Gilas Pilipinas: The Stopper

Photo courtesy of pbafans.blogspot.com

When was the first time you saw Jean Marc Pingris play basketball?

Was it with the San Mig Coffee Mixers? When he was finally lauded as the league's best defensive player once a more prized basketball peer was moved out? Was it with the BMeg Llamados when he served as the ideal complementary piece to a rising superstar triumvirate? Or was it when he was a highly touted rookie with tons of potential and athleticism rocking corn rows and sporting a huge tattoo on his bicep?

We remember the wild beast with immense swagger back in a Philippine Basketball League All Star Slam Dunk contest. At the time, Pingris had no chance of winning against legit high-flyers and basketball aerial wizards (Nino Canaleta was only good at one thing then, and that was dunking it Dr. J style). How could he? He had an obvious advantage at 6"5 with little to no effort to really dunk the basketball (we're not talking about Michael Jordan here).

So there was Pingris, asking the Makati coliseum crowd to settle down and get the hell out of his way. He took a few dribbles, ran right at the rim and- BOOM! The backboard was obliterated like a rebel Middle Eastern military camp. Pingris was raw, but he had power. Pingris was unskilled, but he had that "look."

That was 2004. The Pingris now, in true Takihiko Inoue Slam Dunk Hanamichi Sakuragi fashion, is a different basketball player. There's purpose in his game, discipline in his defense and though it comes out from time to time when things get chippy, has watered down on his excessive swagger-ing (if that's even an acceptable word).

Come FIBA-Asia, Pingris will be asked to the dirty work. Defense is his calling card and what has brought him to the dance despite his improving yet still average offensive game. Pingris height and hustle gives us enough leeway to put him at the power forward spot next to Marcus Douthit. He can be relied upon to handle the opposing team's top wingmen as well, given his great lateral footwork. He will fall for some fakes here and there but based on how much we've seen of Pingris he's bound to make up for it with his relentlessness (we cannot wait for Pingris to go at it against Nikkhah Bahrami, arguably the greatest Asian talent out there today).

Because Pingris exerts so much effort on the floor, we ask that Gilas Pilipinas head coach plays him in limited minutes or only when needed. It's pointless to play Pingris in games versus teams that we can blow by other than ensure that he doesn't get rusty. 

Should Coach Chot play Pingris all throughout the tournament or do you side with us and use him in a "break glass in case of emergency" capacity only (to guard Bahrami, and whichever American import Qatar and Jordan brings in)?