Antoine Wright. photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
The status of Antoine Wright as Rain or Shine import still hangs in the balance but the former NBA veteran may have done enough on Friday to keep his job.
Wright had 20 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two steals and zero turnovers to lead the Elasto Painters over the NLEX Road Warriors and stop a three-game slide.
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao lauded Wright for two-way performance that also saw the first round pick in the 2005 NBA Draft limit NLEX import Al Thornton to his lowest output this conference.
“We will meet with the management and the coaching staff. He’s improving every game. He exercised leadership in this game. He was instrumental in limiting the production of Al Thornton who is one of the best scoring imports in this league,” Guiao said.
“So he did a job for us on both ends and of course, we have to make an evaluation whether we wanna keep him or make that decision to get another import in but the way he played today, of course will give us second thoughts.”
The 32-year-old Wright held Thornton, who is averaging 35.3 points, to just 19 points in a 121-94 victory.
“I’m just getting more comfortable with my teammates. They getting more comfortable with me, knowing what I like to do, knowing where I like the ball at. We just gotta build on it. This was a game where we desperately needed to win to get us back into contention to try and make the playoffs.
“We’ll build on this win and try and go into next week against San Miguel and try to give the same type of effort.”
Wright was tapped to replaced Wayne Chism, who got injured just two games into the conference.
Before seeing action in the PBA, Wright was inactive for seven months and his long inactivity affected his first couple of games for the Painters.
Slowly but surely, Wright is showing what he is capable of.
“You’re coming off not playing for seven, eight months. Coming into a situation, the season is already going, you dont get a chance to do preseason so You kind of hit the ground running. Right now, I’m still getting my legs, still getting my rhythm and I know I can do a lot more.