Strong Group Athletics (SGA) is turning no stones unturned in winning a third straight William Jones Cup crown after tapping the services of NBA veteran Boban Marjanovic.
The team made its official announcement on its website Saturday.
The 7-foot-4 Marjanovic easily brings size and experience for the Frank Lao-owned team, known by its initials SGA, as it represents the country anew in the annual cage joust slated from Aug. 8 to 23 in Taiwan.
The former Serbian national player went undrafted in the NBA in 2010, but eventually went on to spend nine seasons in the world most popular basketball league starting with the San Antonio Spurs in 2015, followed by the Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, and Houston Rockets from 2022-24.
"We're building the best team possible because we know this will be the toughest William Jones Cup yet," said SGA president Jacob Lao in a statement.
"Every participating country is expected to bring quality lineups, so we want to make sure we're prepared for that challenge. Bringing in a player like Boban gives us a tremendous presence on both ends of the floor, and we're excited to have him represent Strong Group-Pilipinas."
Strong Group head coach Charles Tiu is excited with the chance to coach Marjanovic, who posted career NBA averages of 5.5 points and 3.6 rebounds in 331 games.
"Excited on getting Boban to agree to play for us. We've been having some good talks. He's in shape and serious about this tournament,” said Tiu, who concurrently serves as Phoenix bench tactician in the PBA.
“He's preparing back home even before he flies out here. We've already talked a bit about basketball and our plans. Great and funny guy too," he added.
Strong Group is bunched with Chinese Taipei Blue, Korea, and Japan in the preliminary round as it seeks to defend the William Jones Cup crown it won the last two years.-
