WHILE one Cebuano hoop dream came true, another fell by the wayside as former University of the Visayas superstar Jayford Rodriguez failed to crack the final roster of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters for the upcoming PBA Philippine Cup.
This development was known yesterday after the teams bared their respective lineups and only one Rodriguez was penned in by head coach Yeng Guiao’s team – power forward Larry Rodriguez.
In contrast, Eliud Poligrates impressed head coach Norman Black and Talk N Text officials enough to make it to the team’s official roster, thereby putting a happy ending to a journey that saw the flashy guard from Camotes Island nearly quit basketball after he was banned from the Cesafi back in 2009.
Poligrates reportedly signed a two-year deal after making a good account of himself during the preseason games, wherein he averaged 14 points in outings against Air21 and GlobalPort.
For Rodriguez, the odyssey continues even after he was selected 19th overall by Rain or Shine in the recent PBA Draft. Unfortunately, he joined an Elasto Painters team that already had a glut of guards and wingmen, not to mention the selections of highly-touted rookies Alex Nuyles and Jeric Teng and an already-established core of Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, Chris Tiu, Ryan Arana, Jireh Ibanes, Paul Lee and Ty Tang.