Lucky seven for Guiao?

The Philippines has won six Jones Cup titles since the Taipei tournament’s inception in 1977 and Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao will gun for the seventh championship with the Elasto Painters representing the country in this edition on Aug. 12-20. The pandemic prevented the annual event to take place the last three years but it’s back with a bang. The women’s competition where the Gilas team is playing under coach Pat Aquino will precede the men’s tournament on Aug. 5-9.

The late coach Ron Jacobs took the Philippines to two titles, first with Northern Cement in 1981 then with San Miguel Beer in 1985. Coach Tim Cone bagged the title with the Centennial team in 1998 and coach Chot Reyes did it with the national squad in 2012. Mighty Sports topped the Jones Cup, first with coach Bo Perasol in 2018 then with coach Charles Tiu in 2019.

It won’t be an easy ride for Rain or Shine with the opposition clearly high-caliber. The national teams of Iran, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are in the fray along with Taiwan’s two national squads, Japan’s U21 crew, University of California at Irvine varsity and KBL/EASL Champions Week ruler Anyang KGC. Guiao said thinking about the seventh title puts unnecessary pressure on the Elasto Painters and at the moment, his focus is to get the team organized for its first practice on Monday with imports Ange Kouame and Nick Evans. Rain or Shine finished the recent PBA On Tour with an 8-3 record but Gabe Norwood sat out the last seven outings due to a family commitment. Norwood, however, will be ready to practice on Monday.

“Our direction is to increase our pace, maintain our intensity for 48 minutes and do constant rotation so that we don’t slacken even with our second or third group,” said Guiao. “If we sustain our speed, we can expand playing time of everyone because we’ll keep rotating. We lack size and that’s why for the Jones Cup, we’re bringing in two tall imports.” As a long-time Ateneo center and naturalized player, Kouame is familiar with the Filipino style. But Evans, who’s arriving this weekend, will need acclimatization. Evans, 35, is a 6-11 Chicago native who played three years for Southern Illinois University, NBA legend Walt Frazier’s alma mater. He has suited up as an import in Canada, Romania, Switzerland, Argentina, Thailand, Ecuador, Albania, Tunisia, Colombia, Japan, Uruguay, Lebanon and Venezuela. Familiarity with the international game won’t be an issue with Evans, only familiarity with his new Rain or Shine teammates.

Guiao said the Jones Cup will also showcase the maturity of the Elasto Painters’ next generation of stars, featuring Santi Santillan, Andrei Caracut, Anton Asistio, Gian Mamuyac, Rey Nambatac, Jhonard Clarito, Nick Demusis and Shaun Ildefonso and the consistency of veterans Beau Belga, Jewel Ponferada, Mark Borboran, Mac Belo and Norwood.