NENAD Vucinic has quit his role as one of the coaches of the Gilas Pilipinas program, leaving the national team staff without one of its key members heading to the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Vucinic, a veteran internationalist who came on board during friend and mentor Tab Baldwin's time in charge at Gilas, resigned last week during a meeting with Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan, sources said.
[Read: Bolick, Almazan, Tolentino new faces in Gilas pool]
However, the resignation has been kept under wraps as the national team focuses on coming games against Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, where Vucinic was supposed to be part of head coach Chot Reyes' staff, sources added.
Vucinic still showed up at the Smart Araneta Coliseum for Game Seven of the semifinal series between San Miguel and Meralco, where he was also a consultant to Norman Black. Look:
Sources, however, said Vucinic is likewise giving up the Meralco job as well as another consultant role at multi-titled NCAA squad San Beda.
Sources close to Vucinic said the Serbian-New Zealander wanted to help out in the Gilas program, but feels he isn't being involved or valued enough to make a difference.
"He tried to help but is never used," said a source close to Vucinic, who coached Gilas in an interim capacity during the third window of the qualifiers before handing back the reins to Reyes for the Southeast Asian Games.
Vucinic's resignation leaves Reyes, Tim Cone, Jong Uichico and Reyes' son Josh in the Gilas coaching staff for the August 25 away game against Lebanon and the August 29 home qualifier against Saudi Arabia at the MOA Arena.
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