Franco Atienza takes interim coaching duties for Converge as they part ways with Aldin Ayo and first assistant coach McJour Luib.
I think the reason is easy.
Converge may have tanked the 2023-24 season, but it was evident that the team has to have a scapegoat. It's hard to retain a coach with a 3-19 win-loss PBA season record and a winless Kadayawan tourney record. They also lost eight points to the DLSU Green Archers.
In my previous blog, I said Kevin Quiambao and the rest of the Green Archers can beat a PBA team because they are in their 20s and have championship experience. Meanwhile, Ayo has led a bunch of proverbial semi-pro all-stars to dud team records.
While I am not dissing on Ayo and the players, I am not wrong in saying this as well. Excluding imports Jamil Wilson and Tom Vodanovich, the Fiberxers played 20 local players. They played nine rookies, including 61st pick overall Kamron Vigan-Fleming and 75th pick overall Andre Flores.
And it's not like the team was bad at the start of the season, but just to secure the rights of Justine Baltazar, they let go of Maverick Ahanmisi and Jeron Teng for nothing, traded Abu Tratter for Adrian Wong and a first-round pick who turned into BJ Andrade, and let go of Jerrick Balanza for a second-round pick who turned into Ben Phillips.
Okay, so while Phillips may be a win, they lost Wong in the middle of the season, and they played Andrade late in the season as he heals from an ACL injury, and Mac Tallo, a former PBA player who turned his game around in the MPBL, was let go from the squad because of ligang labas allegations.
When Ahanmisi fell to Ginebra, Teng went to San Miguel, and Tratter went to Magnolia, people would have found this questionable if this was the late Bong Tan's move. Remember when Tan traded away his top stars to the SMC teams when Tanduay disbanded? It's a similar situation, except that Converge wants to start fresh.
And now, they have Rajko Toroman.
I've been thinking of ways to sync the Converge FiberXers with the Pampanga Giant Lanterns and the Strong Group Athletics. Converge could convert Pampanga as their proverbial farm team, with Strong Group as a place to invite possible prospects from college and in the international leagues. Strong Group Charles Tiu has his Benilde Blazers as sure roster feelers, and they can just spam the team with imports.
But then there are guys like Rhenz Abando and Jordan Heading. This year, Converge can only pick Balti, so even if they like RJ Abarrientos, Dave Ildefonso, and Caelan Tiongson, they couldn't. However, they might come up short next year. Balti is going to finish his MPBL obligations while Converge will have to contend with Justin Arana, Alec Stockton, Schonny Winston, Bryan Santos, and whoever explodes to become part of their main rotation.
Having a guy like Toroman, a veteran coach who has seen his share of competition from all parts of the world, will work wonders for Converge's up-and-comers. He is also a good scout of talent as well, as there is a chance that a player like SJ Belangel, Migs Oczon, or even DJ Fenner will play for the squad.
As for the head coach, I think Atienza is a good choice until Converge finds a better one. I know most fans look at these coaches as proverbial "avatars" to the team consultants, but Luigi Trillo is an example of a coach acting like one despite the presence of a team consultant. I don't know if Charles Tiu will eventually take his place, but what are the chances that we'll see current Pampanga governor Delta Pineda taking the coaching reins?