Centers are ruling the
2014-2015 Philippine Cup, with the top three slotmen among the five most
efficient players in the league. June Mar Fajardo just dropped a huge game,
ditto with Asi Taulava, and Greg Slaughter has been consistently great. Who are
the other two, though? Well, you might be surprised.
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| Too many good big men in the PBA right now. |
Without further ado, here
they are – the top five centers of the 2014-2015 PBA season as of November 21,
2014 (as always, this is based on the Player Efficiency ratings as calculated
by PBA-Online.net):
5. Bryan Faundo (BLA) – 9.1ppg, 6.0rpg, 1.0apg, 58.3 FG%, 27.9 EFF
- Believe it or not,
Faundo is not the only former Letran Knight on this list. He has, however,
burst onto the scene from practically out of nowhere. He’s playing the best
ball of his pro career, being relatively effective on both ends. He’s not a
double-double machine by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s recently the
only bright spot on the league’s team of futility.
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| Bryan Faundo seems to have found his fit with the Elite. |
4. Raymond Almazan (ROS) – 10.1ppg, 8.4rpg, 56.2 FG%, 30.0 EFF
- Out of seven games so
far, Almazan has scored at least 10 points and grabbed at least 9 rebounds in
four. The 6’9 former Letran big man has really been blossoming into ROS’s most reliable
frontliner despite being relatively unheralded compared to his peers. Almazan
is the epitome of the quiet worker who puts up the numbers without hogging the
spotlight. A true workman. He plays, after all, for coach Yeng Guiao.
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| Raymond Almazan is blossoming into a star for the Painters. |
3. Asi Taulava (NLX) – 16.7ppg, 10.2rpg, 1.3apg, 50.0 FG%, 36.9 EFF
- True to form, The Rock
continues to defy his age. I mean, he’s the only guy north of 30 averaging a double-double.
As of this writing, he’s registered four
double-doubles already and remains to be the biggest reason the Road Warriors
might just make the next round of the conference. Oh, and who else can rock
low-cut Chucks on court in this day and age?!
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| Asi = Timeless. |
2. Greg Slaughter (GIN) – 14.1ppg, 12.6rpg, 1.4apg, 1.1bpg, 40.0 EFF
- Slaughter has been great
for the Gin Kings, though he hasn’t really quite made the jump that June Mar
did in his sophomore season. His FG% hasn’t been impressive, too. The former
Blue Eagle is making just over 46% of his field goals, and considering how most
of his shots are from 10 feet in, that’s definitely not worth writing home
about. Still, Ginebra could do much much worse, and, well, his production has
put him up as the second-best center in the league. Also, seven double-doubles
in eight games? Pretty awesome.
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| Gregzilla in action against the Beermen. |
1. June Mar Fajardo (SMB) – 19.1ppg, 13.9rpg, 2.6bpg, 1.4apg, 58.2 FG%,
43.5 EFF
- Across the board,
Fajardo has proven to be the most productive player in the league and, quite
frankly but not surprisingly, the odds-on favorite again to become this season’s
MVP. He’s scored in double-digits and grabbed at least 9 boards in every game
so far, and, well, his Beermen are tied for first. The Kraken continues to
improve in every season, and if he wins a conference title, then that
undoubtedly cements his status as the consensus best player in the PBA.
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| June Mar sizes up the D and continues to dominate the entire PBA. |
Outside looking in:
Yousef Taha (PUR) - 26.2
EFF
JP Erram (BLA) - 26.2 EFF
Yancy De Ocampo (GLO) -
23.6 EFF
All images by Paul Ryan Tan and Paul Mata/Sports5.
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