PBA's Top Gun: Gary David

Hi! Gary V./ Granada jokes aside, I will shoot your face off.

Slowly but surely, the world is starting to recognize the genius that is Powerade shooting guard Gary David's offensive game. No, he doesn't dazzle the crowd with Mark Caguioa-like swagger, teardrops and crossovers nor hits "pogi" shots or "grips the ball with one hand and sits on the air" ala media darling James Yap. He simply goes out there and shoots people's faces off with an almost expression-less approach and from time to time dusts off a reverse lay-up with enough "pektos" that would make Bata Reyes blush.

The ongoing Philippine Cup's leading scorer (22.5 ppg) has long been toiling in mid-superstardom no thanks to his "silent assassin" persona on the court. The most emotion I saw out of David was against the NBA superstars where he turned the ball over/ jokingly gave up but even then he didn't flash a big smile or anything that fans could bite into. That, plus he's been stuck playing for bad teams-- the best one being with the overachieving Air21 Express in 2007-08 where everyone knew their roles (David as the go-to-guy and Arwind Santos as the do-it-all soldier), after that team, I can't remember the last time David's team went deep into the playoffs of any conference.

This year, David finds himself surrounded by arguably the best set of players he's ever played with (even back to his PBL Montana or at his alma mater Lyceum of the Philippines). There's do-it-all rookie hustler Marcio Lassiter, a hundred and one 5"9 and below point guards (Rudy Lingganay, Jai Reyes, Jayvee Casio and Celino Cruz) and their beefy big man rotation of Doug Kramer, Rommel Adducul and Alex Crisano.

With that, the Tigers are off to a good start with a 2-1 card thanks to David's scoring exploits and his teammate's 100% support. And while this writer finds nothing wrong with David putting up so many shots (he's the best shooter on the line-up so why not? Casio? He's injured, a rookie and we don't even know if he can even outrun his PG teammates now or in the future), people are quick to point out his low assist numbers. Hell, even his coach Bo Perasol (who is being made to look like the genius that he isn't only because of the current line-up) called him out and asked that he get his teammates involved.

See, that's what's wrong with basketball genius wannabes today. They think that just because LeBron James makes it look so easy on the floor, that basketball players-- the stars, should learn to do everything at an elite level.

Good for them if they do, but don't take anything away from them if they don't.

Gary David is an old school scorer, we could even argue that he's more shooter since he doesn't need a lot of touches to put up his numbers. Is he the best SG in the league today? I say he's in the top 3 (with Caguioa and Paul Lee-- who's being turned into a combo guard in Rain or Shine coach's Yeng Guiao's wacky world of coaching) without a doubt. Between Caguioa and David, I'd pick the latter because he can play off the ball in catch and shoot situations while MC47 has always been more effective handling the ball from the get-go.

For his sake, David needs to win a title in the PBA SOON. He's been in the league since 2004 (David's now 33 years old) and I can't name any other PBA star who is still without a ring.