Rain or Shine clears Gavina, Garcia roles

THE Rain or Shine management clarified that Chris Gavina will draw the shots for the Elasto Painters after erstwhile head Coach Caloy Garcia took the opportunity to be part of the national men’s basketball training team program.

In an effort to paint a clearer picture of their respective roles, ROS Alternate Governor Edison Oribiana said Gavina will take care of the “micro” management of the team while Garcia, who was named active consultant, will do the “macro” task because he will also be spending time in the training and competition of the national team.

Garcia is part of the national team coaching staff that is preparing Gilas Pilipinas for the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in Serbia, 2021 Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers in Clark, Pampanga, in June and the 2022 Asian Games in Zhejiang China.

On top of those tournaments, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is also preparing for the country’s co-hosting of the 2023 Fiba World Cup.

“It means he will have less time to personally supervise the training and development of his mother team and with the unpredictable schedule of the tournaments, there will be conflicts even with actual games of the PBA [Philippine Basketball Association],” Oribiana said.

“We can’t tell him to just politely beg off because we are also an ardent supporter of our national team ever since,” Oribiana added.

Under the new set up, Garcia can only advise and the “real decision-making” rests on Gavino.

“Being the Head of Basketball Operations and an Active Consultant does not mean he reports to himself. He reports to the Team Governor and the Team Owners,” ROS management said in a statement.

The ROS franchise is owned by the families of Raymund Yu and Terry Que.