RAIN or Shine acted swiftly and signed rookie pick Christian Manaytay to address the team's frontcourt woes in its ongoing PBA Philippine Cup campaign.
The Elasto Painters gave the 6-foot-5 Manaytay a two-year contract which he signed on Tuesday to fill the void left in the frontline left by Keith Datu's season-ending injury.
Manaytay was one of two first-round picks of the team at No. 10 overall in the last draft, but didn't play right away as he finished his contract obligation with Nueva Ecija in the MPBL.
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The University of Santo Tomas product only began practicing with Rain or Shine shortly after the Rice Vanguards bowed out of the MPBL playoffs, but his activation was later fast-tracked following the patellar tendon injury suffered by Datu, who's been declared out for the rest of Season 50,
The injury to Datu further shortened the frontcourt rotation of the Elasto Painters, with Caelan Tiongson and Luis Villegas also out with their respective injuries.
That left veteran Beau Belga and Kris Porter to man the middle for the team, although Belga, 38, is still on restricted minutes after a bout with vertigo last season.
Following Rain or Shine's 105-91 loss to NLEX over the weekend, coach Yeng Guiao disclosed the team is looking at available options to reinforce its frontcourt, including free agents in the market that included his former players Michael Miranda and Justin Chua.
In the end, the Elasto Painters chose to go to their first option which is Manaytay, who was previously with the La Salle Green Archers before transferring to Santo Tomas, where he played majority of his collegiate career.
Once a co-captain with the Magis Eagles Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, the rookie big man helped the Growling Tigers enter the Final Four in his last season in Espana, where he averaged 8.4 points and three rebounds.
At UST, he will also be reunited with the 6-foot-5 Belga, who once served as assistant coach of UST under former mentor Aldin Ayo.
Manaytay was accompanied by his representative Marvin Espiritu of the EMBM during the contract signing, where the player was welcomed to the team by Guiao, deputy coach Caloy Garcia, and team manager Jireh Ibanes.
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