By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The NLEX Road Warriors are going all in this PBA Commissioner’s Cup after acquiring the services of veteran tactician Jong Uichico to their already talented coaching staff.
It was the NLEX management that confirmed the latest development after welcoming Uichico via several online posts on their various social media pages.
Uichico took a long break from coaching in the PBA after directing his focus to the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball program.
The successful mentor played a huge role as an assistant coach to both Chot Reyes and Tim Cone when Gilas Pilipinas made their run in the 2023 FIBA World Cup and the historic 2023 Asian Games stint where they won the gold medal.
Before acting as the national team’s lead assistant this year, Uichico once handled Gilas as their head coach during the FIBA Asian Qualifiers Manama bubble.
Despite fielding a roster full of collegiate superstars, the Uichico-led Gilas squad finished that bubble with a perfect record.
Now that his national team duties have to take a pause given the long rest of Gilas, NLEX found a golden opportunity to sign Uichico to a contract.
According to the Road Warriors management, Uichico will serve as NLEX’s lead assistant coach and will be working hand-in-hand with head coach Frankie Lim.
Uichico is already a battle-tested coach during his heydays in the PBA and already won a total of nine championship titles from 1999-2015.
He was also awarded as the PBA Coach of the Year two times during the 2000 and the 2007 seasons while also handling the All-Star team in 2001 and 2007.
