If you look closely on all the franchises of the league today, you should see that only Kia Picanto is surely to miss the playoffs.
Meaning, the bottom is very wide open for a new rebuilding team. A team that is willing to sacrifice the NOW for the FUTURE.
And I think, the #1 team that should tear down their entire roster for picks and young prospects, is Rain or Shine Elasto Painter.
Why?
NO ACE PLAYER
Even with all the promise that Maverick Ahanmisi, Jericho Cruz and Raymond Almazan had shown, none of them had taken over the spot that Paul Lee left. I think, that is one of the by-products of the minutes-distribution of coach Yeng in the past. It helps everyone develop, but the top players could be deterred in reaching their potential.
If you look around the league, there are at least nine teams that have legit ace player, some have more than one, to lead them in the next five years. Only Kia and Phoenix, until Matthew Wright fix his efficiency, do not have one.
So, how can you trust a team without a player that is capable of winning them game in crunchtime?
FATHER TIME IS KING
Remember the core of the Rain or Shine team that won the 2016 Commissioner's Cup? JR Quinahan and Jeff Chan are already playing for other teams. Gabe Norwood is still a lockdown defender without consistent offense. Jericho Cruz and Maverick Ahanmisi are facing some injury issues already.
Raymond Almazan showed promise last season. But not good enough to say that he can go toe-to-toe with the Fajardo and the Ginebra frontcourt of the PBA. Belga stagnated into a role player. And of course, Paul Lee is now the Ace scoring guard of Magnolia.
Age wise, it is not promising. They have seven players who are older than 30 years old, led by Gabe Norwood and James Yap.Their frontline is their biggest issue because Almazan is their youngest, and he is already 28.
In short, they are an in-prime team but as you can see, their ceiling is around semifinals.
THE COMPETITION IS AT ITS PEAK
This is basically the biggest reason. There is no point in trying to win and paying huge bulk of money if the competition is already an 11 teams race. The young teams that are on the rise will continue to improve. Even the elite teams have young studs who will keep them at the top.
Rain or Shine should stop dreaming that they have the right tgroup to compete for a Championship. They can reach the semifinals but betting on them to win it all is not a good decision.
IN SHORT
If they rebuild today. Meaning, trade their players for young prospects and picks, they will loss enough games to get the #2 pick. And the 2018 draft could be as good as the 2017 draft. And, they will surely have another top 5 pick in the 2019 draft that could usher a new era.
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