During the fourth window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Yeng Guiao made sure to make everyone happy by fielding Christian Standhardinger against the tall Iran squad, while plugging Stanley Pringle in the naturalized position against the guard-heavy Qatar team.
But with Gilas Pilipinas only holding a full game advantage over Japan in Group F, Yeng Guiao is planning to field a formidable team against Kazakhstan and Iran in the fifth window. And he has a dilemma – whether Pringle, one of the best point guards in Asia, will be plugged into the naturalized player position against the 3-5 Kazakhs on Friday.
“Ang tingin namin, Kazakhstan is guard-heavy in terms of scoring,” said Guiao, as Kazakhstan is led by guards Rustam Yergali and Rustam Murzagaliyev.
“Magandang ilagay si Stanley dahil yun ang mga ka-match niya. But at the same time, nasasayangan kami sa laki at energy ni Christian.“
Both Pringle and Stanhardinger made good accounts of themselves during the fourth window; the former finishing with 13 points, six rebounds, and three assists against Qatar, while the latter dropped 30 points and 12 boards against Iran.
Photo from FIBA.com
One thing is for certain, though: the 6-foot-9 Filipino-German is a shoo-in come the Iran game on December 3.
“Pero yun nga, for sure, he’s going to be in the Iran game,” disclosed Guiao.
“The question is do we sacrifice Stanley just to have the size and energy of Christian for the Kazakhstan game? Medyo toss-up pa yun.”
