MANILA, 1 August 2006 — The activity under the San Miguel umbrella in the PBA continues, this time with a coaching reshuffle set to take place in the coming days.
Chot Reyes, the firebrand national team mentor, is set to assume head coaching responsibilities for multi-titled San Miguel, while Jong Uichico will leave the Beermen to call the shots for crowd-darling Ginebra San Miguel.
Arab News got confirmation of this development from league insiders yesterday who requested not to be identified.
Siot Tanquingcen, who burst into the scene as a young mind that immediately delivered two titles for Ginebra, will reportedly sit as assistant to Uichico, reviving a tandem on the bench that resulted in numerous titles for San Miguel.
The coaching changes comes on the heels of a seemingly one-sided trade that took place Friday night, when the Kings acquired frontliners Rafi Reavis, Billy Mamaril and the deported Rudy Hatfield from Coca-Cola.
While player trades among the four San Miguel teams are restricted without other teams in the roster acting as conduits, coaching exchanges are not prohibited by any form of a rule in the PBA.
Reyes, who was pulled out of his old job at Coke to concentrate on the national squad, refused to confirm nor deny this report. He also refused to talk about his impending PBA comeback directly.
“Right now, my focus is on the national team and on the Qatar tournament we will play in,” Reyes said.
A national program was put in place two years ago to put the Philippines back as a power in basketball in Asia.
Initially, all PBA teams vowed full support to this undertaking with pledges of lending their players into the pool that is actually being prepared to qualify — and hopefully — play in both the World championships and the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
But with the politics gripping the sport in the country that resulted in suspensions from all international tournaments sanctioned by the world-governing FIBA, some of the PBA teams have seemingly backtracked on that commitment.
The Philippines suffered a humiliating beating in the recent William Jones Cup in Taipei, finishing sixth in a field of 10 nations after some of the finest players in the PBA begged off from playing.
Asi Taulava, Jimmy Alapag and Ren-Ren Ritualo, vital cogs of the RP Team that placed a close third in the same tournament last year, did not join the national squad this time because of different reasons.
Reyes was forced to tap the services of top-rated amateurs to reinforce the team since he did not get the choice from a full field that would comprise the members of his team with Red Bull and Purefoods still playing in the Philippine Cup Finals.
After calling the shots for such teams as Purefoods, Sta. Lucia and Coca-Cola, Reyes will get the chance at winning championships again if and when his appointment to the San Miguel bench comes down.
He will be handling a team loaded with talent on all fronts, with Danny Seigle and Danny Ildefonso in the primes of their careers and Dondon Hontiveros slowly but surely becoming one of the finest shooting guards in the league.
Uichico, for his part, will be inheriting a Ginebra squad that is teeming with height, talent and experience.
With Eric Menk, Rommel Adducul and Andy Seigle already there, Uichico will have the material to play with the heftiest frontline to ever see action in this league.
And with Mark Caguioa, Jay Jay Helterbrand and Rodney Santos, the Kings certainly look to be the strongest team on paper when the season opens in late September or early October.
