Jimmy Alapag said he is looking forward to embarking on a new chapter in his basketball career as he is set to coach Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League.
“I’m excited. It’s a new challenge, but one I’m looking forward to,” Alapag told InterAksyon. “Just thankful to Alab and Boss MVP, Boss (Ricky) Vargas and Boss Al Panlilio for this opportunity to continue to grow as a coach.”
It will be the first head coaching gig of Alapag, who capped his colorful playing career in the PBA last season by becoming the league’s all-time leader in three-point shots made.
The Mighty Mouse currently serves as an assistant for Gilas Pilipinas national team and the Meralco Bolts.
Bolts coach Norman Black said Alapag will remain with Meralco for the rest of the Governors’ Cup before going full-time with Alab Pilipinas.
“He’s going to finish the conference,” said Black who was informed of Alapag’s plans as early as last month.
“I think he talked to me about that about a month and a half ago, the possibility of it happening. I told him that if it’s the best opportunity for him to become the head coach, to run his own team, then he has to take advantage of it,” Black said.
“If he wanted to stay here with Meralco, he’s welcome to do that also. But obviously, it’s hard because they travel. They play so many games out of the country. He has to focus on his job in the ABL.”
According to Black, Alapag will be a great coach in the ABL.
“I think he’ll be good. You’ll never can tell about coaching until you start coaching. There’s no real recipe whether you’re going to be a good coach or not. You have to wait until you start coaching. Jimmy certainly has the attributes. He’s hardworking, he’s dedicated, he’s very loyal and he wants to win. I’m sure, he’ll be out there teaching his players with the type of system he wants to run and implement it for them. I expect him to be a good coach,” Black said.
For his part, Alaska coach Alex Compton wished Alapag in his new endeavor. The two worked together with the national team two years ago.
“As a player, you’ll start learning being an assistant coach and from an assistant coach, you’ll start learning being a head coach. We’ve seen coaches like Tim Cone winning with his triangle offense, we’ve seen coach Chot Reyes having success with his dribble drive. We’ve seen coaches like Norman Black, Jong Uichico and Yeng Guiao having success with their own system. But whatever system Jimmy is going to run, I do believe that he’s going to have success based on the qualities he could bring to his new squad — his leadership, his great work ethics and the inspiration he could instill in his new squad,” Compton said.
