Chot: After Alapag, 3 other Gilas stars have great coaching potential

MANILA, Philippines — Decorated coach Chot Reyes thinks three of his former national team players are capable of having good coaching careers too if they choose to pursue that path down the road.

Reyes said Barangay Ginebra’s LA Tenorio, Rain or Shine’s Gabe Norwood and the recently-retired Ranidel De Ocampo all have the potential to be great coaches someday.

“I think LA (Tenorio) will become a great coach. Ranidel will turn out be a pretty good coach just in his demeanor and his understanding of the game, and Gabe Norwood certainly will turn out to be a good coach,” said Reyes, an eight-time PBA champion coach, in a story on the PBA website.

“Everyone there will have their crack and their shot, but aside from Jimmy it’s LA, Ranidel, and Gabe. I think they’ll turn out to be pretty good coaches themselves,” added Reyes.

He is referring to his other former player Jimmy Alapag, who now serves as the head coach of Alab Pilipinas in the Asean Basketball League.

Alapag has also won two gold medals as an assistant coach for the Philippine team in the 2015 and 2017 Southeast Asian Games.

Aside from his coaching duties with Alab, he is also an assistant coach for the San Miguel Beermen.

But even before Alapag had started his transition into coaching, Reyes already knew that his former team captain was bound to be on the sidelines.

Alapag, De Ocampo, Norwood and Tenorio were all part of the Reyes-coached Philippine team that clinched the silver medal in the Fiba Asia Championship in 2013 and booked a ticket back to the World Cup after a 36-year absence.