A pair of former Gilas Pilipinas standouts — Justine Baltazar and Jordan Heading — will be part of Strong Group Athletics when it competes in the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Championship set from 19 to 26 January at the Al Nasr Club in Dubai.
Strong Group head coach Charles Tiu welcomes the addition of the 6-foot-9 Baltazar, who was part of the squad that came up with quarterfinal finish in the previous edition of this prestigious invitational tournament last year.
“Balti (Baltazar) is great. He runs the floor well, has a really good attitude, can rebound, defend and score. He will be a big help to our team as a local big man,” said Tiu, referring to the former De La Salle University star who played for Gilas in the World Cup qualifiers.
Meanwhile, Heading, a pivotal piece for Nagasaki Velca in the previous B. League season, joins Strong Group to bolster the team’s guard depth.
His contributions were instrumental in Velca’s promotion to B. League Division I as he averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 assists, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.1 steals.
“Jordan, we really needed another guard and shooter. I think Jordan fits the bill,” said Tiu, who admitted to Daily Tribune that their initial target was former TNT Tropang Giga star Mikey Williams.
“It will be my first time working with him, but we gave him a call, and he was interested to come. Very easy to talk to, and we look forward to having him on our team. He played great in Japan last season, and I’m sure he will end up there again after this short stint.”
Tiu added that he loves the energy that the players showed in their first meeting last Monday with imports like Dwight Howard, Andre Roberson, Andray Blatche and McKenzie Moore rubbing elbows with their local teammates for the first time.
Among those who showed up were JD Cagulangan, Francis Escandor, Justine Sanchez, Tony Ynot, Allen Liwag and reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao.
Baltazar was also in attendance to see action in his first international tournament since leading the Pampanga Giant Lanterns to the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League title last month.
“I like the energy, I like the ball movement, I like what I saw so far considering that one day pa lang and we already have a good group of guys. I’m positive over our first training,” Tiu, who was assisted by team consultant Brian Goorjian and Topex Robinson, said.
“It’s all about building chemistry. We have to keep it simple, we have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of our team.”
“Just take it from there. We have to figure out what we want to do defensively and offensively, whom we want to go to. There’s only so much you can do in 10 days and the No. 1 priority is to be healthy for the tournament so we’re balancing everything out.”
In particular, Tiu was impressed with Quiambao, the 6-foot-7 forward who is fresh from leading La Salle to its first University Athletic Association of the Philippines title after a six-year drought.
“I like what I saw from Kevin Quiambao. He’s good as expected,” Tiu said, adding that imports Roberson and Moore were also impressive as well as Cagulangan.
