BARANGAY Ginebra will split its coaching staff to support LA Tenorio in his debut as head coach of Gilas Pilipinas Youth at the FIBA U16 Asia Cup SEABA Qualifiers.
Gilas coach Tim Cone said some of the members of his coaching staff at Ginebra including his lead deputy Richard Del Rosario will join Tenorio in the May 24 to 30 competition in San Fernando, Pampanga.
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Ginebra will only play one game in the duration of the SEABA tournament, but the May 30 match against Meralco at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum fall on the same day as the SEABA title match where Gilas Youth is expected to figure.
“My staff is split at this point. Half of our staff is in our (Ginebra) practices and half of them are with the juniors at this point. They (Gilas Youth) are going to have games when we have games,” said Cone on the sidelines of the Management Association of the Philippines general membership meeting where he was a guest speaker on Wednesday.
“Right now, we are prioritizing LA. He is the priority at this point,” said Cone of Tenorio, who was relegated to Ginebra’s unrestricted free agent with rights to salary list to focus on his role at Gilas Youth.
“Our guys, when the game is going on, the guys that are working with LA are going to be with LA. So we will have a Spartan staff, if necessary,” he added.
Cone said the set-up will keep any member of the coaching staff from doing double duties in Manila and Pampanga.
“They (Gilas Youth coaching staff) keep saying we will go up (to Pampanga) and go back down (Manila). Game at night, and practice the next day. And I said, we are going to kill ourselves doing that. There’s really no need.
'Tenorio is top priority'
"The priority is LA at this point. So whatever we have to do to support LA, they will do,” said Cone.
Cone added the ‘Batang Gilas’ stint is also of utmost importance to the national team program which he runs in his capacity as head coach, and that the preparation for the PBA competition remains manageable even with a lean staff.
“We just feel at this point that we play a lot of PBA games. There’s very few SEABA games and this is important to LA. We want to support him the best we can, support to the country. We are going to do what we have to,” said Cone.
Cone said he also plans to go to Pampanga to witness the games personally.
“I’m going to watch a game or two. Obviously, we still have practice everyday so I have to be back in practice,” said Cone.
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