MANILA, Philippines — With powerhouses Ginebra, San Miguel, TNT and Magnolia fortifying their rosters, NLEX could Yeng Guiao believes it will be an uphill battle for the rest of the field to crack even the top four in the coming PBA season.
“There are teams that are so strong that I feel, upon seeing their lineups, we could just be fighting for fifth place,” the outspoken Guiao said yesterday in The Chasedown sports program on Cignal TV.
“We used to say, if there’s one strong team, it’s a battle for second place. But now I think it’s fifth place. It would be very hard to topple Ginebra, San Miguel, TNT, and Magnolia,” he added.
Ginebra, the reigning Philippine Cup titlist, acquired Christian Standhardinger, who will team up with Stanley Pringle, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson.
San Miguel added CJ Perez to the battle-tested group that’s expected to welcome back June Mar Fajardo and Terrence Romeo from injury.
TNT has at its disposal Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario, RR Pogoy and Poy Erram with multi-titled coach Chot Reyes back in charge.
Magnolia traded for Calvin Abueva, who links up with the potent crew of Paul Lee, Ian Sangalang and Marc Barroca.
“The top four teams have present and former members of Gilas Pilipinas and they have the top coaches, too,” said Guiao.
The Road Warriors themselves took in new players in Don Trollano, Roi Sumang and Maurice Shaw following a three-team trade with Blackwater and TNT. They will get a marquee rookie with the third pick in today’s Rookie Draft.