Jimmy Alapag as SMB assistant coach has homecoming feel to it

New San Miguel assistant coach Jimmy Alapag. INQUIRER Photo/Denison Dalupang

Sometime during the turn of the millennium, an American coach/scout named Paul Howard flew a pint-sized guard into the country for the late Ron Jacobs to check out.

Jacobs, then a consultant for San Miguel Beer and newly minted national coach for the 2002 Asian Games, didn’t take long to become convinced the 5-foot-9 playmaker could make it big not just in the PBA, but with the Philippine team as well.

Jimmy Alapag did just that—from the other side of a basketball rivalry. He went on to shine for the TNT franchise, winning championships there while starring in some of Gilas Pilipinas’ most dramatic wins in the international scene.

All it took for that flip of fate? A broken hand.

Alapag was assigned to one of the pool teams that would be merged into the national squad for the Asiad in Busan, South Korea, before a broken hand forced him to fly back to the United States.

He lost his shot to represent the country and by the time he came back, the Beermen were locked and loaded at the point guard spot—Olsen Racela and Boybits Victoria hogged that rotation—to draft him and he wound up with the Mobiline Phone Pals (now TNT).

That’s why when Alapag was introduced as one of the assistants for coach Leo Austria, there was a homecoming feel to it.

“This whole thing … started because of coach Ron,” he said. “Him reaching out to me and he’s the one who extended the invitation to play in the national team way, way, way back in 2002. Now that my playing career is done and I have a chance now to coach here, it’s come full circle in a sense.

Alapag will be a welcome help in keeping troubled guard Terrence Romeo in check. Romeo, who joined the Beermen via an offseason trade, had always looked up to Alapag in the national team.

“Jimmy has always been there to guide me even during our stints at Gilas,” Romeo told reporters in Filipino. “He’s always there for me. Not only me but for everyone else. He’s just like that … I think it will ease [my transition here] because he’s such a veteran.”