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| These are the very best PBA point guards this past season! |
Amidst the din of the magnificent 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, several
issues have popped up in the PBA: the entry of Stanley Pringle in the 2014
Rookie Draft, the perceived controversy revolving around the draft lottery, and
the whole officiating hullabaloo. These nearly take away the sheer enjoyment of
seeing Justin Melton sky for a sublime alley-oop dunk, seeing AZ Reid drain big
shots in overtime, or seeing James Yap morph into his MVP self after repeated
underwhelming performances in the eliminations.
This is why, in the middle of all this craziness, I want to shift
the focus back on the players who have really made their mark this past season.
For this particular piece, let’s focus on the best playmakers of the entire
2013-2014 PBA campaign.
Without further ado, here they are – the
top five point guards of the entire 2013-2014 PBA season (as always, this is
based on the Player Efficiency ratings as calculated by PBA-Online.net):
5. Mark Barroca (SMC) – 10.9ppg, 3.8rpg, 3.4apg, 1.6spg, 27.3 EFF
- Barroca started the season like a house on fire, leading the
Mixers in scoring in the Philippine Cup before deferring a little bit more and
eventually ending up as a back-up late in the season. He has adjusted really
well, however, playing in tandem with rookie Justin Melton to form a truly fast
and furious backcourt pair. Barroca has the second-highest assists total for
the season, is second in terms of steals per game, and has the highest number
of total thefts. Strangely enough, he also has the most turnovers with 141.
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| Mark Barroca streaks past Larry Fonacier here. |
4. JV Casio (ALA) – 12.6ppg, 3.5rpg, 3.0apg, 2.3 triples per game,
.383 3pt%, .779 FT%, 27.5 EFF
- Throughout all the trials and tribulations that have enveloped
the Aces this past season, Casio remained one of the consistently good things
Gatas Republik could count on in every occasion. He continued to be one of the
league’s deadliest and streakiest shooters, and he also proved to be a very
capable playmaker who could find his teammates for easy buckets. Casio placed
third overall in terms of 3-point percentage and total threes made for the
season.
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| JV Casio is one sharpshooter you cannot afford to leave open. |
3. LA Tenorio (GIN) – 11.2ppg, 4.3rpg, 5.5apg, 1.3spg, 1.2 triples
per game, .830 FT%, 28.0 EFF
- The Lieutenant has been on the receiving end of a lot of flak
after the Gin Kings failed to make the most of their roster, which boasts a lot
talent and a lot of size. Some people think Tenorio might not be the best PG to
facilitate the kind of system Tim-Cone-disciple Jeff Cariaso brings to Ginebra,
but one cannot discount the fact that the Gilas Pilipinas floor general is
still one of the most efficient and iconic players in the country. For the
2013-2014 season, Tenorio was second in assists per game, tops in total
assists, third both in steals per game and total steals, and fourth overall in
FT%. His turnover numbers weren’t good, however, as he coughed the rock up 2.6
times per game, which was the worst among all PBA point guards.
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| Despite Ginebra's failures, Tenorio remains one of the country's best floor generals. |
2. Alex Cabagnot (GLO) – 13.1ppg, 4.4rpg, 6.2apg, 1.3spg, 1.4
triples per game, .311 3pt%, 31.6 EFF
- If you’re surprised Cabagnot still ranks among the best point
guards in the league despite being on the worst team, well, you’re definitely
not the only one. Still, we cannot sleep on the fact that the former Petron
Blaze Booster remained a top-grade playmaker who served as a mentor of sorts to
both Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia. In his 2013-2014 campaign, Cabaggie led the
entire country in assists per game, was third in total dimes, fourth overall in
steals per game, and third overall in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.3 assists per
turnover right behind Emman Monfort and Gabe Norwood).
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| Alex Cabagnot has tries to make the most of his role on the lowly GlobalPort squad. |
1. Jayson Castro (TNT) – 16.8ppg, 4.0rpg, 4.2apg, 1.6 triples per game,
.369 3pt%, .788 FT%, 33.7 EFF
- It stands to reason that the best point guard in Asia is the
best point guard in the Philippines, right? Yes, and it was generally true this
past season as Castro led the Texters in most games. He made some questionable
decisions, of course, but, by and large, he proved he was the very best at his
position. He is, after all, in the running for Season MVP after winning the
Best Player of the Conference award in the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup. He is
coming off perhaps his best offensive season ever, registering career-highs in
scoring, three-point shooting, and free throw accuracy. He also still made
better than 40% of his field goals in spite of increasingly tight defensive
coverage from opponents. It’s all good practice, of course, for the coming
World Cup, but I’m sure Castro would have preferred to also win at least one
title this past season to add to his team’s collection of accomplishments. In
terms of being among league leaders, Castro led the PBA in scoring this season,
was fifth overall in total assists, and fourth overall in three-point
percentage.
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| TNT's Jayson Castro should turn some heads in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. |
Outside looking in:
Paul Lee (ROS) – 27.2 EFF
Sol Mercado (SMB) – 26.3 EFF
Chris Ross (SMVB) – 24.5 EFF
Images are by Paul Ryan Tan and Paolo Papa/Sports 5.
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