STANLEY Pringle seemed to be a good fit for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings after submitting impressive numbers in his first game for his new team since being traded from the NorthPort Batang Pier.
Despite having just few practices with the Kings, Pringle still showed he can immensely contribute to the team’s cause after scoring 16 points in a 100-85 rout of NLEX Road Warriors last week.
The former Gilas Pilipinas player also grabbed eight rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes of play in his Ginebra debut, earning the praise of Kings’ resident import Justin Brownlee.
“I think he fits great. Of course, he’s going to struggle a little bit learning the triangle and stuff like that. But he fits well. He’s got a good rhythm of the team and it’s going to be great moving forward,” said Brownlee.
“He’s not only a scorer but he’s a playmaker. On both ends, I saw him get a couple of steals. And he’s good at helping off the ball, even on the ball. He’s a good defender, and you know everybody knows what he can do on offense,” he added.
“He can make the game easier for everybody, not just me or any individual person, him being able to do what he can do to make things easier for us,” said last year’s Best Import awardee.
Kings head coach Earl Timothy “Tim” Cone was also all praises on last season’s scoring champion as he also sees Pringle thriving further into the Ginebra’s system soon.
“The thing that Stanley does is he makes everybody around him much better, just because he’s a big threat. We have a lot of confidence when we’re playing with him,” Cone said.
“We’re still going to explore a lot of things to do with him. Justine and Stanley started really playing well together and it’s something we envisioned. We hope to see more of it,” he added.
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With Pringle’s departure at the Batang Pier, rookie Robert Bolick showed he’s ready to take over the mantle by jacking up his numbers in helping the team clinch a quarterfinals berth in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Bolick averaged 19.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 9.5 assists in an all-around effort to steer NorthPort to back-to-back wins over Rain or Shine and Blackwater and hike its record to 7-2 and earning him the PBA Press Corps-Cignal Player of the Week citation.
In Batang Pier’s first game without the 32-year-old Pringle, Bolick carried the fight for his team by rallying them from as much as a 25-point deficit to nip the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in overtime, 107-105. Bolick hit 22 points in the match.
Three days after, Bolick was at it again, missing just a single rebound of completing a triple double in the team’s 127-99 rout of the Elite. He finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists.
“Gusto ko siyang (Pringle) makasama nang mas matagal. Kaso one conference lang, madami pa sana akong matututunan. Kung ano man meron ako ngayon [sa] laro ko, lahat, sa kanya (Pringle) ko natutunan ‘yun,” said Bolick./PN
