Gilas Pilipinas consultant Nenad Vucinic will assume the role of head coach of the men’s national basketball team when it plunges into action in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers in Auckland, New Zealand.
Vucinic replaces Chot Reyes, who mentored the team in the second window of qualifiers at the Araneta Coliseum and in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi.
The 57-year-old Vucinic is a good friend of Tab Baldwin, who has reportedly turned down offers to take Reyes’ job following Gilas’ silver medal finish in the SEA Games.
Gilas will clash with the New Zealand Tall Blacks and India on June 30 and July 3, respectively.
Team Philippines will also have a two-game friendly series with South Korea from June 17 to 18.
The holdovers for the coming window are Angelo Kouame, Dave Ildefonso, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Carl Tamayo, William Navarro, Justine Baltazar, Lebron Lopez, Thirdy Ravena, Dwight Ramos, and Geo Chiu.
Rhenz Abando, Kevin Quiambao, James Spencer, and Sherwin Concepcion are among the newbies, who are coming aboard.
Vucinic used to be the head coach of the Tall Blacks from 2006 to 2014.
