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We will let certain people worry about it, as we only truly care about the sport of basketball and the players (and coaches) involved. Like we previously said and will forever maintain, we will laugh at all the gossips and rumors (through Twitter), but we will not write about it on this blog as we prefer to keep this one all about basketball.
No backdoors involved.
Yesterday was Game 4 of the 2016 PBA Governor's Cup Finals AND also the 41st Leo Awards which recognized and celebrated this season's best individuals. Here we try to offer our two cents' worth on the winners:
Samboy Lim Sportsmanship Award - Junemar Fajardo
Where did this come from? Fajardo's one of the nicest guys on the court and all, but uh... okay, he gets fouled a lot and hardly retaliates so that's well and good. It also sets a good example and puts a nice spotlight to an otherwise "blah" award that people don't really care about. Here's a high-usage rate player, the PBA MVP, playing the game the right way and not at all concerned with theatrics, show-boating or even the hard fouls.
All Defensive Team - Marc Pingris, Japeth Aguilar, Gabe Norwood, Chris Ross, Ping Exciminiano
We could have sworn that Exciminiano was sparingly used by the Alaska Aces this season, and that Calvin Abueva should have gotten the nod if they were to pick a guy from that roster of being a defensive threat. Also, other than blocking shots made by guys 6"5 and below, Aguilar hasn't really managed to stop anyone one on one has he? He has improved quite a lot under Coach Tim Cone, but maybe we will need to see him not biting on any of Beau Belga pump fakes for a whole season before we change our stance. Pingris... no. We'd accept Aguilar and Exciminiano, but this season Pingris has regressed and the "no arm bar" rule definitely limited him as a post defender. Norwood and Ross are as lockdown as you can get.
2nd Mythical Five - L.A. Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Alex Cabagnot, Asi Taulava, Sean Anthony
The only thing we were surprised with here is that Greg Slaughter didn't make the cut. We would've dropped either Anthony or Taulava. No, we would've dropped Anthony. He had a stellar Ph Cup, but with all the imports in the 2nd and 3rd conferences, was greatly limited. Slaughter was a sure 20 and 10 guy before he got hurt in the 3rd conference.
Mythical Five - Junemar Fajardo, Jayson Castro, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Arwind Santos
Arwind Santos you sneaky b*stard! He made the Mythical Team despite subpar 2nd and 3rd conference performances, but somehow managed to end the season with a solid 13 ppg 6 rpg 2 apg 1 bpg stat in only 30mpg. He's not as quick as he once was, but he has reinvented his game to being a (we're being generous here) 3-and-D guy. Honestly, we would've taken Santos out, pushed Taulava/ Slaughter up, and maybe squeezed Stanley Pringle in the 2nd M5 somehow. Fajardo, Abueva and Castro are no-brainers. Romeo is a surprise, since all the kid does is shoot a lot. If you ask us, we'd take Pringle more than Romeo but hey.
Rookie of the Year - Chris Newsome
LOL at Spin.Ph, mga tunay na HERO. Newsome worked his tail off for this one. It's not his fault that Coach Norman Black entrusted the offense to him. He played point, shooting guard and small forward for Meralco the entire season and look where they are now. Troy Rosario was solid despite not getting any plays run for him at TNT. But well, hey, can't go wrong with Newsome who has "star" written all over him.
MVP - Junemar Fajardo
We are just waiting for 2018 when we can borrow from Booker T. and introduce Junemar as the FIVE TIME, FIVE TIME, FIVE TIME, FIVE TIME... FIVE TIME PBA MVP. Seriously. Who is going to stop this guy? This season he was playing a bit hurt/ on cruise control, and he still managed to outpoint his closest competitors in the SPs. Who will challenge Fajardo you ask? It is not going to be Castro or Abueva in our point of view. It is going to be Greg Slaughter, whose numbers already mirror Fajardo's (only in a different way, game-wise) and is now being guided by Tim Cone. Hell, if Tim Cone could make James Walkvist a 12 and 10 guy, and EJ Feihl also somewhere around those numbers... what more a Slaughter?
"other than blocking shots made by guys 6"5 and below, Aguilar hasn't really managed to stop anyone one on one has he?"
ReplyDeleteHe's been abusing Hodge all finals series? Durham has had some of his shots swatted? Junemar didn't have a very good time with him either. If I was under 6'5 and chose not to even attempt a shot because Japeth is there, doesn't make Japeth a good defender? He does bite on every Belga/Abueva/Hugnatan fake. The rest of the league stays away from him.