By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao simply has a knack for searching for unpolished talents in the PBA Rookie draft and turning them into valuable gems under his tutelage.
And this year’s edition wouldn’t be any different.
Guiao said he remained on the lookout for possible sleepers of the draft especially with the Elasto Painters holding onto five picks through the first two rounds of the proceedings set on Sunday, June 14 at Glorietta Makati.
With ROS not making things too complicated with regards to their two picks in the first round – simply picking the best talent available on the board with the 7th and 8th picks – Guiao said their three picks in the second round would make things all the more interesting.
“Tingin ko rito maganda pa yung quality ng first two rounds. Kokonti yung mga big men pero yung mga big men may mga quality rin naman kahit na konti sila. Feeling ko rin meron diyan mga parang sleepers diyan, mga siguro unpolished gems na pwede mo pang makuha in the later rounds,” Guiao commented on the quality of this year’s draft.
“Tingin ko baka may matsambahan kami ulit na Jhonard Clarito diyan or Adrian Nocum na parang hindi masyadong napansin tapos nag-shine.” he added, referring to the two Elasto Painters who were both drafted in the second round but blossomed into potent contributors for his team.
Rain or Shine holds the 13th, 16th and 20th overall picks aside from their two first round picks.
Guiao shared that they are open to dealing their second round picks to any teams that want it but if there are no willing takers, the Elasto Painters would gladly use it and try to unearth some untouched potentials.
For one, ROS has been successful in picking talents in the second round as aside from Nocum and Clarito, the Elasto Painters also had past second rounders in Anton Asistio and Andrei Caracut now becoming part of the team’s core.
“We’re always looking for that. Lahat ng teams naghahanap ng ganun e kaya minsan, magda-draft ka hanggang third, fourth, fifth round tapos panoorin mo sa practice kung may potential so I think that experiment works for some teams,” added Guiao.
