Keeping Jeff Chan a priority for Rain or Shine

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Rain or Shine will be in for a busy offseason.
Apart from looking out for the best prospects in the PBA Draft next month and possibly undergoing player changes to address their need for a big man, the Elasto Painters also have important matters to resolve with five of their players having expiring contracts.

READ: Guiao hints at player changes, but intent on keeping core

Among those players is one of their best offensive weapons in Jeff Chan, who Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao said the team intends to keep.

“He’s part of the core and he’s a priority so there’s no question about that,” Guiao said of the Painters plans on Chan after his team got eliminated by San Miguel Beer in Game 4 of the semifinals Wednesday night.

READ: San Miguel ousts Rain or Shine, sets up Finals rematch with Alaska

Guiao, though, knows that signing the 32-year-old sharpshooter isn’t a done deal until he has his signature on the dotted line of the contract, what with a lot of teams going to be interested in Chan.

“Definitely, Jeff is always going to be an asset to any team and if that thing comes up, we will just cross the bridge when we get there,” Guiao said.

“I think it will also depend a lot on Jeff on how much he desires to stay with the team and to me, I will always favor (retaining) somebody, especially if he’s part of the core and he wants to stay. To me that’s a plus factor for finding ways to make him stay.”

Guiao’s relationship with Chan goes a long way. In fact, Guiao was the one who first believed that Chan would come a long way in the PBA after drafting him in the second round as the 17th overall pick by Red Bull in 2008.

“I knew Jeff could create space. I knew Jeff was smart. I saw him when he was still in college, (and) he’s savvy. He knew when to take the shot, he knew when to pass it, he knew how to position himself on the floor,” Guiao recalled.

“The criticism on Jeff back then is he wasn’t a good defender. Now he is a lot better. He can hold his own. So we took that gamble, we took that risk and it paid off. Those are the things I saw that he is a deadly shooter, that he can space the floor, that he will make the right decisions and that his weakness, which was defense, was curable,” Guiao added.

Chan was traded to Rain or Shine in 2009 before reuniting with Guiao, when the latter joined the Elasto Painters the following year.

Chan was named Finals MVP during Rain or Shine’s championship run in the 2012 Governors’ Cup. CFC