Paul Lee gets doctors OK, ready to return for Rain or Shine

Paul Lee. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao said guard Paul Lee could make his 2016 Commissioner’s Cup debut next Friday when the Elasto Painters face the San Miguel Beermen.

Lee has been out since the Philippine Cup semifinals nearly two months ago due to a knee injury, playing in only five of the possible 24 games this season.

“We will prepare for the next game and the good news about the next game is Paul can probably play in the next game,” said Guiao after Rain or Shine stopped a three-game losing skid with a 121-94 win over NLEX on Friday.

“He’s trying to get ready now. We hope he can make a contribution on Friday so that’s exactly one week from now.”

The 26-year-old Lee missed last conference’s elimination round before making his season-debut in Game 1 of the best-of-seven semifinals duel against San Miguel Beer. However, Lee’s return proved to be too early as he aggravated his left knee injury in the series.

With the doctors go-signal, Guiao is confident Lee has fully recovered from his injury this time.

“We’ve already given all the time needed. We rushed him in the semis so we did not want to commit the same mistake. We took a gamble and we probably lost that gamble because it needed more time for him to recover,” Guiao admitted.

“But no regrets. He also wanted to play in the semifinals to make a contribution. It just worsened his injury so now we learned our lesson. We’re not forcing anything, we just want the doctors and himself to make that decision but he’ll most likely make it on Friday. He already has the doctor’s go-signal.”