Rain Or Shine sees brighter days with Walker

MANILA, Philippines — Rain Or Shine is confident veteran import Henry Walker will provide the missing piece that will make the squad a mean machine on both ends in the PBA Governors’ Cup set to blast off on Wednesday.

Coach Chris Gavina noted that while the defense-oriented Elasto Painters ranked first on points allowed (80 markers) and field goal percentage allowed (38 percent) in the last Philippine Cup, they were the lowest in scoring (77 points per game).

And the 6-foot-5 Walker, who averaged 25.27 points plus 13.27 rebounds and 5.82 assists in his last PBA stint with Blackwater in 2018, can very well address this concern.

“Henry Walker is a well-proven dynamic player, a great leader who has the ability to elevate the players around him so we’re looking forward to him filling this gap that we need on the offensive end,” Gavina told The Game on One Sports.

Only two players averaged in double figures in ROS’ quarterfinal stint in the last All-Filipino in young guns Javee Mocon (12.91) and Rey Nambatac (10.73) with veteran Beau Belga accounting for 9.27.

But with Walker around, Gavina feels Mocon and Nambatac will flourish some more, along with the ROS shooters.

“We feel nobody can defend him one-on-one and that’s going to open up a lot of our shooters like Nambatac and Mocon. I think we’ll have even more breakout seasons than they’ve had,” he said.

“Our shooters (Andrei) Caracut, and (Adrian) Wong will be able to develop themselves in raising their levels of play just because of what Henry Walker brings to the table.”