Versatile Reid key to Painters' drive

Rain Or Shine will parade a do-it-all versatile import in the PBA Governors Cup starting June 11 and coach Yeng Guiao couldn’t be happier with 6-4 Arizona (AZ) Reid, one of only 104 players in NCAA Division I history to finish his collegiate career with at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Reid, 25, flew in last May 19 and has been playing sweet music with the Elasto Painters. “Looks okay,” said Guiao without revealing too much information to keep rival teams guessing.

Assistant coach Caloy Garcia likened Reid to former San Miguel Beer import Gabe Freeman. “He played well in our two tune-up games although he only played an average of two quarters,” said Garcia.

“He’s an aggressive type of an import and can play the three and four positions. In our two tune-up games, we beat Meralco and lost to Powerade.”

Reid seems to be a perfect fit for Guiao’s equal-opportunity system. Guiao’s teams thrive on unpredictability and Reid’s versatility allows him to play multiple positions, providing match-up problems for opponents. Whichever position Reid plays on the floor, he’ll surely create a mismatch.

In the last conference, Rain Or Shine crashed out of contention in the quarterfinals, losing to Ginebra San Miguel in a best-of-three series that went the distance. NBA veteran Hassan Adams was the Painters’ import and could’ve come back for the Governors Cup as he fits the 6-4 limit. But Guiao opted for a tougher operator with an inside-outside game.

Rain Or Shine is shooting for its first semifinal appearance this season. In the Philippine Cup, the Painters were ousted by Talk ‘N’ Text in the first game of the wildcards. Since entering the league in 2006-07, the Terry Que-Raymund Yu franchise made it to the semifinals only once, finishing fourth in the 2008-09 Fiesta Conference. With AZ in harness, hopes are high that the Painters will be back in the Final Four.

In the Governors Cup format, teams will be handicapped based on their performance in the previous two conferences with a weighted average of 60 percent for the Philippine Cup and 40 percent for the Commissioner’s Cup. Talk ‘N’ Text, Petron, Ginebra and B-Meg will play with a 6-2 import. Rain Or Shine, Alaska, Air21 and Meralco will be allowed to recruit a 6-4 import while Powerade will bring in a 6-6 import.

Confirmed imports are Maurice Baker for Talk ‘N’ Text, Mike Taylor for Petron, Curtis Stinson for Ginebra, Courtney Beasley for B-Meg, Reid, Jason Forte for Alaska, Alpha Bangura for Air21, Champ Oguchi for Meralco and John Williamson for Powerade.

Reid is in elite company with the likes of Tim Duncan, Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, Rick Barry, David Robinson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for compiling at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in the NCAA. He’s the only cager in Big South history to qualify. In his four years with High Point University in North Carolina, the varsity registered a 68-55 record, including a 22-10 mark in 2006-07. A highlight in Reid’s collegiate career was his 32-point, 25-rebound effort against Virginia Military Institute in 2007. Reid earned a degree in recreational management at High Point in 2008.

“AZ’s a high-energy guy,” said High Point coach Bart Lundy. “He does everything well, he rebounds it, he’s a good scorer, he’s a perfect high-low guy. He’s comfortable at power forward though he’s a little under-sized. He’s tough to guard and he’s strong so he has no problem defensively down there. He can shoot the three. He can face up a lot more than he could his freshman year and he continues to be our hardest worker. He has always been great inside but he has developed inside and outside.”

Mike Ashley, writing in the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, described Reid as “a big guard-small forward-power forward hybrid.” Reid averaged 23.9 points and 11 rebounds as a senior to finish his varsity career with 2,069 points and 1,013 rebounds.

Reid has played as an import in Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Australia and Lebanon. He’s coming off a stint with BBC Monthey in the Swiss league, averaging 18.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals. Reid shot .489 from two-point range, .367 from three-point distance and .727 from the line.

A stain in his international record was the early exit from the Australian league after he was charged with a low-level drink driving charge. “Arizona is a terrific person and a very good player but our players know that they have to be role models in our community and obey the law at all times,” said Denis Donaghy, owner of the Cairns Taipans club.

As for his global hoop odyssey, Reid said, “it’s so different, from the lifestyle to the people to the language to the food...but when you love something like I love basketball, you can make adjustments to make it work, I really didn’t like the weather in Finland, it was so cold and it was snowing in April but it didn’t matter because I was playing basketball.”