NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao does not want to trade away Poy Erram.
This assertion comes days after Erram was involved in trade rumors which indicated he could land with the TNT KaTropa.
"Wala akong masabi diyan kasi ako, ayoko i-trade si Poy as of now," Guiao said on Monday. "There are very few quality big men in the league, and Poy is one of them."
However, Guiao said he'll only focus on what he can control.
"I can't say anything yet. I think it's not at my level. I cannot comment on it at this point," he admitted. "I'm still in a quandary. I'm still not sure what his situation is or will be. But unless it happens, we treat him like we treated him before. He's part of our team, he's part of the family of NLEX. We'll see what happens."
Erram suited up for the Road Warriors in their first game of the Phoenix Super Basketball Tournament Monday at the Upper Deck Gym in Ortigas, but only played a shade under 10 minutes and logged four points, two rebounds and a block off the bench.
Guiao, though, said Erram is expected to play a big role for NLEX in the middle this coming Philippine Cup as the team looks to take advantage of the absence of June Mar Fajardo, who will miss most of San Miguel's 2020 campaign as he recovers from a complete fracture on his right tibia.
"I guess teams like us are going to try harder because you don't really know when [June Mar] is going to come back. Take advantage while he isn't there. He could only miss a short amount of time and once he returns, we're going back to the old practice of just trying to play for second place," remarked Guiao.
"It's unfortunate that he suffered the injury, but at the same time this is a time for other teams to step up their game and be able to take advantage."
Even with Erram only seeing limited action off the pine, NLEX was able to score a solid 103-97 win against the defending five-time All-Filipino champions Beermen. Minutes were spread evenly among all Road Warriors, with only one player in Kiefer Ravena logging above 20 minutes.
Four players, led by JR Quinahan's 14 points, breached double-figures, but the team also got boosts from Kris Porter, who is returning from a knee injury, and Kevin Alas -- both of whom the team are trying to ease back into action.
"Any win is a good win even if it's in practice, but we know scrimmages like this are basically just trying to feel out your progress as a team. So it's a good thing to beat San Miguel, but this is not going to be an indication of how they will play in the conference itself," Guiao noted.
"Kris is one of the players we're trying to get into his groove from the injury, as well as Kevin. Instead of using our old players, I felt it was to our advantage to give these guys extra playing time so that it can accelerate their progress in terms of getting back to their old form."
NLEX will gun for its second win of the mini tournament when it takes on Alaska on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at the same venue.
"We're not in that good of shape yet," Guiao said. "On offense, we put in a few new plays and we haven't executed those to my satisfaction. We've got a few more weeks to get close to a hundred percent."