LA Tenorio is back with Barangay Ginebra following his debut as head coach of the Gilas Pilipinas Youth team that clinched a berth in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup.
But the Kings couldn’t activate him right away as Tim Cone and his coaching staff try to find a way to bring him back in the regular lineup.
Cone said at the moment, the 40-year-old veteran is helping out the coaching staff on the bench.
READ Tenorio addresses 'palakasan' claims in Gilas Youth selection
“We have this week to figure it out what we’ve gonna do with that,” said Cone of Tenorio, who was present but did not play in an 85-81 win over Magnolia in Sunday’s PBA Philippine Cup.
The Kings won't return to action until Sunday when they battle the streaking TNT Tropang 5G at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in a rematch of the Commissioner's Cup Finals.
Tenorio, who came in wearing the black shirt worn by the coaching staff, was relegated by the team to the Unrestricted Free Agent list (with rights to salary) more than a month ago to allow him to focus on his first full-time coaching job with the national youth squad.
Back-up guard Jayson David took Tenorio’s place in the active roster, and Cone said the 28-year-old David will stay in the Ginebra lineup.
"Jayson is on the roster to stay for sure,” said the Ginebra coach. “So we’ll gonna look for some other alternatives.”
Most likely, Tenorio would be back playing come the playoffs, where Ginebra is already assured of a slot following its win over Magnolia.
“He’s playoff-hardened and we want to have him around in the playoffs and we better figure out what exactly we’ll gonna do to make him in,” he said.
There’s no doubt though, Tenorio’s significance to the Ginebra franchise.
“He means a lot to the organization, he means a lot to the coaching staff, he means a lot to his teammates,” said Cone of his long-time team captain.
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