JAKARTA—Stanley Pringle showed what he can do as a National player last Thursday afternoon and couldn’t help but think what he could have done to help had he gotten this chance years ago.
“I really can’t control some things, but I would have loved to play [for the National team even before this one],” Pringle told the Inquirer when asked if he felt he could have suited up for Gilas Pilipinas earlier.
The 31-year-old is not eligible to play in Fiba tournaments, having failed to secure a Philippine passport before he turned 16, that’s why he was never considered by past Gilas coaches to be included in their pools.
There are a lot of others like him in the PBA who haven’t had the chance to don the national colors because of that strict Fiba rule, but seeing Pringle do his thing against Kazakhstan last week—18 points on 6-of-9 shooting—is making everyone pondering on the “what if.”
And it has Pringle pondering on what could be.
“I sure hope I can do so [in the future],” Pringle said as he teams up with Jordan Clarkson and Paul Lee in forming a lethal guard rotation.
Asian Games rules are more lenient in so far as eligibility is concerned, hence the likes of Pringle, Christian Standhardinger and Clarkson playing for this team.
It would be a sight to behold if talents like Chris Ross and Pringle could join Jayson Castro and Terrence Romeo in Fiba-run events together with a healthy Lee and Clarkson.