PBA Leo's gets it right with Mythical Five awardees

Whenever year-ending awards such as the Philippine Basketball Association’s “Leo’s” come around, people are quick to put in their two cents worth (this writer included) on who was robbed, snubbed and deserving.  

And while “anti-Jimmy Alapag of Talk N Text as Most Valuable Player” campaigns have sprawled the Filipino Internet world in favor of “more deserving candidates/ runners-up in Petron’s Arwind Santos and Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa, it was nice to see that at least in one category, the PBA awards council was able to fittingly recognize this season’s best players at their position and arguably, in the last two or three years even.

PG Jimmy Alapag (Talk N Text)

The standard bearer for Filipino point guards. You can read into Mico Halili’s feature on Mark Caguioa’s reaction on not being crowned MVP, but I’d like to think of it as a gesture of respect on The Spark’s side. It went to a guy who has worked his ass off for flag and country, represented us and worn our colors proud and never sold out (unlike another MVP runner up who drastically transformed his game in the international scene in hopes of being recruited to the NBA or whatever self-serving motive he had). And yes, his best years as a high scoring, high assist guard are behind him and we only see flashes of it from time to time, but there’s still no one in the PBA who can match up to his overall intensity and game.

SG Mark Caguioa (Ginebra)

I feel for all the Ginebra fans out there despite being a Santa Lucia-Meralco believer. This year marks the return of the “Furious” Mark Caguioa. Not the “Spark,” but the “Furious” MC47 who would burn the hoops and wasn’t afraid to get in people’s faces. There’s just no question, that Caguiao is a throwback, old school basketball player who shuns the limelight and all that James Yap glam in lieu of simply dropping buckets on fools. Yes, his defense remains subpar, but there’s no one in the league who can light it up and affects the game as him.

SF Arwind Santos

In perspective, the only year Santos didn’t deserve to win MVP was Kelly Williams’ MVP year. That’s it. Santos is and continues to be a stat monster and the country’s best player on both ends of the court. There’s just no one in the entire PBA that could measure up, pound for pound. You could make an argument for Jay Washington and his athleticism, but Php 100 says Santos can lock him down as well while JWash couldn’t even stop an offense-less Kelly Williams when matched up. And yes, he is the guy I mentioned on the Alapag clip above, trying to play out of position as a trigger-happy guard when he was called upon to represent our country when we all knew that he would’ve been just fine at his natural SF spot. Just ball Arwind, we still have your back.

PF Kelly Williams

What he lacks in all-around basketball skills (dribbling for one, shooting second), he makes up for with 100% hustle and activity on the floor. Think the 2011 version of Rudy Hatfield, only more athletic and could jump right out of the building. And unlike rival Jay Washington of Petron, Williams has accepted his role a long time ago and doesn’t waste his energy and effort playing outside and trying to play like a guard.

C Sonny Thoss

Is Thoss the best center in the league? Well, he sure does put up the numbers and is arguably the most consistent guy at his position. Give it another year and maybe Petron’s Rabah Al Husseini could take over this spot (okay, make that two to three more years, depending on Rabah’s maturation process). Still waiting on Rob Reyes to make an impact like he did years ago in the PBL though it seems that after some injuries, he has lost much of his “Baby Eric Menk” game.

With that, congratulations to the Leo awardees and hopefully the PBA board continues to recognize players for who they are on the court and not via the number of endorsements, TV appearances and showbiz-relationships they are in. Else, God forbid, we're looking at multiple MVP reigns for Smart Gilas' Chris Tiu down the road.