Reyes to move to SMART-Gilas, Black to coach Talk ‘N Text next year

source: Reynaldo Belen | interaksyon.com

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has officially appointed Talk ‘N Text’s Chot Reyes as the new coach of the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team for the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship next year.



No less than SBP president Manuel V. Pangilinan made the confirmation on Sunday.

“While we are extremely happy with Chot’s performance with our Talk ‘N Text team these past years, our duty to flag and country dictates that we engage the right person for this important national position. After having been Gilas assistant coach for the past two years, and with a sterling track record as coach, I believe Chot deserves this appointment. He will continue to be the head coach of the Talk ‘N Text team until the end of the current PBA season, which will happen sometime in August,” said Pangilinan.

“Thereafter, Chot will concentrate full time on preparing Gilas for the 2013 FIBA Asia tournament, which is the qualifying competition for the FIBA World Championships to be held in Spain in 2014.”

(InterAKTV is part of InterAksyon.com, the online news portal of TV5, which is chaired by Pangilinan.)

Reyes has piloted the Tropang Texters to five finals appearances in eight conferences with the team, winning four titles in that span.

With Reyes going to work as full-time coach of SMART-Gilas next year, Pangilinan also said that Talk ‘N Text consultant Norman Black will take over the Tropang Texters next season.

On Saturday, it was announced that Black will be coaching his final season with the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP to assume go back to the PBA. Pangilinan is also an active supporter of Ateneo’s basketball team.

Reyes is taking over the head coaching job from Rajko Toroman. The Serbian coach led the team to a fourth-place finish in last year’s FIBA Asia Championship, but was not offered a new contract when his pact expired last October. Toroman instead signed a deal as consultant of San Miguel Corporation.

This will be Reyes’ second stint as national coach. He handled the Philippine team to the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship, finishing ninth after being eliminated in the preliminary round of the competition.

While Reyes is still busy with Talk ‘N Text, Jong Uichico will handle the early preparation of the SMART-Gilas program.

The squad is scheduled to represent the country in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Lebanon in June and the Stankovic Cup in Tokyo in September.

by Reynaldo Belen, InterAKTV | interaksyon.com