Lawrence Chongson's Got PEx

As pointed out by the local sports blog Fire Quinito and alluded to by myself on Twitter, former UE Red Warriors coach Lawrence Chongson has taken to posting at the UE Red Warriors III thread over at the Pinoy Exchange UAAP forums, and the result has been quite enlightening.

Fire Quinito has already gone and highlighted the passages involving Chongson's dismissal, the shrinking role of Bong Tan in Red Warriors management, and Paul Lee's non-inclusion in Team Gilas, but there's other juicy bits in there including:

• Chongson downplaying Rene Baena's role in the upswing of UE's fortunes in Round 2 last season
• Saying that he preferred Ponso Gotladera over Chris Javier
• A list of recruits that he had in the pipeline from abroad
• Roi Sumang's academic saga
• UE letting go of some of his recruits and him bringing them over to NU, including Henri Betayene
• Squelching the possibility of Paul Lee returning to UE to play
• My personal favorite, the chance that he could have been FEU's head coach for S74

S73 Autopsy: UE Red Warriors

Outgoing Players
- Paul Lee (14.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2 steals)
- Ezer Rosopa (3.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks)
- James Martinez (12.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.4 steals)
- Raphy Reyes (7.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.5 steals)
- Garrick Ayala, dropped from the team (2 points, 3 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 0.6 blocks)
- Sam Razon, possibly out for the season to rehab from his ACL injury though he is back with the team (2.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.8 blocks)

Win/Loss Records
- Season 73: 6-8 (6th)
- Season 72: 10-4 (3rd, lost in the Finals to Ateneo De Manila University)
- Season 71: 9-5 (4th, lost in the Final Four to Ateneo De Manila University)

Key Stats
- Last in the league in opponents' total rebounds allowed (44/game), offensive rebounds allowed (15.43/game) and opponents' defensive rebounds allowed (28.57/game)

Jerry Codinera Named UE Head Coach

In: Jerry Codinera (left), Out: Lawrence Chongson

Sources close to the situation say that Jerry Codinera was introduced to the UE men's senior basketball team awhile ago, at 1 pm.

Cordinera replaces Lawrence Chongson, who came to within a game of the Season 72 Championship versus Ateneo. Last season, Chongson opened the season 0-4, but got his team to regroup in the second half of the season, finishing the campaign with a 6-8 tally.

A unique aspect of Chongson's system was a lack of concrete plays on the offense. He also had a tendency to start less-talented players, before quickly swapping them out for his veterans.

Chongson signed just a two year contract, over rumors of a Codinera hiring back then, in fact, making this less of a firing and more of a decision not to renew the contract. It was rumored that he would actually be a one and done coach, expressing doubt as to his coaching abilities immediately after their loss to Ateneo in the Championship round but he came back, to a less successful stint.

Expect links to the official announcement soon.

EDITED TO ADD (9:01pm 1/11/11):
PBA Head Statistician Fidel Magonon has confirmed the news on his Twitter site, confirming that Chongson's contract had run out and that UE opted not to renew it. Codinera will have his first game on Saturday, when his Red Warriors face his former teammate Dindo Pumaren's Green Archers in the Fr. Martin's Cup.

The confirmation of the Codinera hiring creates some new questions. For one, who will be on his coaching staff? Will Codinera retain Rene Baena, whose return to the bench in the latter part of Season 73 nearly sparked a Final Four return? Or will he tap another former player who was also getting some head coaching buzz, Allan Caidic?

The second, and perhaps, more important question, is whether or not Paul Lee will be back, as I alluded to in yesterday's Forum Crawl. Lee really blossomed when Chongson cut the superstar guard loose. He is supposedly very loyal to Chongson, and returned only because the notion at the time was to retain Chongson. I can easily see him bolting for the pros, especially if Codinera expects the team to play defense.

Forum Crawl: 01/10/11

A look at various, as of the moment, unconfirmed bits of information, floating around the different hoops forums. If an ITEM! is marked in red, take that item with a grain of salt, or better yet, a lot of salt.


ITEM! Angered by the fact that everyone's poaching their high school talent, San Beda has decided to go on the offensive and steal some recruits back. Target #1? Ateneo High's Von Pessumal, who was "supposedly" seen practicing with the Red Lions recently...

ITEM! Tamaraw Whammy #1: Is Gino Juamo-ass being stolen away by UE?

ITEM! Tamaraw Whammy #2: Is Calvin Abueva changing course and heading towards M.O.A.?

ITEM! No more Lawrence Chongson? Then no more Paul Lee as well, as Lee only wanted to play in Chongson's freewheeling (read: Lee-centric) offense...

ITEM! UE will be relying on former Letran Squire Roy Sumang for offense and to give their backcourt the sort of stability players like James Martinez had given them in the past. The question is though: is he eligible for next season? He never properly graduated from Letran High, and had to transfer to U.E. If that's the case, why's he taking an equivalency test that will render him out for another year?

ITEM! Adamson fans rejoice, as King Importante will finally be eligible this season. Two years of being ruled out at the last minute ought to be more than enough.

Forum Crawl: 01/07/11

A look at various, as of the moment, unconfirmed bits of information, floating around the different hoops forums. 

ITEM! That Ponso Gotladera thing? Pretty much confirmed according to just about everyone. The question still is why? Well, according to "hacksaw", DLSU team management was not satisfied with the progress one of their recruits, necessitating the need for a "Plan B." Going by the logic that a big man replaces another big man, that leaves Arnold Van Opstal and Norberto Torres as the two main candidates...

ITEM! Movement has been made on one of the coaching fronts in the UAAP, according to "Wang-Bu." Supposedly, the UE board voted not to renew the contract of current coach Lawrence Chongson, and have decided to target Jerry Codinera. They'll have to pry him away from his current position as UP assistant coach though...

ITEM! Thanks to some kind Bedan friends of his, "Bahay_Kubo" has dropped some info on where this successful group of Red Cubs are headed. Expect Baser Amer to stay home, Gotladera, as previously mentioned, to head to Taft, Chris Javier to go to Ateneo, and Von Chavez to play for UE.

Additionally, "Bahay_Kubo" feels that UST will keep one of their homegrown talents, Jaypee Sarcia, while King Tiger Cub, Kevin Ferrer, is still deciding between Ateneo and UST...

BLIND ITEM! See if you can identify this prospect, as described by some members of the Blue Eagles Nest.

• "If it were up to me, I'd take him over Gwynne Capacio!"
• Plays the same position as "our juniors Scottie Pippen"
• Won't be a problem academically
• Says one poster, "para naman makabawi tayo kahit paano sa atraso nung 'current school' nya sa atin."
• At the very least, deserves "equal billing" with the Phenom

Hmm....