MANILA — The Rain Or Shine ElastoPainters officially welcomed its 2024 PBA Rookie Draft seventh overall pick Caelan Tiongson.

The Yeng Guiao-coached squad announced that they have inked a three-year deal with the 32-year-old rookie, and he will be joined by eighth-overall pick Felix Lemetti and 13th-overall Ef Escandor.

"We're happy with our selections. Naabutan pa namin si Caelan Tiongson who could've been drafted earlier," Guiao said in a previous interview.

"We're happy that we got him at seventh. Basically, yung mga gusto namin makuha, nakuha naman. We're excited to have them in practice and to try and blend them with the team," he continued.

The 6-foot-5, Filipino-American recently finished his stint with Strong Group Athletics-Philippines which clinched the 43rd William Jones Cup championship.

READ: Caelan Tiongson on finally joining the PBA Draft: ‘It was just that time'

Now, he is expected to boost the frontline of Rain Or Shine which currently features the likes of veteran Beau Belga, Keith Datu, and Luis Villegas.

"With Caelan, we have another leader in our team. We're expecting him to be a leader since he's been a veteran for some years playing around the world. We know his abilities, we know he is someone who can score and defend."

"Those will be useful for us," he added of the journey man, who already has played in the now-defunct ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) and Taiwan's T1 League.