Rain or Shine consultant Caloy Garcia said that the team was looking at selecting Filipino-American guard Jason Brickman with the No. 5 overall pick in next Sunday’s PBA Rookie Draft.
However, with Brickman out of the final list of draftees, Garcia said the team is considering the next best thing to do – get the best available talent in the draft for the Elasto Painters.
“Regarding the draft we’re going to have a meeting Friday. We always do this ever since we (Rain or Shine) joined the PBA, we always meet two days before the draft, we always talk about the players available,” said Garcia on the weekly Saturday sports show The Chasedown on One PH over Cignal TV.
“We’re actually looking at No. 5 and we’re looking at Brickman. Now we have to talk about who we are going to get. Marami pa naman na quality (There’s still enough quality players).”
“We can go as far as the second round when it comes to quality,” added Garcia.
The 29-year-old Brickman is one of the sought-after players outside the PBA the previous years following his impressive stints as a professional player in Russia and Germany.
He also played pro ball in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), first with the Westports Malaysia Dragons, then the Mono Vampire, the Hi-Tech Bangkok City and in 2019 with the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas.
Brickman suited up for Long Island University – a Division 1 school in the US NCAA – for four seasons 2014. The one-time NEC Rookie of the Year finished his collegiate career with 1,009 assists to become one of only four players in NCAA Division 1 history to record 1,000 or more assists.
However, similar to his bid the last two years, his dream to play in the PBA was denied again.
According to his agent Charlie Dy, Brickman wasn’t able to complete in time the necessary requirements, which include documents from the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration.
Aside from Brickman, his Alab teammates Jeremiah Gray and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser – brother of Terrafirma forward Matt – also failed to make the final list of eligible players for the Draft.
Meanwhile, Garcia clarified that he will be more on providing advice and helping manage the team – primarily the coaches – with his new role as consultant for the Rain or Shine squad.
Last week, the management elevated Garcia to a new position of Basketball Operations chief and named Chris Gavina – a member of the coaching staff – as ROS head coach.