The American-born coach, who wants to do a background check as he continues to assess candidates for the national team pool, has already had short, informal conversations with Philippine Cup champion coach Leo Austria of San Miguel as well as with Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.

“I’ve asked the SBP to provide me with a contact list of coaches. I had a chance encounter with Coach Austria. We had a quick chat and decided that we wanna sit down and have coffee and discuss some things. Obviously, I had the same quick discussion with Yeng Guiao,” Baldwin said.

“Everybody seems keen to wanna sit down to talk about the future. I certainly am and I value their input. But as yet the conversations have been limited. Everybody’s very busy. Everybody’s trying to win games in the PBA right now and I’ve got to fit my schedule in with them. Where I’ll get opportunities, I’ll take advantage of them.”

Guiao, a former national team coach, thinks Baldwin’s attempts to learn more about the Filipino players is a positive for national team and is willing to spend some time with the coach.

“I have no problems sitting down with him,” Guiao said. “I think this is a good sign for him to be able to have deeper knowledge about Philippine basketball.”