JUAMI Tiongson is now the man behind the wheel of the Dyip.
But there was a time he could’ve literally been steering a real kind of passenger vehicle had his path veered away from basketball.
Recounting the rocky start to his PBA career on SPIN Zoom In, the Terrafirma star guard admitted pondering about studying to become a pilot instead when he thought of walking away from his hoops passion as the breaks came few and far between in his first two years in the league.
Juami Tiongson on alternative career
“Most of my friends are pilots, so yun lang inisip ko,” Tiongson shared. “Kasi other than that, wala rin talaga akong other options, kasi basketball lang talaga yung gusto ko.”
Tiongson eats, sleeps, and breathes basketball. He tried football for a while, but focused on hoops since Ateneo, through coach Ron Camara, recruited him from Colegio San Agustin when he was in Grade 7.
After starring for the Blue Eaglets in high school, the 5-foot-10 point guard had to earn his playing time in his first three years in the seniors’ team, before seeing sufficient action in his last two UAAP seasons under Norman Black.
Impressing Blackwater in tryouts, Tiongson earned the trust to become the team’s first-ever PBA draft pick at No. 12 overall when the expansion club entered the league in 2014.
But like his college career, Tiongson played sparingly in his first two years in the pros, bouncing from the team to getting relegated to Blackwater’s partner in the D-League, the Blustar Detergent Dragons, before his mother team eventually bought his contract out.
That’s when the soft-spoken playmaker thought basketball wasn’t for him anymore.
“There was a point in my career na gusto ko na po mag-quit ng basketball, kasi inisip ko na nagtatrabaho naman ako. I’ve been working hard. I’ve been playing basketball the right way, pero hindi ko alam bakit yung opportunities ko were very limited,” Tiongson admitted.
“Pero yung mom ko talaga yung nagsabi sa’kin na tiisin ko muna, to play one more year,” he was quick to add. “If makabalik ako sa PBA, then good. Pero if not, maghahanap na po talaga ako ng ibang trabaho.”
While thinking about becoming a pilot, the AB Interdisciplinary Studies minor in management and psychology graduate continued to plow through in the D-League, this time for AMA Online Education under Mark Herrera.
“Inisip ko na lang po na every game would be my last game, kasi nga, after that conference of the D-League, magqo-quit na po ako,” Tiongson said.
But fate had other plans as he played well enough to earn a tryout for NLEX and coach Yeng Guiao, who gave him his second chance in the PBA.
Traded to Terrafirma two years later, Tiongson continued to repay the faith, this time of coach Johnedel Cardel, on the way to becoming one of the league’s rising stars and being named the 2021 Most Improved Player.
“Very fortunate na everything happens for a reason talaga,” Tiongson reflected.
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