With time not on their side, Rain or Shine will bring in a recently-released import from Taiwan to replace Greg Smith II.
The Elasto Painters have tapped Jordan Tolbert as their new import in the ongoing 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup.
Multiple sources closely monitoring the situation confirmed the development to Tiebreaker Times.
Smith pulled his hamstring during the first half of Rain or Shine’s 110-99 loss to NLEX last Saturday.
Smith, who replaced Michael Qualls, only played three games for Rain or Shine, averaging 18.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 steals.
“We have to bring in somebody by Wednesday or earlier,” said Guiao after the game.
One of the contacts Rain or Shine probably called was Chris Gavina.
Tolbert signed with Gavina’s Taichung early this month, but they released him last February 23.
In four games played with the Suns in the T1 League, Tolbert averaged 12.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.8 steals per game.
Tolbert, 30, went undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft.
He played three years with Texas Tech before finishing his senior year with Southern Methodist.
After not making it to Atlanta’s team in 2016, he played in Italy (Novipiu Casale Monferrato), France (Hyeres-Toulon and Caen Basket Calvados), and Belgium (Basic-Fit Brussels Basketball) before ending up with Taichung.
Rain or Shine is crossing its fingers that Tolbert can join the team by Wednesday when it takes on Phoenix Super LPG.
The Elasto Painters are currentl 2-6 in the standings with three games remaining.
—
The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
