CHICAGO - Rajko Toroman is a badass.
After watching his grandson -- Djordje Sekularac -- captain the U16 Serbian national team at a tournament in Macedonia, he returned home to Serbia and then flew to Manila to begin another chapter in his basketball journey.
Despite all those travel miles, the highly decorated 68-year-old coach from Belgrade showed up at the College of St. Benilde Blazers practice this morning alongside head coach Charles Tiu.
"I'm thrilled to have him. He will help instill more discipline in our team and improve us tactically. My goal from Day 1 was to give my players the best available resources for them to become the best versions of themselves on and off the court," coach Charles told me in a telephone interview.
It's a happy, hearty reunion for both coaches.
Back in 2010, a then 21-year old Tiu had served as Toroman's assistant in the Smart Gilas national team. Tiu has since strengthened his own wings to turn the Season 98 finalists into an elite NCAA program.
With Will Gozum leading a strong core that will return for Season 99, the Blazers are expected to make another deep playoffs run. And with Toroman on board, the CSB bench now has enough brain power to crush the competition.
RAJKO TOROMAN: MULTI-TASKING
The Benilde mission isn't just Toromoan's only task. He will also help out as consultant with Converge FiberXers in the PBA. Most importantly, he is in the Philippines to spread the love and joy of basketball.
"He will be conducting clinics in the provinces and all around the country," Frank Lao, owner of the Frank Lao Group that has close ties with the Dennis Uy Group at Converge, was the main force behind Toroman's return to our basketball scene.
The notoriously shy billionaire, whose daughter, Janica Lao, owns the Farm Fresh Foxies of the Philippine Volleyball League (PVL), has been a long-time supporter of CSB.
Toroman's arrival highlights an increase in foreign consultants doing work for PBA teams.
Active consultants are not a new concept in the PBA. It's a clever way to circumvent a rule that disallows foreign coaches to hold head coaching jobs in Asia's play-for-play league.
It's archaic and backwards stuff, but it's a rule nonetheless.
NOTHING NEW
TNT's iteration of the consultant-coach combo featuring Mark Dickel and Bong Ravena was arguably the most poorly staged and immensely controversial that it drew the attention of fans as pictures circulated depicting Dickel commanding the huddle as Ravena stands idly from a distance.
The rule has to change to help restore some of the pride and dignity of our local coaches in the midst of the influx of foreign help.
Last December, the TNT Tropang Giga announced that Serbian coach Slavoljub Lale Goronuvic will help coach interim coach Joj Lastimosa while Chot Reyes is busy with Gilas. Five months later, the Meralco Bolts brought in fellow Serbian Nenad Vucinic as "active consultant."
But unlike TNT and Meralco, whose coaches' wings could be clipped by the imposing presence of two looming figures with five-star international credentials, Aldin Ayo won't have to worry about hearing footsteps and a knock on his door.
"Aldin is the Converge coach. He will call the shots and we expect him to continue doing a great job with the FiberXers," Lao clarified amid speculations that the equally decorated Ayo could possibly be separated from his clipboard.
A strong type-A personality with a stellar record in both the amateurs and the pros, Ayo has no such insecurities in his current position, I am told. But getting some inputs from a respected coach such as Tormoan isn't beneath him, either.
In other words, Tormoan is here to help with a build-up, not a shake-up.
And that's a good thing.
Now, if we can only put Pampanga governor Delta Pineda as Converge team governor, things would even be better.
So far, as time continues to pass, the PBA is still mum on the finality of that issue.
Oh well.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
