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Prince Caperal knew that the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup will bring him new opportunities. With Barangay Ginebra San Miguel not reaching an agreement with former starting center Greg Slaughter, Caperal knew he would be watching more minutes.
However, situations beyond anyone’s control began to accumulate over Barangay Geneva and Caperal went from being someone who could play a few minutes to someone who needed to contribute immediately. Fortunately for the Tim Cone-led squad, one of his coaching staff did a lot of work during the running to tackle the dilemma.
As reported by ESPN5.com’s Eros Villanueva, Barangay’s assistant coach Kirk Collier lives in the same building as Caperal and took advantage of the lockdown to help put the center in tip-top shape.
“It wasn’t a disgrace. Coach Tim was just kidding. In fact, I was very lucky to live in the same building as Coach Kirk,” Caperal said, in Filipino on Friday, just before the Kings began their training in the swimming pool. “If it weren’t for Coach Kirk I’d probably weigh 300 pounds by now. Before the conference started, I was told to be ready because Japeth was late for the bubble. I have to take this opportunity to show what I could do for the team.” .
Caperal’s resurgence is the main reason why Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is now at the top of the team rankings and remains undefeated even with Aguilar and LA Tenorio at 100%.
“If you ask anyone on the team, no one would be surprised because we all know how hard Prince works on his game,” Collier said. “During the lockdown, we were not allowed to go out, but I have the equipment installed in my unit. I live on the 39th floor and Prince lives on the 14th floor and he came four or five times a week to work outside.”
Last season, Collier had highly publicized sessions with Slaughter and is now doing the same with Caperal as he prepares to be a major piece of the Kings puzzle.
“With any player, confidence is important and you only get confidence when you can play. For a long time, Prince just saw action in practice. In the game he has to play behind Greg and Japeth and Joe (Devance) and even Justin (Brownlee ) but never stopped working. “
Caperal has already scored 35 points in his first two games as he leads Barangay Geneva in points per game, field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage – all a testament to the work he did when no one was looking.
“During the confinement it was important that he stay active and continue working,” Collier said of Caperal. “While Japeth and LA are still recovering, especially LA from that surgery, it’s great for us that the other players were in good shape because they helped us get off to a good start.”
Caperal has been with Barangay Geneva since 2018 when they picked him up from the free agent list. Now the rough diamond they bet on two years ago is finally starting to shine.
“It was the first time I was named Best Player of the Game,” Caperal said. “It was special because I was finally able to greet my family and it is also a huge confidence boost.”
