break through the glass ceiling.

Why wouldn't they? They were coming off a hard-earned and well-fought for PBA Governor's Cup 2012 championship, three of their starters were "good enough" to crack the prestigious Gilas Pilipinas national team pool and they were going to have the reigning PBA Rookie of the Year Paul Lee back for the season after his debut got cut short by injuries.

Come Philippine Cup 2013, the Elastopainters were able to prove themselves worthy of the hype by bulldozing their way to the Finals where they met the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters. To say that "school was in session" would be an understatement.

The Texters swept the hapless Elastopainters who were pretty much stripped of their dignity and pride. They were out-matched in every aspect of the game and were made to look like a team of Texters-wannabe with their styles of play resembling the other (with the Texters being the original version and Elastopainters looking like a Divisoria bootleg).

Go-to-point guard who can pass and score at will in Paul Lee? Jayson Castro, only quicker and stronger. Sweet-shooting big man with high basketball IQ in Beau Belga? Meet a slimmer version in Ranidel de Ocampo. Guys who are as solid as hell in Ryan Arana, Larry Rodriguez, Ronnie Matias and Jervy Cruz? Ali Peek. Harvey Carey. Ryan Reyes. The list goes on and on and...

When the Commissioner's Cup and Governor's Cup came in, it was almost like the Elastopainters have reached their peak. They're a solid team that can beat contenders on any given day, but they need a few bounces and calls to go their way to really be considered an elite team.

They brought in a Euro tall man in Bruno Sundov in the 2nd conference to fill in their weakness in the post but fell short when it was realized that they actually needed a rim protector more than another sweet-shooting big man. Arizona Reid answered the call in the 3rd conference, but the Elastopainters failed to match the dreadlock-sporting import's energy on the floor on their way out of the semifinals.

With the team setting its sight on a big man (Letran's Raymond Almazan most likely) in the 2013 PBA Draft, we feel that getting "taller/ bigger" is not the real issue that Guiao et. al. needs to address.

Belga and JayR Quinahan are both listed at 6"6, Rodriguez, Matias, Cruz, Jireh Ybanes and Gabe Norwood toy around the 6"3-6"5 mark. Those seven players are already as solid as you can get height and skills-wise in the PBA.

If Almazan were to come in and play closer to the basket on offense, then that would be a big plus since the Elastopainters' bigs are more perimeter-oriented. We'd love to see Cruz get more minutes as the "next big thing" considering his vast improvement this season and have him become Guiao's new Enrico Villanueva (only more polished, can actually shoot jumpers and overall is much less of a brute).

Where we find the Elastopainters really lacking is at the guard position. The only one-on-one creator they have is Lee. Then maybe an Arana who is more of a discreet, weak side operator. Jeffrei Chan dabbles in slashing to the paint whenever he's not too busy shooting 16% from the three point line (we're calling you out Mr. Chan) so yeah, whatever. Chris Tiu is a system player who gets his shots from good passes.

Norwood is, well, Norwood (love the guy and will go to battle with and for him, but his game's just not there offensively as it is there defensively).

Adding an insurance policy for Lee would do this team wonders. To some degree, this team is almost like Barangay Ginebra. Lee mirrors L.A. Tenorio in terms of doing all the positive things on offense but sadly, he is also the Mark Caguioa in the sense that he is the team's only, true explosive scorer. Take Tenorio out of the equation and Ginebra's bound to just play kanto-basketball and jack up shots with no discipline. A lot of great finishers on that team, but just two true offense-instigators.

For the Elastopainters, it's the same. Lee is the only guy who can run the show and improvise on the fly while the others are left to simply try and "look for the open man" and "ride the hot hand." It goes unnoticed a lot because we were winning games this year, but it was blatantly obvious in the recent PBA GovCup semis wherein Reid was the only guy creating.

It's been a great year still, under-achieved somewhat in terms of fading in the 2nd and 3rd conferences. Are guys going to be traded as rumored (Belga being one)? Who knows? All we ask for is if ever he does get traded, that we get fair value in return. Which among Chan and Norwood want out as reported in the media (according to the PBA rumor mill, an Elastopainter-Gilas is trying to wiggle out of his contract)?

Unless Lee recovers fully or someone steps up (or is brought in) to play a leading man role (Cruz, Chan, Norwood), we're afraid that we've seen the best that this team has to offer.