Down to a two-man race for ROY

Sayo ang Pilipinas, akin ang Tondo!

JVee Casio, Paul Lee, Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter.

This season's top four draft picks have more than lived up to the hype; after the Philippine Cup-- the race couldn't be any tighter. Petron's Lutz' crazy efficiency was off the charts, Powerade's Casio was putting in clutch performances left and right when called upon, Rain or Shine's Lee quickly took control of a franchise while Lassiter trumped them all with a stellar two-way display in leading his team (along with Casio) to the Finals.


By the second conference, Lutz suffered an injury while Lee hit a huge wall offensively and was lost trying to play around an iso-heavy import. Lassiter was drawing flak with all the trade rumors but was still putting up respectable numbers. The one guy who really shined in the second conference was Casio-- while teammate Lassiter was busy flirting with the idea of moving to a champion team, the sharpshooting Green Archer took it upon himself to supply the added firepower for Powerade.

Now that we're halfway done with the shorter Govenor's Cup, the race is officially down to two. Lassiter has been sidelined by an injury and has been traded to Petron wherein buddy Lutz is the de facto starting SG (now that he looks to have recovered nicely from his own injury). That pretty much screws their chances of winning the ROY if we're looking at impact points and not just stats.

Casio is still putting up nice points and assists for the Tigers, but we all know who's THE MAN on that squad. Also, they are playing a more balanced style which has resulted in good wins but has come at the expense of Casio's ball-time. With David and new teammates Rey Guevarra and Rabeh Al Hussaini who are all ball-hungry, Casio's numbers have taken a hit and no longer asked to provide clutch baskets. Great for the team, bad for his stats really.

Take away Lutz (and Lassiter) and it won't really hurt Petron's chances of getting deep into the second round. Ditto with Powerade, whose run-and-gun pace allows any basketball player with decent skills put up solid numbers.

Which leaves us with one name: Paul Lee.

Lutz is a system player who thrives on picking his spots on the floor and finding cracks on defense to exploit. Lassiter is an impact guy who just keeps on coming at you with his tenacity. Casio is just "too cool for school" and plays with the basketball IQ of a seasoned vet blessed with an outside game.

Lee? He's The Man.

He has the coveted clutch gene just like Casio. But other than that, he has the court vision that's more instinctive than systematic. Casio racks up assists because of David and just having guys open on the floor. Lee's assists are born of creating shots for guys-- just ask Jeff Chan.

While Chan's awesome shooting display this year is something to marvel at, Rain or Shine lost steam in the Commissioner's Cup because Lee played poorly. Chan couldn't wiggle free from defenders, no one was driving inside and kicking out-- everything just fell apart.

And that's the value of Lee. He's far from being athletic, so what he lacks in speed and vertical, he makes up for with street-ball wisdom. His crossovers are nice to look at, but aren't as quick as the Alapags, Cabagnots and Castros. His drives aren't as strong, but he knows how to use his body to protect the basketball. Oh, and he has balls the size of grapefruits-- specially when they're playing Ginebra and the game is on the line it seams.

A Rain or Shine team without Lee would still play to its scrappy identity-- but the shots would come harder. No one can create his shot off the dribble outside Lee, so you can expect their scoring to take a hit. Norwood is crazy athletic and gifted, but he's no PG. He's not even a Top 3 small forward in the PBA. Chan will be under lock and key. Beau Belga will probably try to takeover (never a good thing) while everyone else waits their turn.

So based on impact and what he brings to the table, Lee should win the ROY award. If we're going with numbers, give it to Lutz. If you're just basing it on popularity, then Casio's your guy.

Who's your ROY?