Rain or Shine pushes through with import switch, replaces Michael Qualls with Greg Smith II

MANILA, Philippines – Greg Smith II in, Michael Qualls out.

Rain or Shine pushed through with its import switch by bringing in Smith to replace Qualls after a woeful start in the PBA Governors’ Cup that saw the Elasto Painters lose their first four games.

A product of Colorado State, the 6-foot-6 Smith is a well-traveled reinforcement who had stints with teams from Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Latvia, Argentina, and France.

The change came days after Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao admitted the team that the Elasto Painters were facing “chemistry problems” four games into the conference with Qualls as their import.

He averaged 26.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1 steal in losses to Meralco, TNT, Converge, and Barangay Ginebra.

Qualls’ run with Rain or Shine proved to be in stark contrast with his first PBA stint with NorthPort, which he powered to a semifinal appearance in the 2019 Governors’ Cup.

Smith is expected to debut against Blackwater on Sunday, February 12, at the Mall of Asia Arena as the Elasto Painters shoot for their first win. – Rappler.com

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Delfin Dioquino

Delfin Dioquino dreamt of being a PBA player, but he did not have the skills to make it. So he pursued the next best thing to being an athlete – to write about them. He took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas and joined Rappler as soon as he graduated in 2017.