JIMMY Alapag isn't closing his doors on a possible return to the country, hopefully if a coaching opportunity opens up for him.
Jimmy Alapag on chances of PH return
"I'm always open to coming back and possibly coaching in the Philippines one day," he admitted to Radyo5's Power and Play with Noli Eala on Saturday.
It's an unsurprising statement from the longtime Gilas Pilipinas captain, who had to make the tough decision of migrating his family to the United States last year.
Alapag has already transitioned into coaching before the pandemic hit, serving as the head coach for the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), where he won his first title as a mentor back in 2018.
He also served as an assistant to Leo Austria in San Miguel Beermen starting in 2019, and previously for Norman Black in Meralco Bolts after he retired. He also worked behind coach Tab Baldwin for Gilas Pilipinas from 2015 to 2017.
However, Alapag's priorities is his family, thus the move to the United States.
"It was a family decision," he said, putting premium on the needs of his wife LJ Moreno and their children Ian Maximus, Keona Skye, and Calen Asher.
"I have so much love for the country and that will never change, but I just felt for right now, talking to my wife and my family, we tried to provide the best space for our kids and not have them feel the effects of what's happening cause they're so young."
Alapag also feels lucky that despite this leap of faith, opportunities are still cropping up for him in the US.
One of those is this assistant coaching job for the Sacramento Kings in the recently concluded NBA Summer League, where the team went on a perfect 6-0 campaign to win the crown.
"While we're here, you have a family to feed and take care of, so you just try to be persistent and build relationships and continue to network with different people and see what opportunities there might be," he said.
"For this opportunity to open back up and rejoin the Kings, it meant a lot. To have a more active role, as long as I'm around the game, I'm still in my soul a basketball fan, and to be there and try to get whatever wisdom I could to the younger players we had was really cool."
Alapag's impact was truly felt that the Sacramento brass felt that he deserved a meeting with him over the weekend, possibly for a potential job with the organization.
Safe to say, we haven't seen the last of Mighty Mouse.
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