FROM his seat in the broadcast booth inside the TV5 building, Yeng Guiao had a good view of how big an impact Poy Erram made in his first season with TNT.
"We all know how good Poy is and he showed it in this [last] finals," said the veteran coach of Erram, who proved the missing piece in the middle in the Tropang Giga's run to the PBA Philippine Cup Finals inside the Clark bubble.
The sight of Erram living up to expectations at TNT is bitter-sweet for Guiao, who succeeded in acquiring the 6-8 center in a trade with Blackwater only to see him head to NLEX's sister team in a deal done by top management.
Guiao made his displeasure known the moment news of the trade leaked, but soon accepted it like a good soldier. To this day, he makes no effort to hide his feelings over a trade that left a gaping hole in NLEX's frontline.
"Dinamdam namin ang pagkawala ni Poy," Guiao admitted in the latest episode of SPIN Sidelines.
Seeing Erram become the pillar that TNT has not had for a long time, Guiao couldn't help but wonder how NLEX would've fared with a versatile big man to complement the deadly backcourt of Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Alas, and Jericho Cruz,
"Poy is the complete package," Guiao said. "He can score inside and one thing I like about him is that he's not afraid to shoot from the outside. When he was with me, I also told him he must be able to handle the physicality."
With Erram, TNT got as far as Game Five of the PBA Finals before losing to Barangay Ginebra; without Erram, NLEX fell short of making the playoffs with a 5-6 (win-loss) record, finishing at ninth place overall.
Disappointing as the results were, there may be a silver lining for NLEX after all these.
You see, NLEX got two first-round picks - including the 2021 draft rights by conduit Blackwater - in the trade for Erram. That selection stands at No. 3 overall in the 2021 rookie draft after the Elite finished in ninth place in the Clark bubble just ahead of NorthPort and Terrafirma.
Together with its own draft pick after finishing in eighth place in the Philippine Cup eliminations, NLEX stands to pick No. 3 and 4 in the first round.
Nothing is certain about the next PBA Rookie Draft at this point except that it will most likely be held in March, but it has raised hope for Guiao that NLEX may finally reap the fruits of that Erram trade, albeit much later.
Guiao hopes that first-round selection may yield a big man for NLEX, likely probably a Santi Santillan or a Franky Johnson and - who knows - maybe a Justine Baltazar in a draft pool that is getting better by the day, after the UAAP announced that it was cancelling its collegiate basketball season.
"I call it delayed gratification," Guiao said. "We may not have benefited from Poy, but we hope to get another quality big man with that pick we got in that trade."
Good karma? You bet.
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