The Beast: Chasing History

Can The Beast mirror The Tower of Power?
(Photo courtesy of PBA InterAKTV)

Ever found yourself in a race against time? Trying desperately to catch up to someone or something you love or hold dear, finding yourself now at only an arm's length-- may be less. The dream is almost at hand, literally.

The Alaska Aces' mercurial rookie power forward Calvin "The Beast" Abueva, in just two PBA conferences (41 played games to date), has already proven himself worthy of his collegiate moniker. He has already hushed even the harshest of critics. All his haters are now busy just ignoring his antics, or simply waiting for the next epic "flop" that they can blow up over social media.

They no longer question his game. His mental toughness. His desire to be the best. They question the flops, but they no longer question Abueva.


Remember when there were those who said the Meralco Bolts' Cliff Hodge was Abueva's rival, nay, superior? That the taller Hodge would make a bigger impact in the pros? Well, no one's putting Hodge in the same boat as Abueva these days (only a complete idiot with little to no understanding of the game would). Abueva has moved on to bigger things. His name is now part of every "Best Player of the Conference" discussions.

His name is now part of PBA Most Valuable Player polls.

His name, Calvin Abueva, is now being linked to PBA Hall of Famer and only Rookie of the Year-Most Valuable Player Venancio "Benjie" Paras of the late 80s-early 90s Formula Shell fame.

Putting things in perspective, Paras averaged an eye-popping 25.8 points, 13.0 rebounds, 2.6 blocks in that ROY-MVP 1989 year of his. To date, Abueva is submitting a solid (but not Paras-like) 13 points, 9 rebounds and 0.83 blocks per game in a little over 25 minutes.

Mind you that Paras was the focal point of that Shell offense (and defense), playing over 35 minutes a game while being constantly fed the basketball whenever he pleased. Abueva on the other hand, has been a constant recipient of brush-offs courtesy of veteran teammates Cyrus Baguio, JVee Casio and even RJ Jazul (!). Really, most of Abueva's numbers have come by way of working the boards, making hustle plays, getting to the line or being on Dondon Hontiveros' radar (the Cebuano Hotshot is the only Aces player we know of outside of Abueva's bossom buddy Gabby Espinas who regularly feeds him the basketball).

So, if Abueva were to play over 35 minues A NIGHT, would he get Paras' numbers?

He can, but he won't.

We can see Abueva hauling down 20 rebounds easily (if he hasn't fouled out yet by then), the points depends on the competition. But the biggest difference between the two players is that Paras is a fundamentally sound basketball player with freakish athleticism while Abueva has more of the latter than the first.

Abueva is still learning the game (his vastly-improved jumpshot and follow-through) his rookie season while maximizing his gifts while Paras was already near the height of his prowess when he plowed through the PBA.

If Abueva were to be crowned MVP (to go with his obvious ROY- if he doesn't win that award, the PBA Press Corps and all the other "media" voters can suck on Miley Cyrus' foam finger) then it would be a nod to guys like Kelly Williams and Arwind Santos who paved the way for multi-faceted wing men like him. They can dominate the game by doing a little of everything, but they're not exactly textbook "go-to-guys."

We're not saying that Abueva should win it, only that he is one of the league's premier players and the Paras comparison or discussion is proof of that. MVP? Perhaps in the near future if he keeps working on his handles, jumper and on court discipline (PR skills too).

As far as we're concerned, we've come to embrace this new, "Alaska-d" version of Abueva, the one who, just like the rest of the Gatas Republik, preaches:

"We NOT me."