Strong Group has found its first set of players for its upcoming participation at the 43rd William Jones Cup.
The group announced on Saturday that it has snapped up Jordan Heading and Caelan Tiongson for the upcoming campaign, scheduled to take place in July at Taipei.
Heading is back with the Athletics, having played with them during the Dubai International Basketball Championship earlier this year.
The 6'2 sniper averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 assists, and 2.6 rebounds in his stint there, helping the team finish second.
Currently based in Australia, playing with West Adelaide in NBL1 Central, Jordan is averaging 19.14 points on 46.81% shooting, while also averaging 3.43 rebounds and 4.14 assists.
Strong Group head coach Charles Tiu says about the Heading signing, "Jordan was an automatic choice for me once I found out he'd be available to play. We loved how he played for us in Dubai, and now he gets to go back to his original shooting guard spot to complement our point guards."
Tiongson, on the other hand, averaged a near double-double for Taoyuan in the T1 League a couple of seasons ago, averaging 13.5 points and 9.1 rebounds for the Leopards in nineteen games back in the 2021-22 season.
According to Tiu, the Jones Cup stint would be a good audition for Tiongson to showcase himself. He shares, "I’ve been in touch with Caelan for a while, helping him figure out his next moves before joining the PBA Draft. We figured this would be a great opportunity for him to remind people how good he is."
He adds about the 32-year-old, "He's a hard worker, tough and competitive, who is versatile and can play multiple positions, defend, and rebound very well. I think he will be a huge asset for our team."
Strong Group hopes to give the Philippines its seventh Jones Cup title, with the last title coming in 2019 with Mighty Sports.
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