NENAD Vucinic hopes to see good friend Mensur Bajramovic back with Hong Kong-based team Eastern in the PBA by next season or who knows, in a different capacity in the future.
After competing against each other in the last Commissioner’s Cup, the two were reunited last weekend as Bajramovic visited the Meralco active consultant and watched the Bolts’ PBA Philippine Cup game against the NLEX Road Warriors.
“We’ll, I hope he’s going to coach the Hong Kong team in the PBA (next season),” said Vucinic after the 108-92 win by the defending champions. “Hopefully in the future, he’ll be in (the) Philippines. Let’s see what happens.”
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Bajramovic sat a few seats behind the Meralco bench, prompting Nenad to say the Bosnian coach helped him ‘get the win.’
The Eastern mentor had a good laugh about it, jokingly adding that he had to buy his own ticket to watch the game.
But the 59-year-old Bajramovic said Nenad is a ‘very good coach,’ that he doesn’t need his help.
“Nenad is a good coach. And I can only be beside him and support, nothing else,” he said when asked what help he extended to his longtime friend.
Bajramovic arrived in the country from Hong Kong last Friday in time for the Meralco-NLEX tussle as Eastern doesn’t have practice during the weekend.
“I just came during the weekend. We don’t have any official games yet in Hong Kong, we’re just practicing and we had the weekend off. He (Nenad) invited me and I came to see him,” said the former head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national men’s team.
Bajramovic left for Hong Kong on Monday.
Eastern coming back next season?
As for Eastern’s return stint in the PBA for Season 50, the coach said there is no definite decision yet, although the previous memorandum of agreement between the club and the league is a two-year participation.
“It’s a decision we have to make, the club I mean. We enjoyed last season playing here,” said Bajramovic. “And now it reminds me (after watching the game). I hope we will have a chance to play again.”
Eastern had a fairly good stint as a guest team in Season 49, where it even held the top spot not just once.
Unfortunately, playing in too many leagues at the same time – a domestic tournament and the East Asia Super League – caught up with the ballclub and fell in the standings as the seventh seeded team going to the playoffs against no. 2 TNT.
The Tropang 5G eliminated Eastern, 109-93, on the way to winning the championship.
Eastern had in its roster the likes of imports Cameron Clark and Chris McLaughlin, former Bay Area Dragons stalwarts Glen Yang, Kobe Lam, and Hayden Blankley along with big men Ramon Cao and national player Pok Yuet Yeung, and Steven Guinchard, who is married to a Filipina.
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