Joselito Malig

Article (news)

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA – New Magnolia Hotshots head coach LA Tenorio said he is not putting pressure or huge expectations on his team for the PBA&#x27;s golden season.</p><p>The eight-time PBA champion, who is used to winning during his playing years, said he cannot promise success right away.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m not saying that we&#x27;re going to be good right away. I always tell the team that I&#x27;m not expecting us to be good right away. I just want them to take every game or every step, like baby steps. Because, again, they&#x27;re learning my system,&quot; Tenorio told reporters at PBA Media Day recently. </p><p>&quot;At the same time, I&#x27;m learning also as a coach. So, we cannot hurry. We don&#x27;t need to rush everything. We still have time. We still have a long conference, probably a long season. If we can go through this All-Filipino with a good standing, why not?&quot; he said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/9/29/pba-ginebra-optimistic-of-chances-despite-malonzo-and-tenorio-s-exit-aguilar-s-injury-0900"><strong>PBA: Ginebra optimistic of chances despite Malonzo and Tenorio&#x27;s exit, Aguilar&#x27;s injury</strong></a></div><p>Tenorio faces a tall task in his first assignment as head coach in the season-opening All-Filipino Conference. He goes up against his former team Barangay Ginebra and former coach Tim Cone on opening day.</p><p>The new bench tactician said he is focused on making the Hotshots competitive and game-ready for the Philippine Cup.</p><p>&quot;I cannot pressure them right away. We have to be good right away, we have to win, we have to beat this team. We just have to get better every day. And then I think the win will follow. That&#x27;s my mentality. As a player also, I was like that. I don&#x27;t pressure myself or I don&#x27;t pressure myself to perform right away,&quot; Tenorio said. </p><p>&quot;We just have to be in the right position coming into the playoffs. And then let&#x27;s see what will happen. We just have to be peaking in the right time. That&#x27;s how I make the players feel. The pressure is not too heavy for them. Hopefully, the result will be okay. But, again, no expectations for now,&quot; he added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/9/8/pba-trademark-nsd-mentality-remains-with-la-tenorio-in-magnolia-0930"><strong>PBA: Trademark &#x27;NSD&#x27; mentality remains with LA Tenorio in Magnolia </strong></a> </div><p>Tenorio said he draws inspiration from his former head coaches in his new role.</p><p>&quot;One of the biggest help that I had was definitely Coach Tim [Cone]. All my championships were under Coach Tim. So definitely, how he coached, how he handles the team. Probably, I followed what he did,&quot; he shared.</p><p>&quot;I think also I can mention Coach Richard. So far, he&#x27;s been mentoring me. From Batang Gilas, and then here. Here in PBA, even though we&#x27;re in a different team right now. I still ask questions. Because what we do in Batang Gilas, that&#x27;s what I want to do here,&quot; Tenorio added.</p><p>The bench tactician also mentioned coaches Chot Reyes and Norman Black as among those he got inspired by.</p><p>&quot;Coach Norman&#x27;s system. Coach Norman and Coach Tim&#x27;s defensive system. Coach Chot. How he handles the team. To be in one page. That&#x27;s Coach Chot. He&#x27;s very good at that. Maybe it&#x27;s a blessing I have a lot of coaches,&quot; Tenorio said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/9/26/la-as-playing-coach-tenorio-confirms-he-s-on-magnolia-s-injured-list-2006"><strong>LA as playing coach? Tenorio confirms he&#x27;s on Magnolia&#x27;s injured list</strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>PATIENCE FROM MAGNOLIA FANS</strong></div><p>Magnolia governor Jason Webb appealed for patience from their fans this season.</p><p>&quot;For our team, what we&#x27;re preaching for and also for the fans is a little bit of patience. There&#x27;s a lot of changes in our team from yours truly all the way to our captain ball obviously our coaching staff. We hope to do well to begin the year but it&#x27;s not how we start we were looking at how we finish if we continue to improve every day through the leadership of LA and our new players will be happy,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re hoping that we are able to turn things around at coming conference and the conferences ahead. But again, the request is a little bit of patience with the fans with our team,&quot; Webb added.</p><p>As for the Magnolia players, they are looking forward to bringing glory back to the team.</p><p>The Hotshots last won a championship in the 2018 PBA Governors&#x27; Cup, their best finishes since then were runners-up in two conferences.</p><p>&quot;Nandito pa naman core natin. Sabi nga ni coach, siguro time na makabalik kung saan kami dapat, sabi nga ni coach sa amin. Hindi naman yun ginagawa lang, kailangan tinatrabaho rin. Excited kami lahat especially nakikita namin si Coach LA, kung ano dinadala niya sa team namin,&quot; Mark Barroca said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/7/28/its-official-la-tenorio-is-new-head-coach-of-magnolia-hotshots-1901"><strong>It&#x27;s official: LA Tenorio is new head coach of Magnolia Hotshots </strong></a> </div><p>&quot;We take it step by step. But our goal is to really get a championship. It&#x27;s been awhile, 2018 if I&#x27;m not mistaken. I think we have the complete tools right now to reach that goal,&quot; Javi Gomez de Liaño added.</p><p>&quot;The goal is a championship. We&#x27;re a team that can do it, that has the talent to do it. Hopefully we can put it together and make a run. It&#x27;s been a long time for the franchise. But firstly, we need to win some games,&quot; Xavier Lucero shared.</p><p>The Magnolia Hotshots will face off with Barangay Ginebra in the celebrated &quot;Manila Clasico&quot; showdown to open the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup on Sunday.</p><p>The game will take place at 7:30 pm at the Araneta Coliseum, after the opening ceremony.</p>

<p> New Magnolia Hotshots head coach LA Tenorio said he is not putting pressure or huge expectations on his team for the PBA's golden season.</p>

New Magnolia Hotshots head coach LA Tenorio said he is not putting pressure or huge expectations on his team for the PBA's golden season.

PBA: New coach LA Tenorio focuses on growth

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PBA: New coach LA Tenorio focuses on growth

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 03, 2025 09:46 PM PHT

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