IT will finally be a Rain or Shine reunion for coach Yeng Guiao as he parades a team o familiar faces representing the Philippines in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

San Miguel Corp. top brass cleared the addition of Paul Lee of Magnolia and Christian Standhardinger of San Miguel as basketball officials reconsidered an earlier decision to pull out of the Asiad in a rare show of unity.

Officials from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and the PBA board of governors met at 4 p.m. on Sunday, ironing the makeup of the squad before making the announcement in their joint press conference at 6 p.m.

Lee joins forces with his former Elasto Painters teammates together with Don Trollano, who is now with TNT.

Gilas Pilipinas team captain Gabe Norwood leads the Rain or Shine nucleus, together with Raymond Almazan, Beau Belga, Chris Tiu, and James Yap – all of whom donned the national tri-colors before – as well as Maverick Ahanmisi.

Continue reading below ↓

Beefing up the squad are GlobalPort guard Stanley Pringle, Blackwater big man JP Erram, and NLEX veteran Asi Taulava, who last played for the national team in the silver medal-winning crew in the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship.

Continue reading below ↓ Recommended Videos

Gilas cadets Kobe Paras and Ricci Rivero round out the 14-man crew.

GILAS GILAS

This welcome development also paves the way for Guiao's return to the helm for the national team, a post he held before with Powerade Team Pilipinas where the country finished eighth in the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship.

Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia will assist Guiao.

The Philippines is slotted in Group B of the men's basketball tournament, slated from August 18 to September 2, where it is set to face Iran, Syria, and United Arab Emirates in the preliminaries.