By JONAS TERRADO
Ranidel de Ocampo will make his return at TNT KaTropa under a different role as one of the team’s assistant coaches.
Team manager Gabby Cui confirmed the appointment of De Ocampo, who two months ago announced his retirement after playing most of his 15-year playing career with the KaTropa franchise.
“Coach Ranidel brings us a wealth of championship experience and basketball knowledge that will definitely help our team reach our aspirations for another championship,” Cui said.
De Ocampo joins the TNT coaching staff, four days after the team confirmed the removal of Ateneo coach and Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin from his official duties as assistant and consultant.
Baldwin’s departure came after receiving backlash for comments made against PBA policies on imports and officiating and for calling local coaches as “tactically immature,” prompting league commissioner Willie Marcial to slap a three-game suspension and P75,000 fine.
Cui, however, explained that Baldwin was no longer with the team even before the community quarantine was implemented in mid-March, since TNT is already doing well under the partnership of coach Bong Ravena and active consultant Mark Dickel.
De Ocampo’s coaching stint will be with the team where he established himself as one of the PBA’s premier players and the opportunity to represent Gilas Pilipinas’ FIBA World Cup return in 2014.
The former St. Francis of Assisi standout won six titles during his TNT stint from 2008 to 2017, highlighted by a near Grand Slam in 2011, a Best Player of the Conference award in the 2014 Governors’ Cup and Finals Most Valuable Player in the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup.
