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| June Mar Fajardo is arguably the best PBA player right now, but is that enough to make him MVP? (image by Paul Ryan Tan/Sports 5) |
The Boosters/Beermen started the season with a lot
potential. Arwind Santos, last year’s MVP, was bound to continue being a solid
contributor. Marcio Lassiter was due to break out. Chris Ross was in the roster
to improve the Boosters’ playmaking. And, of course, June Mar Fajardo, after
his experience in the 2013 FIBA Asia Tournament and improvement in the 2013
Governors’ Cup, had everybody salivating about his upside.
The Boosters started the season like a house on
fire, winning their first seven games and racing to the top of the team
standings in the 2013-2014 Philippine Cup. But then an overtime loss to the
Elasto-Painters started a slump from which the then Petron Blaze club wouldn’t
be able to recover. They lost 4 of their last 7 elims games, dropping to third
in the standings. They swept lowly Barako Bull in the quarterfinals, but got
emphatically knocked out by an undersized Rain or Shine quintet in the
semifinals. Nevertheless, the hulking June Mar Fajardo, who was practically
unstoppable in the low block, was named the Best Player of the Conference
(BPC).
The man called “The Kraken” averaged 16.4 points,
14.9 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks in the season’s first conference.
In the next conference, Fajardo continued to do
well, leading the Beermen to a 7-2 win-loss slate, which was good for second
overall behind the undefeated Talk N Text Tropang Texters. Things were looking
promising for San Miguel as they entered the quarterfinals with a twice-to-beat
advantage and had to leapfrog just the unheralded Air 21 Express. Air 21,
however, proved to be more than a match for the ballyhooed Beermen, beating SMB
twice, 92-79 and 101-95. Once again, San Miguel’s potential went out the window
as they were handed the boot by the conference’s seventh-seeded club.
TNT’s Jayson Castro was named the Best Player of
this particular conference, while Fajardo was left watching sister team San Mig
Coffee annex its third straight conference crown. The Kraken normed 12.6
points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per contest in the Commish Cup.
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| The Cebu product has posted solid double-double numbers all season long. (image by Paolo Papa/Sports 5) |
In the current conference, San Miguel blew hot and
cold anew, winning just 5 of its 9 elims games to finish at fifth place and
qualify for the quarterfinals. Their opponents? The Grand-Slam-seeking San Mig
Super Coffee Mixers, who were coming off back-to-back losses to Talk N Text and
Rain or Shine. This time, the Beermen were on the short end of a twice-to-beat,
which meant that they had to beat SMC two times to qualify for the semis.
Early in their quarterfinal match, it seemed like
things would go SMB’s way as PJ Simon, the leading local scorer of the Mixers,
couldn’t even dress for the game due to back issues. Coach Cone’s starting
backcourt of Mark Barroca and James Yap were shooting blanks, too. The time
seemed right for San Miguel to hijack San Mig Coffee and force a rubber match.
It was not to be, however, as SMC import Marqus Blakely was practically
unstoppable. The reigning Best Import of the 2013 Govs’ Cup unloaded 25 points,
18 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots on the Beermen. He was also backstopped by a
troika of bench players stepping up — Justin Melton, Allein Maliksi, and Ian
Sangalang. That trio combined for 33 markers off the pine as the Mixers
eliminated San Miguel Beer, 97-90.
Needless to say, it was a bitter pill to swallow for
SMB, which, again, couldn’t capitalize on its depth and, worse, couldn’t meet
its lofty expectations.
The fallout from this fall from grace was, as can be
expected, quite toxic. Much of the blame was pinned
on consultant-cum-coach Todd Purves, who couldn’t seem to duplicate the
success he had with the ABL’s Indonesia Warriors in the more competitive (read:
high pressure) atmosphere of the PBA. Despite having, arguably, the league’s
deepest roster and the country’s best local big man, Purves couldn’t even steer
San Miguel to a single Finals appearance this season. They made the semifinals
once and got bounced in the quarterfinals twice. For a team as loaded (and
heavily bankrolled) as San Miguel, those results just won’t make the cut.
Purves attributed the Beermen’s woes to his wards’
inconsistency on the defensive end of the floor.
“We got to get back to some fundamental defense,
which we didn’t carry this entire conference,” he said in an
interview with Richard Dy of Spin.ph. “I think we’re looking at getting our
defensive identity back and the pressure defense we like to play, getting to
the mental perspective of playing good defense on full 48 minutes.”
Some people, though, have a very different view,
most notably former PBAer and San Miguel Beerman Nelson “The Bull” Asaytono,
who didn’t mince words in criticizing Purves’s results.
“Hindi na ako nag-eenjoy manood sa kanila ngayon,
hindi kagaya nung dati,” said Asaytono in an interview with Snow Badua of
Spin.ph. “Hindi ako happy sa kanya (Purves), una may mga local na nawawalan ng
pwesto, tapos pangalawa hindi naman maganda performance niya.”
One guy who has relatively escaped the flak,
however, is Fajardo, who, by virtue of his numbers alone, cannot really be
faulted for his team’s deficiencies.
The Cebuano find, after all, averaged 16.8 points,
14.2 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks while shooting 56% from the field for the entire
2013-2014 season. He is the number
one player on the statistical points list with 37.6 SPs, ahead of Air 21’s
Asi Taulava, TNT’s Jayson Castro, Ginebra rookie Greg Slaughter, and SMB
teammate Arwind Santos (Only the top three players, in terms of SPs, after the
Govs’ Cup semis, along with the three BPCs may be considered for season MVP).
It’s clear that, by the numbers alone, Fajardo was
the best (or at least most productive) local player in the league throughout
the season, but, and this is where the conflict lies, is that really all there
is to being Most Valuable Player? Shouldn’t the MVP actually be able to tow his
team to a title, or at least a Finals appearance?
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| Despite all of his strides this season, Fajardo wasn't able to lead his team to any of the Conference Finals. (image by Pranz Kaeno Billones/Sports 5) |
San Miguel’s cumulative win-loss record for the
season is 25 victories against 17 defeats. That gives us a respectable 60% win
rate, which is pretty much the same as what the Dallas Mavericks had this past
NBA season (The Mavs won 49 of 82 regular season games for the eighth seed in
the West). That’s impressive, of course, but it’s overshadowed by the fact that
the Beermen just couldn’t win the games that counted the most.
And even if Fajardo isn’t necessarily the elder statesman
in this squad, he is certainly one of its leaders. Shouldn’t he be held
accountable for SMB’s failings as much as the next guy? I mean, this is a TEAM
the last time I checked, right? One for all, all for one, and all that jazz? Iba ang may pinagsamahan?
To put things in the proper perspective, though, if
one looks at the top five SP guys again, the only player there who has even
reached a Conference Finals this season is Castro, who also won the BPC in the
Commish Cup. Asi’s Express reached as far as the semis in the second
conference, while Greg’s Gin Kings made as deep as the final four of the
Philippine Cup. By virtue of this, does Castro have the automatic inside track to
the elusive MVP plum?
For some added reference, let’s look at the recent
past.
In 2009, Ginebra’s Jayjay Helterbrand was named MVP.
His team won 28 of 51 games for a 55% win rate. Ginebra didn’t win a title but
made the Finals of the Fiesta Conference.
In 2010, James Yap copped his second MVP trophy. His
team won the Philippine Cup and had a cumulative win-loss record of 41
victories against 23 losses for a 64% win rate.
In 2011, TNT’s Jimmy Alapag pocketed the MVP,
leading the Tropang Texters to three Finals appearances and two conference
titles. TNT nearly won the Grand Slam this season. They won 47 of 64 games for
a 73% win percentage.
In 2012, it was another Gin King, the iconic Mark
Caguioa, who reached the MVP summit. Now what makes this interesting is, like
Fajardo, Caguioa’s team never reached any of the Conference Finals. Ginebra was
eliminated in the Philippine Cup quarterfinals, Commish Cup semifinals, and
Govs’ Cup via a Finals berth playoff game loss (by 2 points) to B-Meg. The
Kings’ cumulative record was just 25-19, which was good for a win rate of 57%.
Last season, Petron Blaze Booster Arwind Santos was
awarded the MVP trophy, but it wasn’t without controversy. Some quarters felt
that perhaps someone like LA Tenorio (or even Rookie of the Year Calvin Abueva)
would have been a tad more deserving. Ultimately, though, Santos’s winning the
Govs’ Cup BPC and his leading Petron to the Govs’ Cup Finals cemented his MVP
win (It was close, however, as Tenorio lost by just 21 points — mainly because
of the SPs and media votes — in the final
tally).
And so there it is. Out of the five most recent PBA
MVPs, only Mark Caguioa was unable to lead his team to at least a Conference
Finals in the same season he won the MVP.
Will Fajardo be the same? Should he be named season
MVP in spite of his team’s perpetual shortcomings?
The short answer is yes.
Note: I feel bad about not
including even one SMC Mixer in the mix for the MVP, but the bitter truth is
nobody on that team, statistically speaking, has a legitimate shot of putting
up a fight. Marc Pingris, as of this writing, has the highest SPs at 24.7 and
even then he’s just #12 in the
league. Even if SMC wins the Grand Slam and Ping gets named BPC of the
Govs’ Cup, I’d find it difficult to believe he could possibly get a lion’s
share of the player and media votes that would make up for the ocean of
disparity in the stats. This is sad, of course, but this is the way the system
works.
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