Comparing Villegas to Saldaña
Oct 23, 2026
NOT many coaches is willing to take the risk on a player who has been sidelined by multiple knee operations, but coach Yeng Guiao and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are more than willing to make that gamble on Luis Villegas.
Villegas, a 6-foot-7 product of University of the East, was the team’s third overall pick in 2023 and the Elasto Painters patiently waited for him to recuperate. Back then, he was expected to return after being sidelined for months following an ACL injury he suffered while playing for the Red Warriors yet Rain or Shine waited longer than expected.
“When we drafted Luis Villegas, we thought he was well on his way to recovery. We knew there was a risk, but we expected him to come back sooner. Instead, he would try to play and have a problem again,” said Guiao.
Of course, management was having apprehensions which was normal. You don’t want to pay for something that is feared to be damaged goods, but Guiao and the bosses of Rain or Shine were patient enough to see Villegas recover and get better.
“We kept waiting, and eventually we had to seek a second opinion. The assessment was that he needed another reconstruction,” added Guiao.
Suffering serious injuries could take a toll on a player, not just physically, but psychologically.
“Every operation carries a risk. You cannot be sure you will bring the player back to a hundred percent, especially when you are operating on something that has already been repaired,” said Guiao.
“You put your judgment on the line. You trust the process, but you also have to be ready — that it might not work.”
But Villegas was determined to come back and play and such traits embraced one of the philosophies of Guiao and now the player has been a key contributor so far since he returned to competitive form.
Villegas’ character reminded Guiao of one of his toughest players ever — the late great Terry Saldaña.
Much like Villegas, the player known as “The Plastic Man” was riddled with a series of career-threatening injuries, one of those scary incidents took place when Saldaña was still playing for the PBA’s most popular team, Ginebra San Miguel, coached then by The Living Legend Robert Jaworski in 1987.
But Guiao, then a neophyte coach in the PBA, took a gamble on Saldaña and made him a part of his Pop Cola Sizzlers’ team, one of two expansion squads which joined the PBA along with Pepsi, in 1990.
“I remember Terry Saldaña. Both knees had been operated on, and I think one of them had been operated on twice. When he came back, he was playing like his old self. He became part of our championship team at a time when the game was very physical,” said Guiao.
“I don’t know how much of that was his body. Terry had an exceptional body. Maybe he was also mentally strong enough to handle what he had gone through. Maybe it was the combination of both.”
The gamble paid off, but Guiao also had apprehensions whether bringing in someone who was then considered damaged goods, could either work for them or turned out to be a disastrous move.
“We didn’t know for sure he could still play when we took him. It was really a big gamble. You knew his ability and his potential, but you still had to find out whether he could get back there,” added Guiao.
Guiao was able to coach different breed of high-character athletes in Villegas and Saldaña and the veteran mentor is hoping their investment could pay off someday.
For now, Villegas and the Elasto Painters are in solid hunt to make another deep run in the PBA’s season-ending conference.
