Rain or Shine Elasto Painters

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters is the newest team in the Philippine Basketball Association, debuting on the 2006-07 PBA season. From 1996-2006, it was a member of the semi-professional Philippine Basketball League, carrying the name Welcoat House Paints, Welcoat Paintmasters and the St. Benilde-Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. The team acquired the franchise rights of the Shell Turbo Chargers, who disbanded after the 2004-05 PBA season.

History

Philippine Basketball League

Welcoat became a member of the Philippine Basketball League during the mid-90's, even PBA legend Samboy Lim suited up for the team, minus his traditional high socks. Their first championship came in the 1999 Challenge Cup, winning 3-0 over Red Bull Energy Drink.

Welcoat was considered as one of the two teams to enter the PBA before the 2000 season but lost out to Red Bull.

Since then the Paint Masters won five more championships, fielding in the best amateur and former Metropolitan Basketball Association players available, most notably Don Allado, Renren Ritualo, Yancy de Ocampo, Rommel Adducul, Ronald Tubid, James Yap, Paul Artadi and Anthony Washington.

One of their biggest rivals from 2000-2002 was Shark Energy Drink, with current PBA players Chester Tolomia (later joined Welcoat in 2004), Roger Yap and later Rain or Shine member Gilbert Malabanan, as both teams engaged in four straight finals series, splitting both series in the process.

In 2005, Welcoat changed its name to Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, one of the products of their parent company, Welbest. The Elasto Painters made it all the way to the finals of the Heroes Cup against Magnolia. After leading the series 2-0, Rain or Shine suffered one of the biggest collapses in league history as the Wizards won the series in five games.

In 2006 PBL Unity Cup, the Elasto Painters were swept in the semifinals by Toyota-Otis Sparks to end their four consecutive finals appearance, but placed third in a one-game playoff against Montana Pawnshop on June 8.

Prior to the start of Game 3 of the Unity Cup title series between Harbour Centre and Toyota-Otis on June 13, 2006, the league awarded the team with the Dynasty Award for their 10 years of success in the league. Several past and present members of the Welcoat franchise were on hand, as they brought their six championship trophies during the ceremony.

Philippine Basketball Association

Welcoat Dragons
align=center colspan=2	-	Uniforms

Acquisition of the Shell franchise

After Shell's departure in 2005, the league gave Shell an ultimatum of until early 2006 to either announce their return to the league for the 06-07 season, or to sell the franchise to a prospective buyer.

In several press releases and interview, PBA Commissioner Noli Eala mentioned that some companies were interested in joining the league, although he did not stressed which of these companies were. One of Eala's vision was for the PBA to have a 12-team league. Welcoat suddenly came into the picture, expressing interest to buy the Shell franchise.

By January 2006, newspapers reported that the Welcoat team is nearing the completion of acquiring the Shell team. By February, the PBA announced the entry of Welcoat as the 10th PBA team for the 2006-2007 season.

People's Journal said that turnover was approved between P30-40 million, a big drop from the original P60 million the Turbo Chargers wanted The Manila Times, however, reported that it was close to P55 million that Shell wanted

Welcoat put out P60 million as bond for five years, P7 million for participation fee and another P6 million for transfer fee.

Pre-PBA preparations

As incentive, the PBA allowed Welcoat to grab three amateur players from their Rain or Shine PBL team. The Paint Masters named Jay-R Reyes, Junjun Cabatu and NCAA Most Valuable Player Jay Sagad as the three players from the core of its amateur team which they are elevating into the pros directly.

Welcoat also signed PBL veterans Nino Gelig, undrafted point guard Froilan Baguion, Jercules Tangkay and former Shell big man Adonis Sta. Maria. In the dispersal draft, Welcoat took Rob Wainwright and Gilbert Lao from Coca-Cola and Denver Lopez from San Miguel, in a dispersal draft.

In August 2006, Welcoat announced that they will be named as the Welcoat Dragons in their pro stint while also grabbing former UP Fighting Maroons players Abby Santos and Jireh Ibañes as the team's new rookies, although Santos failed to sign with the team.

2006-07: Inaugural season

In their PBA debut, Welcoat lost to eventual champion Barangay Ginebra Kings in the season-opening game of the 2006-07 PBA season, 102-69. Jojo Tangkay scored the team's first-ever basket in the league. Denver Lopez led the team with 12 points while rookie Jay-R Reyes had 10 for the Dragons.

The Dragons won their first win in franchise history on October 9 defeating Coca-Cola. Their next two victories came at the hands of the San Miguel Beermen and the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals. Despite a 3-5 record, Welcoat lost their next 10 games along with injuries to key players to end their campaign with a 3-15 record, the only team to be eliminated after the elimination round of the 2006-07 PBA Philippine Cup.

During the 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference, the Dragons had two active imports, Wayland White and assistant coach Alex Compton. The other imports, Charles Clark and Rob Sanders, preceded White but had an injury. The Dragons are the first team to be eliminated in the Fiesta Conference, by the hands of the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants.

The Dragons finished with a 7-29 record for the 2006-07 PBA season and was awarded the first overall draft pick after they won in the draft lottery.

2007-08 season

Before the start of the 2008 PBA Fiesta Conference, Leo Austria resigned as head coach of the Dragons citing that the management wanted a new direction. Assistant coach Caloy Garcia was named as interim head coach on March 18.

2008-09 season

A new name was introduced for the Dragons----Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. At the 2008 Annual Rookie Draft held at Market! Market!, Taguig, the team drafted Gabe Norwood as the first overall pick. In the 2nd round, the Elasto Painters grabbed ex-DLSU Archer Tyronne Tang. 24 hours after the draft proper, the team traded last year's first overall pick ,Joe Devance, and their 2009 and 2010 second round picks to the Alaska Aces in exchange for Alaska's 1st round pick, number five overall Solomon Mercado, and veteran Eddie Laure. They defeated Air21 on their first game of the 2008-2009 Philippine Cup, 120-102.

Current roster

Current depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
PG	Solomon Mercado	Don Dulay		Tyeonne Tang
SG	Ryan Araña	Denver Lopez	Gherome Ejercito
SF	Gabe Norwood	Rob Wainwright	Jireh Ibañes
PF	Eddie Laure	Allan Salangsang
C	Jay-R Reyes	Mark Andaya

Season-by-season records

Season	Conference	W	L	%	Playoffs
Welcoat Dragons
2006-07	Philippine Cup	3	15	0.167	Out from playoffs
2006-07	Fiesta Conference	4	14	0.222	Out from playoffs
2007-08	Philippine Cup	3	15	0.167	Out from playoffs
2007-08	Fiesta Conference	4	14	0.222	Out from playoffs
Elimination round		14	58	0.194	0 playoff appearances
Playoffs		0	0	N/A	0 championships