By REYNALD MAGALLON
Former NBA star Nick Young is about to bring his swag for the Philippines in Dubai.
The 11-year NBA veteran and one-time champion hopes to prove that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank when he reinforces the Philippine representative Strong Group Realty in the 32nd Dubai International Championship.
Young, the 16th overall pick for the Washington Wizards in the 2007 NBA draft, had earlier teased Filipino fans about the possibility of him playing in the country through a tweet.
“Pba are y’all ready for swaggy Philippines lets make it happen,” said Young
It is set to come to fruition albeit in a different capacity when he powers the Filipino side which is looking to retain the title it won in 2020 before the annual tournament took a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Strong Group, owned by graduating Ateneo guard and incoming Converge assistant team manager Jacob Lao, will be taking the mantle from Mighty Sports, the last team that represented and won the title for the Philippines in the last edition.
The multi-titled Mighty Sports was managed then by brothers Alex and Caesar Wongchuking.
Strong Group is tapping the services of former Mighty Sports coach and current College of St. Benilde mentor Charles Tiu who will be handling the new set of the players that will join Young in the roster.
Tiu was actually the man at the helm when Mighty Sports won the title with the help of former PBA import Renaldo Balkman and Gilas Pilipinas naturalized center Andray Blatche a strong supporting cast of then up-and-coming players Mikey Williams, Jamie Malonzo and Thirdy Ravena.
Mighty also had Juan and Javi Gomez De Llano, Dave Ildefonso, Isaac Go and veterans Joseph Yeo and Beau Belga.
