Game Tomorrow (Alonte Sports Center Binan, Laguna)
5 p.m. – Alaska vs San Miguel Beer
Games Monday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
5:45 p.m. – Globalport vs Rain or Shine
8 p.m. – San Mig Super Coffee vs Talk ’N Text
It didn’t take long for Rain or Shine to decide on its reinforcement, scratching Alexander McLean and will be replaced by Wyane Chism as the Elasto Painters try to improve their playoff bid in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Although the 6-foot-8 McLean collected 23 points and 16 rebounds in a 96-79 win against Meralco that snapped a two-game losing skid last Wednesday, Rain or Shine didn’t have any second thought in replacing him in favor of the bigger and taller Chism.
“Sometimes it’s totally different if you have a good import, from having the right import. Alex is a good import, but we feel Chism could be the right import for us… he’s bigger, he’s taller, which is what we need to plug the hole in the middle,” said Guiao yesterday.
“Also, you have to relate on how the other imports are doing. Alex is a bit small. We’re having problem matching up since we’re also a small team. So we opted to bring in a bigger import. It’s a painful and hard decision, but that’s our best chance to improve our playoff chances,” added Guiao.
The 6-foot-9 Chism arrived yesterday, and is expected to join Rain or Shine’s practice session today at the Northeast Greenhills gym in San Juan. He recently played for Albacomp, a pro team in the Hungarian Basketball League, which finally released him from his previous contract.
The former University of Tennessee stalwart was actually the original choice as reinforcement of Barako Bull. (Waylon Galvez)