Dennis ‘Delta’ Pineda, the concurrent governor of Pampanga, will succeed him as coach of Converge in the PBA after leading the Pampanga Giant Lanterns to their second consecutive MPBL championship.

The 50-year-old son of Bong and Lilia Pineda will spend the next two months campaigning for the May election, thus his takeover is probably going to happen after the election.

“Kapag hindi na busy, after the elections. Nag-uusap pa kami kung paano ang mangyayari,” Cayabyab said.

He did, however, imply that the governor might enter the PBA conflict sooner rather than later.

“Malay mo, biglaan (mag-coach na), hindi pa natin sure. Pero magko-coach siya for sure,” said Cayabyab of Pienda, who currently holds the official PBA role as the assistant team manager of the FiberXers.

In an interview with the MPBL broadcast team following the Giant Lanterns’ sweeping of the Quezon Huskers in the national finals last Saturday, Pineda himself alluded to his potential enlarged position with Converge.

Franco Atienza, who replaced Aldin Ayo as interim coach in August of last year, is currently in charge of Converge.

Assistant coach Charles Tiu and team consultant Rajko Toroman, who also serves as a consultant for the Pampanga Giant Lanterns and College of Saint Benilde in the NCAA, are also on the Converge bench.

Pineda has shown himself to be a skilled coach for Pampanga. He could be seen calling plays, addressing the team during timeouts, and yelling instructions from the sidelines during games.

Pineda has coaching experience; he was a key member of the Pampanga Delta team during their previous involvement in the National Basketball League-Pilipinas and the Pilipinas Super League (PSL), where he also won titles.

He is widely recognized for having identified some of Pampanga’s best basketball players, such as Ian Sangalang and Calvin Abueva, as well as MPBL MVP Justine Baltazar, who will soon play alongside Converge in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

In this year’s PBA Rookie Draft, Baltazar was selected first overall.

Meanwhile, when Barangay Ginebra begins their PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign, Tim Cone is overjoyed to have a healthy big man in the frontcourt. As an added element down low to work with Japeth Aguilar and import Justine Brownlee, the champion coach stated the Kings are happy to have Troy Rosario arrive in time for the midseason conference.

Cone, who only joined the Kings last Monday after coaching Gilas Pilipinas, had his first practice with the 6-foot-8 Rosario, and the seasoned coach was pleased with what he saw at first.

Tim Cone pointed out “He’s going to impact us in so many ways, from defense to rebounding to assisting, to scoring and stretching the floor,”.

After playing pool for TNT and Blackwater for the first nine seasons of his career, Rosario, a former Gilas Pilipinas player, became an unrestricted free agent and joined the Kings.

In order to perform at Ginebra and realize a childhood desire of playing for his beloved team, he turned down offers from the Bossing, Tropang Giga, and Converge FiberXers.

It’s a reciprocal emotion for Cone.

Following the injuries to big players Isaac Go and Jamie Malonzo, Rosario, 32, is anticipated to have a significant influence at Ginebra as he fills a massive vacuum in the center.

The Kings were good enough to advance to the Governors’ Cup finals, where they ultimately lost the title series to Rondae Hollis Jefferson and the Tropang Giga, even though they only had a 37-year-old Aguilar to man the frontcourt alongside Brownlee, with assistance later provided by 42-year-old Joe Devance.

Cone will now have more room to grow before the Kings play the NLEX Road Warriors in their conference opener on Wednesday.