Gilas Pilipinas Youth mentor LA Tenorio drew pointers from Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jimmy Alapag as he makes his coaching debut in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup SEABA Qualifiers from 24 to 30 May at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in Pampanga.

Tenorio admitted that Alapag — his former Gilas Pilipinas teammate — was on the top of his head when he was appointed as head coach of the national youth squad.

To show how much he values his wisdom, Tenorio even flew to the United States last April to personally meet the Filipino-American playmaker, who is now part of the coaching staff of Doug Christie at the Sacramento Kings in the National Basketball Association.

“As soon as I was appointed as Gilas Pilipinas Youth head coach, Jimmy was one of the first I talked to because I wanted to invite him to come home and work with us during the preparations,” said Tenorio, who was declared as an unrestricted free agent in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to focus on the SEABA Qualifiers.

“Although that did not happen, I’m happy I got the opportunity to go to Sacramento. Luckily, I was able to attend the Kings’ last regular season game and their match in the Play-In Tournament.”

“I wanted to see what they did and observe. After that, Jimmy and I communicate often. He gave me many pointers on what I can do, some we have already employed, specifically the drills.”

Tenorio is doing his best, picking the brains of some of the best coaches in the country.

For one, he has been well-versed with Gilas head coach Tim Cone’s famous triangle offense after playing for him in Alaska and Barangay Ginebra.

In fact, he was also an assistant coach to Cone when Gilas Pilipinas pocketed a historic gold medal in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Tenorio was also part of Letran College’s three-peat reign in the National Collegiate Athletic Association from 2019 to 2022 where he joined the likes of Bonnie Tan, Rensy Bajar, Pido Jarencio, and Jeff Napa, mentors who have solid experiences in the collegiate ranks.

Tenorio hopes to have the home crowd rally behind them as they take on the likes of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam for the lone spot in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup that will be held in Mongolia from 31 August until 7 September.

“We still have a lot of work to do but our team is excited to play in our homecourt. I hope the fans show their support to the kids and watch live because they really deserve it,” Tenorio said.

Alapag said he wishes Tenorio the best as he enters a new stage of his basketball career.