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Honoring players with outstanding performances
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior reporter
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) officially concluded its historic “bubble” season at the weekend with special awards to outstanding artists in various categories.
In virtual ceremonies on Sunday, the league honored its players whom it considers a great reason for the success of last year’s only PBA tournament, the Philippines Cup, held under extraordinary circumstances due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The players made a lot of sacrifice and worked hard to make the bubble successful and this is our way of rewarding them for that,” said PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial of the special awards, which temporarily replaced the traditional ones. Leo Awards given at the beginning of each new season.
Philippine Cup champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings came out as the biggest winners of the special awards, with their players taking home the most accolades.
Guard Stanley Pringle was voted the best player in the conference and was included in the elite list of five bubble players. Prince Caperal was the player who improved the most, with Scottie Thompson winning the award for sportsmanship.
While he was outside of the top five in statistical points, Pringle fought back strongly for the top prize by being a constant force for the Kings throughout the bubble at Clark City in Angeles, Pampanga, held from October to December.
In winning his first BPC award, 33-year-old Mr. Pringle narrowly edged Matthew Wright of the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters, 1,640 points overall against 1,578.
The Kings point guard got a boost from player votes (67) and the PBA Office (300), which combined accounted for 30% of the criteria, where he finished on top. He had 641 stat points (sixth) and second in media votes with 632.
Mr. Wright, however, joined Mr. Pringle in elite five. Also part of the distinguished group are Japeth Aguilar from Barangay Ginebra, JP Erram from TNT Tropang Giga and Calvin Abueva from Phoenix Super LPG.
In accepting his award, Pringle said the honor bestowed upon him goes to his teammates as well.
“As for the awards, your teammates are going to put you in a position to win, so it’s as much as their award as yours. So greetings to all my colleagues. That’s it, it’s his prize too, ”he said.
Meanwhile, Caperal also came close to winning the Most Improved Player award, beating Phoenix Super LPG’s Justin Chua.
An official early in his career, he played in the shadow of more established stars in Barangay Geneva until he burst into the PBA bubble.
With Greg Slaughter deciding to take a year off from the game, the Arellano University product, Caperal, was pushed into a bigger role and instantly made an impact.
He averaged just 1.2 points and 1.5 rebounds per game the previous season, but went on to count averages of 9.64 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 23 minutes of game per game in the knockout round of the Philippine Cup.
His ability to hit shots from the outside, including 3-pointers, gave the Kings attack an added dimension, as they finally took the only PBA title in 2020.
Caperal beat Chua, 2,447 points against 2,096.
By winning the sportsmanship award, Thompson gave all the honor to previous winner Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
“I’m just following in (Norwood’s) footsteps to play the game the right way. I am happy and I feel truly blessed, ”he said.
Mr. Norwood also applied for the award, along with CJ Perez from Terrafirma Dyip, Mr. Abueva and Kevin Alas from NLEX Road Warriors.
Meanwhile, Aaron Black of the Meralco Bolts made history by being the lowest drafted player to win the best rookie award.
Chosen 18th Overall in the 2019 draft, Aaron, the son of Meralco coach Norman Black, evicted Larry Fonacier, who was 14 years old from Red Bull.th choose when he won Rookie of the Year honors in 2005, for distinction.
“It’s definitely a great feeling. This will definitely push me to work even harder for the next conference. We look forward to what we have in store for Meralco, ”said Mr. Black, who averaged 6.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 18 games in his rookie season.
The next season of the PBA is scheduled to begin in April. It is still being determined if it will be done in another bubble.
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