Rain or Shine rookie Rey Nambatac. Photo from PBA.ph
Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia said he is entrusting rookie Rey Nambatac with a major role to start the new PBA season with the Elasto Painters dealing with injuries to several of their key players.
Nambatac is among the players Garcia is expecting to fill the void as the likes of Jericho Cruz, Jireh Ibañes, Jay Washington and Raymond Almazan recover from their respective injuries.
“The only new acquisition that we have is Rey Nambatac. The only thing that we’re worried about right now is we still have five to six players recovering from injuries,” Garcia told INQUIRER.net.
“We’re depleted right now and he’s going to get his time at the beginning of the season.”
Nambatac was the seventh pick in the 2017 PBA Draft and one of the reasons why the Painters wanted him was his familiarity with Garcia.
“He is quick to adjust because he played for me before,” said Garcia, who coached Nambatac during their time with the Letran Knights for two years. “He knows what kind of coach I am and I know what kind of player he is.”
“Basically, he just has to adjust to his teammates and in facing bigger players,” Garcia added.
Garcia also knows the caliber of a player the Painters got in Nambatac.
“We also know what kind of quality we’re gonna get. He’s a scorer, he’s a good slasher.”