In a couple of days, Strong Group will be flying to Dubai to represent the Philippines at the 32nd Dubai International Basketball Championship.
The 10-day tournament begins on Friday, the 27th of January until Sunday, the 5th of February. Games will be played at Al Nasr Sports Club indoor basketball court in Dubai.
With a mix of legit NBA vets and Philippines NCAA and UAAP standouts, the group is expected indeed to be strong. The squad will be mentored by CSB coach Charles Tiu who led the last Philippine team to a championship in the 2020 edition – the first non-Middle East or African club to do so.
But the tough road to winning the championship becomes much tougher as the recent preparation of the team faces some hurdles.
“Right now we’ve been struggling. I’ve not had one complete practice. Kouame was just hospitalized for a sickness. Young had a stomach bug. Shabazz got a stomach bug after Young came back. Barefield has an ankle injury.” These were the words of coach Charles Tiu when we asked about the team’s chemistry now.
“We need to be able to work hard and defend. Right now we are far from that and we have a week left,” he added.
We want to represent the Philippines well.
Coach Charles Tiu
Who’s on the team?
pba are y’all ready for swaggy Philippines lets make it happen
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) December 5, 2022
Philippine basketball fans were thrilled when Nick Young shared the tweet above last month. Apparently, he was referring to playing for a Philippine team in an international tournament.
The NBA champ will be joined by 2 other NBAers who also played in the PBA as imports.
- Nick Young 6’7”
Played for the Wizards, Clippers, Sixers, Lakers, Warriors, and Nuggets in the NBA
- Renaldo Balkman 6’7”
Played for the Knicks and Nuggets in the NBA; San Miguel/Petron in the PBA
- Shabazz Muhammad 6’6”
Played for the Bucks and Timberwolves in the NBA; San Miguel in the PBA
- Sedrick Barefield 6’2” (Filipino-American)
US NCAA alumni / Signed & waived by OKC Thunder
- Jerom Lastimosa 5’10” – Adamson
- JD Cagulangan 5’9” – UP
- BJ Andrade 6’0” – Ateneo
- Miguel Oczom 6’0” – CSB
- Lebron Lopez 6’5” – UP
- Inand Fornillos 6’2” – Ateneo
- Justine Baltazar 6’9” – DLSU
- Will Gozum 6’7” – CSB
- Jacob Lao 5’6″ – Ateneo
Down with dengue, naturalized Filipino Ange Kouame will be out permanently from the tourney as reported by Tie Breaker Times. The coaching staff is now ‘scrambling’ to find a replacement for our prized big man.
Balkman, who was awarded MVP when Mighty Sports won the title in 2020, is the only player returning to coach Charles Tiu’s squad.
The competition
Strong Group is bracketed in Group A with teams from Lebanon, Syria, Libya, and UAE. The presence of Lebanese club teams in the tournament including Al-Riyadi, led by 2022 FIBA Asia Cup Most Valuable Player, Wael Arajki, makes the competition much more interesting.
Here’s the full picture of the grouping:
Tickets
Tickets to the elimination games are priced at AED30 each. You can buy online via platinumlist.ae or at the Al Nasr Club gates.
Children below 5 years old can enter for free at the General Admission area.
Click here for the location.
The practices
Here are some clips from the recent practice sessions of the team courtesy of @hoopjunkie.
Photo grabs from @hoopjunkie – follow him for more updates about the team’s preparation.
