Stan is bubble’s best

Three other Gin Kings win awards

MANILA, Philippines — Fil-Am dynamo Stanley Pringle basked in the limelight as the PBA Philippine Cup’s Best Player of the Conference yesterday, earning a sweet reward for his stellar performance throughout the extraordinary bubble tournament in Clark.

The 6-foot-1 Pringle, whom Gin Kings coach Tim Cone once described as their “Justin Brownlee” in the All-Filipino, stood tall in the pro league’s lone conference for pandemic-hit 2020.

He logged averages of 18.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1 steal per game in Ginebra’s title run, playing Brownlee’s usual role of “closer” in a number of the team’s victories.

“This is a blessing for me. I appreciate all you guys and I’m looking forward to the next conference and playing hard,” Pringle said during the virtual Special Awards organized by the PBA.

The Penn State alum actually finished sixth in the stats race with 34.8 statistical points but earned the nod of voters from among the players, media and the PBA Commissioner’s Office to win his first career BPC. He beat out Matthew Wright and Calvin Abueva of Phoenix, stats top notcher Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and RR Pogoy of TNT Tropang Giga, and CJ Perez of Terrafirma.

The 33-year-old Pringle shared the plum with the Gin Kings.

“I ain’t looking at my stats, just want to help the team win. And as far as awards go, your teammates are going to put you in a position to win, so it’s as much as their award as yours. So shoutout to my teammates, this is their award, too,” he said.

Pringle led the “Elite Five” as one of the guards. He was joined by Wright in the backcourt and teammate Japeth Aguilar, TNT’s Poy Erram and Abueva in the frontline.

Meanwhile, Meralco’s Aaron Black won the Outstanding Rookie honors, becoming the lowest draft pick to win the top freshman award. Picked 18th overall by his coach-dad Norman, the young Black dislodged Larry Fonacier who was Red Bull’s No. 14 pick when he netted Rookie of the Year accolade in 2005. He averaged 6.6 markers, 3.7 boards, and 1.7 dimes.

Pringle’s teammate Prince Caperal copped the Most Improved Player award.

Caperal averaged 7.8 markers on a 43 percent field goal shooting and 42 clip from beyond the arc to go with 3.9 rebounds, levelling up from the preceding season, where he was good for 1.2 points, 29 percent two-point clip and 17 percent three-point accuracy, with 1.5 rebounds.

Another Gin King, Scottie Thompson, netted the Sportsmanship Award.