The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters haven’t had much success this season under coach Caloy Garcia.
Under Garcia’s watch, Rain or Shine bowed out of the quarterfinals of the Philippine Cup and failed to defend its Commissioner’s Cup title after getting swept by the Star Hotshots in the first round.
That left some Rain or Shine fans yearning for the team’s glory days with coach Yeng Guiao who is now calling the shots for the NLEX Road Warriors.
But Rain or Shine team owner Raymond Yu knows that Garcia isn’t Guiao.
“Fans should remember, size 16 kasi yung sapatos ni coach Yeng,” Yu told InterAksyon. “These are too big to fill for coach Caloy. But I don’t think Caloy isn’t ready for the job.
“He’s been here a long time and he knows his basketball. It would take a little more time for the team under coach Caloy to get better.”
Yu asked fans for more patience as the team tries to regain its old deadly form.
“I could understand the frustrations of the fans and I am disappointed as well. We let them down. But we will do everything in hopefully coming up with a better result,” Yu said.
He also didn’t discount the possibility of making trades to further improve the squad.
“We want to have that old Rain or Shine character, a team which knows how to win, which plays hard every game and live up to the task,” he said.
Interestingly, Guiao can relate to Garcia. After winning championships for Rain or Shine, the temperamental coach failed to even bring NLEX to the playoffs in his first two conferences with his new team.
“In fact, ako rin naman I’m struggling with my new team,” Guiao said. “Normal naman yung proseso na ganyan, the process they’ve been going through. Minsan kasi, may mga instant success pero madali ring nawawala. It would take a little bit more time for them and for me.”
