Nenad Trunic: Another "Strong" Candidate for Gilas Coaching Job

Considering the fact that the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) is hoping to hire a full-time head coach for Gilas Pilipinas, they may need a wider variety to choose from as even though we have good coaches here in our country, they have other prior commitment to other teams which beats the main purpose of hiring a full-time coach in the first place. Fortunately for the SBP, there are, in fact, a handful of international coaches whom SBP can put in their shortlist.

Just recently, Chris Daleo, currently serving as the head coach of the Thai national basketball team and an extremely experienced coach in the international field, has expressed his desire to throw his name into the race for the head coaching job of Gilas Pilipinas. And if he will be hired by the SBP, Daleo said that his Gilas stint will be about winning as he pointed out that he never had a losing season with any of the previous teams that he coached. 

Then, the current interim coach of Gilas Pilipinas in Mark Dickel. Dickel was appointed on an interim basis last January and he delivered despite facing numerous setbacks in assembling the final roster which ultimately won against Indonesia in the first window of the 2021 International Basketball Federation (FIBA)  Asia Cup qualifiers. Dickel also had to deal with criticisms as to why this certain player was included in the pool or why this player wasn't included. In the end, Dickel was able to silence those criticisms with another big by the Filipinos against the Indonesians. And yes, Mark Dickel wanted to be in the shortlist of the SBP for the next head coach of the national team despite being a team consultant in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). How is Dickel going to address that s is entirely a different story.

While the SBP has been mum as to who are the possible candidates that they are interviewing, there's another foreign coach whose name has been coming out as a strong candidate to take over at the helm for Gilas Pilipinas: Nenad Trunic.

Incidentally, Trunic has been listed by FIBA as a part of Dickel's coaching staff for the Indonesia game last month. And, Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin has spoken highly of Trunic. As a matter of fact, negotiations are still ongoing between the high-brasses of the national team and Trunic. In addition to this, Baldwin also pointed out that Trunic has a history of developing players and also has a deep understanding of the game in both European and international stages. Considering that the SBP is looking to hire a European coach to train the team on a full-time basis, Trunic could very well be the man the SBP is looking for. That, and the fact that hehas been listed as part of the national team so why look elsewhere if there's a candidate from within who fits the preferred profile of a full-time coach as far as the SBP and Baldwin are concerned. 

Trunic spent most of his coaching years while handling Iran's youth team and considering that Gilas is filled with young guns, he may be the guy Gilas needs at the helm. 

Photo is from Tehran Times