After much speculation, Luigi Trillo will be taking over as head coach of Meralco in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Trillo broke the news to Daily Tribune, saying that he will bring the Triangle Offense to Meralco’s playbook while retaining some successful plays that were run during the era of outgoing coach Norman Black.
He, however, will still get a lot of help from Black, who will serve as team consultant, as well as Serbian coach Nenad Vucinic, who will assume the active consultancy role.
It’s going to be Trillo’s return to professional coaching.
After steering the defunct Alaska franchise to its last title in the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup, the closest Trillo got to coaching was when he served as Black’s reliever last season in which he towed the Bolts to a semifinal run in the Philippine Cup.
“We were in the semis six of the last seven conferences and to Coach Norman’s credit, he had done a fantastic job,” Trillo said.
“We’re still trying to get our feet wet and we’re going to discuss in unison — me, Coach Norman and Coach Nenad — on what’s the best system to run for our team.”
Meanwhile, Rain or Shine also engaged in a trade with Converge, shipping swingman Mike Nieto in exchange for two second-round picks.
As per the Philippine Basketball Association website, the Elasto Painters will receive the FiberXers’ second round picks of Seasons 49 and 50.
In an early interview with the Daily Tribune, head coach Yeng Guiao bared that he is still looking to find ways on who among his players will be unloaded, owing to the multiple picks they have in the Annual Rookie Draft in September.
Rain or Shine will have two first round picks as well as multiple selections in the second round.
“We will definitely keep our two first round picks this year and see if we can still add a few younger players in the second round,” Guiao said.
