KKS' Picks: The PBA All Star Reserves

What might've been for Gilas Pilipinas.
(Photo credit: Sports5)

This year's PBA All Star game hopes to serve as one of many tune-up matches for the Gilas Pilipinas men's basketball team. On paper, the game promises to be a blockbuster, heavyweight match-up between those who were chosen to represent the country versus those who were not as fortunate for one reason or another.

Already named to the PBA All Star Starting Five are: Mark Barroca, James Yap, Chris Ellis, Mac Baracael and Greg Slaughter.

Of the five starters, only Barroca merits to really be called an All Star starter given his performance in the PBA Philippine Cup en route to a Finals MVP trophy. Yap only returned to form somewhere in the semifinals and finals, while the troika of Ellis, Baracael and Slaughter largely benefited from what one may call as the equivalent of the NBA's Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady's "China" votes (only in this case, "China" is "Barangay Ginebra.")

Based on stats alone, we could name three guys who could easily supplant the above-mentioned and we're more than happy to give them their due as we name our PBA All Star Reserves to round out the Magic 12. To be clear, we're not trying to make any predictions here, since the selection of the reserves will fall onto the PBA coaches' shoulders led by PBA All Star team head coach Tim Cone, but we're going with the guys who made a name for themselves in the recently concluded PBA Philippine Cup and at the very least, deserve a look.

1) Arwind Santos (SF/PF San Miguel Beermen) 17.1 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg
For all the social media negativity cast on the REIGNING PBA Most Valuable Player about him being a "stat-padder," you can't call out a player for hauling down over ten rebounds a night. The points, yes, probably. But rebounding is a different art form altogether that, when approached timidly or lackadaisically, you could easily get your mouth popped by someone more tenacious (think of it as going for a 50/50 rebound versus a Marc Pingris-- yeah, you need to be alert on that one 24/7). Santos made a good account of himself last conference, proving that while he lacks the superstar one-on-one iso game people expect from a league MVP, he is still pretty solid nonetheless.



2) Jay Washington (PF/C GlobalPort Batang Pier) 17.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.8 apg
The change of scenery continues to do Washington good, now looking a lot like the former PBA Best Player of the Conference awardee we've come to know maybe four or five years ago. With his role on the team clearly set and no redundancies in talent to get in his way, Washington is lording it over for Batang Pier as a "quiet" anchor in the pivot who can play positions three to five with relative ease.

3) Joseph Yeo (PG/SG Air21 Express) 14.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 6.1 apt
There's no other player who turned more heads last conference than the man touted as "The Ninja." Just when we all laughed at and ridiculed his team for not having a legit point guard to guide them, Yeo took it upon himself to alter his playing style from natural born scorer to a combo guard who does several things on the floor.

4) Asi Taulava (C Air21 Express) 13.9 ppg, 13.6 rpg
"The Rock" continues to defy Father Time as he provides his young Express team with the inside muscle and steadying, inspiring presence both on and off the floor. His inclusion on the All Star reserves should be a no-brainer and a much-needed one, if only to control or counter the presence of Gilas shoo-ins Junemar Fajardo and Marcus Douthit in the paint.

5) Sol Mercado (PG/SG GlobalPort Batang Pier/ San Miguel Beermen) 17.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.9 apg
During the first few games of the PBA Philippine Cup, it was quite admirable/ laughable that people were already using the "mentor" tag for Mercado. That's something you use for 33 year olds and above with bum knees and bad backs but Mercado? Seriously? When things started to get tight and his "pupils" were being exposed as the greenies that they were, Mercado took control of the team together with Washington and put on a brilliant basketball display. Who knows where the Batang Pier would've ended up had Washington not been sidelined late in the eliminations going into the semifinals?

6) Sonny Thoss (C Alaska Aces) 14 ppg, 8.48 rpg

For all intents and purposes, all the Calvin Abueva, JVee Casio and Luigi Trillo talks, Alaska is still Thoss' team post-Tim Cone. No matter the new theatrics and rugged approach that this team has come to recently embrace, Thoss is still the driving force inside the paint and daresay the most polished big man, in his prime, in the PBA today. 

7) Joe DeVance (SF/PF San Mig Coffee Mixers) 10 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.4 apg
So what if he can't post up a 6"0 Paul Lee the entire PBA Philippine Cup Finals and had to be bailed out by referees nine of 10 times? This guy is a legit, all-around Swiss Knife who can do so much for any team (just don't ask him to be your team's savior) both on offense (skills-wise) and defense (size-wise). He was the biggest match-up nightmare in the Finals for the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, simply because they didn't have anyone near his size who was quick and or agile enough. They tried guarding him with smaller guys, but he did the right thing (even if it was only successful if Jeff Chan was the man on him) and went to the paint. They went with bigger guys and he went outside for the jumpers or just blew by them.

That completes our seven man reserve-list to complete the PBA All Star Game 12. In the advent of an injury or someone bowing out (highly unlikely), we've come prepared and are throwing in two more names who have a claim to this year's annual showcase of the stars:

PJ Simon (SG San Mig Coffee Mixers) 13.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.8 apg
Can we finally nix the "Super Sub" tag? Please. It's been long overdue. This guy came into the PBA already a better scorer than the "preferred" franchise savior James Yap, but was always brought off the bench for some reason. Put him on another team and ignore the hype-less entry into the PBA brought about by having played in a little-named amateur/ collegiate league (drafted late by Santa Lucia in the early 2000s) and this guy could've been right up there with Gary David in terms of being one of the league's deadliest and premier gunners. His 3 PBA All Star invites are a joke, since it should've been more. But blame that on the even bigger PBA North vs South format joke (lahat ng Fil-foreigners, tiga South. Sige na nga).

Gabby Espinas (PF/C Alaska Aces) 11.67 ppg, 8.43 rpg
The man we've come to call as "The Prototype" having been, well, the "Beast before The Beast" in the NCAA (he's an NCAA Rookie of the Year-Most Valuable Player for crying out loud) has finally found a home in the pros and is back to playing his old style of aggressive, street-smart basketball in the paint. A skinny enforcer if you will, Espinas stole much of buddy Calvin Abueva's thunder last conference in maybe 25 minutes a game. Though his PBA All Star inclusion would come as a complete Hail Mary, we would like to take this space on the Internet to give him his due.

Who are your PBA All Star Reserves and why?