Basketball great Ramon Fernandez wishes LA Tenorio the best of luck as he inches closer to becoming only the third coach to play in an official game in the history of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

The 71-year-old Fernandez said Tenorio has what it takes to still play at a high level while calling the shots for Magnolia in the coming 50th season of Asia’s oldest professional league starting 5 October.

“How old is LA?” Fernandez asked the official PBA website before learning that Tenorio is just 41 years old.

“He can still play. Good luck to him. If he has the 100 percent support of the management, then I don’t see any problem with this setup, similar to the case of Sonny Jaworski.”

Fernandez and Jaworski are the only players in PBA history to serve as playing coach. They were teammates at Toyota before it disbanded at the end of the 1983 season.

In the aftermath of Toyota’s disbandment, the Super Corolla players moved to different directions with Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz landing at La Tondeña Inc., which owns Gilbey’s Gin — and later Ginebra San Miguel.

With a blanket control by the management, Jaworski took over as Ginebra playing coach in 1985, giving birth to the “Never Say Die” mantra.

Three years later, Fernandez, who had ended up with Tanduay, tossed his hat in the ring.

The then 35-year-old Fernandez was named playing coach of the Purefoods franchise after Ayala Corporation bought the Tanduay franchise in 1988.

To sweeten the pot, the fledgling team was allowed to bring up amateur stars Alvin Patrimonio, Jojo Lastimosa, Jerry Codiñera and Glenn Capacio to join the holdovers from the Rhum Masters, like JB Yango, Freddie Hubalde, Padim Israel and Willie Generalao, forming a ballclub ordained for years of success.

“I saw the potential of the team,” Fernandez said when asked why he accepted the dual role during what he calculates is the “peak” of his career.

“I had the best young players from the amateurs and the old veterans.”

Purefoods’ impact was immediate. The Hotdogs stormed to the PBA Finals on Fernandez’s first foray in his balancing act, dragging Ricardo Brown and San Miguel Beer through seven games in the Open Conference championship series.

Though the first conference crown slipped through their fingers, the ensuing All-Filipino Conference looked like a cinch for the Hotdogs with their powerhouse local lineup.

But a brewing rift between the playing coach and management reached a tipping point during the pivotal Game 2 of the blockbuster finals series against Jaworski’s Añejo Rum, which the 65ers eventually won.

Fernandez, who had turned over the coaching reign to Cris Calilan during the All-Filipino, was gone after that as he was traded to San Miguel, where he won his fourth Most Valuable Player trophy with a championship in the Reinforced Conference. The following year, he helped the Beermen win a grand slam.

Looking back, Fernandez says the “pressure, sleepless night preparing for the game, reviewing tapes of opponents” had heavily weighed down his performance as a player that year.

He insists though that he could have handled the situation better if not for the “internal conflict” that prevailed at the time.

“It’s something that LA should watch out for; he needs to maintain the 100 percent support of the management,” Fernandez said.

“If you have the support, you’ll also have the respect of the players. Those two vital factors should always be there. If the players don’t respect you, they will not follow you regardless of how good your system is.”

But Tenorio’s playing stint is not yet cast in stone.

“It’s basically going to be a hard decision for me because I will be coaching while playing,” Tenorio said, adding that he still keeps himself in shape.

“From time to time, I join the practice. You’ll never know. I am part of the lineup. I’m part of the injured list. It depends on the management. I’m not focused on that. I saw the final lineup that we submitted the other day and I am on the injury list so I have a chance. There is a chance, but we’ll see.”