One out of five

#BayanNgRoS

One championship in five tries, that is.

With yesterday's heart-breaking Game 7 loss to eventual PBA Commissioner's Cup titlist Talk'n'Text Tropang Texters, the Rain or Shine Elastopainters are left with an unfortunate dilemma moving forward:

Should they make a trade and possibly break-up the core, or should they keep it together for another try?


In 2004-2005 the post-Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls started making waves again thanks to the young core of Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni under head coach Scott Skiles. They were a fun bunch, working together on both ends of the court, sharing the wealth, while leaving most of the end-game clutch shooting to Gordon. They were a hard-nosed, defensive lot that "played the right way" and started getting deeper and deeper into the NBA Playoffs.

But that was all they ever accomplished. And the players, fans, management understandably wanted more. But they couldn't win any more with that young group, though they matured together for maybe the good of four or five years. They made some big trades (added Ben Wallace into the mix but by then it was too late) but didn't really start winning not until Derrick Rose came along.

It's almost the same with the Elastopainters. This group, under head coach Yeng Guiao, has been together since 2011-- Gabe Norwood, Jeffrei Chan, Beau Belga, Jireh Ibanes, Ryan Arana and Jayr Quinahan. They added a superstar in Paul Lee, but even then it wasn't enough to catapult them to a string of PBA titles-- PBA Finals appearances yes, but titles?

So now we go back to the question raised: should they keep it together, content with being competitive and just "playing their best" in the PBA Finals win or lose? Or should they try to make a bold move, which they haven't really done not since trading away Sol Mercado, in an effort to break through and actually start winning championships?

Honestly, as an RoS fan, our answer is: NO.

No.

Don't break it up. Add through the draft. Trade? Sure, if you can get anyone meaningful.

Looking at the roster, it's still a bunch of Grade A over-achievers most of which would be role players for the "contenders" at best with the exception of Lee.

Yes, Gabe Norwood is good, but we've seen how hard it is for him to string up a bunch of consistent 10-5-5 games at least. Wouldn't take him ahead of a Matt Rosser at this point really. Jeffrei Chan? Defense is shaky, but range is nice. But so does a John Wilson, who'd pretty much be Gary David 2.0 in an offense like Guiao's.

And Belga?

At a burly 6"3 whose career rebounding averages mirrors that of an average PBA point guard, it's more of the intimidation factor that he brings to the table rather than being a contributor on the floor. And before anyone forgets, this guy is rumored to being paid the max.

So yeah, other than the Gilas exposure for the "Gilastopainters", there would be limited to no takers (unless of course, we're still riding the whole Jeric Teng hype).

Which leaves us with the 2015 PBA Draft, and how they can continue to enrich their program from there.

Based on their performance sin both the Commissioner's and Philippine Cup, that 3rd pick is probably lost and RoS might slide down to maybe picking 5th. Which means, there's no more Troy Rosario or Moala Tautuaa to choose from (the only legitimate prized bigs reportedly joining the draft *Norbert Torres is big, but not prized*).

So RoS is going to be stuck with drafting yet another guard or wing. To add to their growing collection of such.

Jericho Cruz is a keeper. Chris Tiu just played the PBA Finals of his life. Jonathan Uyloan should win PBA Most Improved Player (if they're still giving out that award). Ryan Arana is a Guiao favorite. Jireh Ibanes is the captain.

So who do you ship out?

Do you really need to ship anyone out?

As much as it pains us to say it, because we've lost 4 straight times now in the PBA Finals, but RoS should keep it together and just go with it. They're a mediocre lot, talent-wise, that keeps winning, and there's no fault in that.

Now, should some star players really want out, then that's the only time that RoS should consider trading for big time players or high picks in return.