Interim coach Adonis Tierra will call the shots anew when NLEX battles Blackwater in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup on Friday at the Philsports Arena.
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial told Daily Tribune that Frankie Lim will have to serve his one-game suspension before he can formally assume the role as head coach of the Road Warriors in this mid-season conference.
Lim, the former Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach, was slapped with a suspension following an altercation with Calvin Abueva in the Commissioner’s Cup in 2015.
He will make his coaching debut with the Road Warriors when they face Phoenix on 8 October.
“He’ll be suspended in NLEX’s next game,” said in a message to Daily Tribune.
Tierra is no stranger to interim role.
With NLEX failing to come up with an agreement with coach Yeng Guiao, Tierra took the cudgels and led the Road Warriors to a 96-90 victory over Rain or Shine in the opener.
Interestingly, it was Guiao who is now handling the Elasto Painters.
Tierra, however, said they will start running the system of Lim against the Bossing since they already have a couple of training sessions with him.
“We’ll start running the system of Coach Frankie,” Tierra said in a telephone interview.
“It’s fast-pace and we have secondary breaks with multiple options. It’s going to be a totally new system, which is suited for our moniker, Road Warriors.”
The Road Warriors are off to a good start despite nursing some major injuries.
JR Quiñahan was sidelined by Achilles problems and will undergo surgery while Anthony Semerad is still recuperating after undergoing bone spur excision with triceps tendon reconstruction.
Another player on the injured list is shooting guard Philip Paniamogan, who had a meniscectomy for his meniscus tear.