JOJO Lastimosa is leaving his fate as head coach to TNT management after winning the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup title.
The TNT team manager was thrust into a head coaching role temporarily prior to the conference after management decided to let Chot Reyes handle Gilas Pilipinas fulltime for its preparations for the Fiba Basketball World Cup.
Should Jojo Lastimosa keep coaching job permanently?
Lastimosa confirmed that the coaching position is just a one-off, but is ready for any eventuality especially after the title victory.
“It might change everything but it remains to be seen if this is really a one-off,” said Lastimosa, who still holds the team manager position concurrently. “Ang pagkakaalam ko, this is a one-off. But I don’t know what MVP will do, Mr. Vargas will do, Mr. Al Panlilio will do. But I’ll be ready just in case.”
Lastimosa said he is still interested to handle both jobs if the higher-ups want him to do so.
“I can be a manager and a coach at the same time. I’m still doing my managerial job. I haven’t lost that one yet,” said Lastimosa.
Lastimosa said he never thought about reaching this deep into his first conference as head coach after the management decision.
“It’s incredible. It’s unbelievable even nung nag-buzzer na, nung alam ko na nangyayari na. Can you imagine? Paulit-ulit kong sinasabi. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be coaching here. My deal was if I’m going to coach, I’ll coach it. I’m not going to be just a mouthpiece. And they agreed to it,” said Lastimosa.
“The good thing about the set-up is that sila Josh, Sandy, Yuri, alam na alam nila ‘yung system. We are just running the same system as Chot. Nagkakaiba iba lang ‘yung substitution patterns ko, ‘yung mga timeouts ko. But generally, it was an incredible job by the coaches,” said Lastimosa.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph