Historically speaking, the PBA has
always featured great shooting guards. I remember idolizing guys like Ato
Agustin, Allan Caidic, Jojo Lastimosa, Jeffrey Cariaso, and Kenneth Duremdes in
the 90s and then guys like Dondon Hontiveros, Mark Caguioa, Ren-Ren Ritualo,
and James Yap inherited their mantles in the early-to-late 2000s. Lately, young
up-and-comers like Marcio Lassiter and Terrence Romeo have hogged the limelight
alongside veterans Jeff Chan, Gary David, and Ryan Reyes. As of today, however,
who do you think are the top-performing two-guards in the pros?
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| Mac Cardona leads the top-performing SGs right now, which, by the way, doesn't include the usual suspects: Gary David, James Yap, and PJ Simon. |
Without
further ado, here they are – the top five shooting guards of the 2014-2015 PBA
season as of November 10, 2014 (as always, this is based on the Player
Efficiency ratings as calculated by PBA-Online.net):
5. Chico Lanete (BAR) - 12.0ppg,
3.7rpg, 1.7apg, 1.0spg, .519 FG%, 25.7 EFF
- Lanete’s natural position is a point
guard, but he has mainly filled the shooting guard role for the Energy as Denok
Miranda and Jonas Villanueva alternate as primary playmakers. What jumps out
here is Lanete’s FG%. At nearly 52%, that is mighty impressive for a guy who
plies his trade along the perimeter. His big 21-point outburst against Meralco
last October 22 was the main catalyst for his inspired performance so far.
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| Chico Lanete has stepped up for the Energy. (image by Pranz Kaeno Billones/Sports5) |
4. Mark Caguioa (GIN) - 10.5ppg,
3.8rpg, 1.5apg, .556 FG%, 25.8 EFF
- At just 21 minutes per game, Caguioa
is no longer playing as much as before. He’s also certainly not the main scorer
or facilitator for the Gin Kings. With coach Jeffrey Cariaso choosing to run
his offense through LA Tenorio and focus on the gifts of Greg Slaughter and
Japeth Aguilar, Caguioa has somewhat been forced to the periphery, but that
doesn’t mean he has become irrelevant. Far from it , of course, as The Spark
continues to be a reliable scoring option for Ginebra. I mean, he is making
around 56% of his shots! That, folks, is a career-high right now.
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| Mark Caguioa continues to be relevant for Ginebra. (image by Pranz Kaeno Billones/Sports5) |
3. Marcio Lassiter (SMB) - 12.2ppg,
5.4rpg, 2.4apg, 1.8 triples per game, .300 3pt%, 26.2 EFF
- Lassiter has been the Beermen’s
boom-or-bust guy so far. He dropped 13 in their first game and then was limited
to just 2 points in their next match. He followed that up with 20 markers
against Barako Bull before tossing only 4 against Alaska. Most recently, he
torched NLEX for 22 points, which increased his average to more than a dozen
markers a game. Lassiter is surely one of the most talented and athletic SGs in
the country, but, for SMB to really make a deep run, he needs to be more
consistent.
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| Marcio Lassiter needs to be more consistent for SMB. (image by Paul Ryan Tan/Sports5) |
2. Jeff Chan (ROS) - 12.2ppg, 3.4rpg,
1.6apg, 1.6spg, 1.4 triples per game, .304 3pt%, 26.5 EFF
- Even if his numbers put him at #2 on
this list, Jeff Chan hasn’t really enjoyed the strongest of starts so far. His
30.4% clip from downtown isn’t that impressive, and hitting just 1.4 triples
per game is certainly below par for the Gilas sniper. He has improved
defensively, though, which compensates a little bit for his shooting woes, but,
come on, ROS already has guys like Ryan Araña and Jireh Ibañes for defense. The
Painters need Chan to spread the floor and rifle in those trifectas.
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| Jeff Chan's first career double-double has padded his stats so far. (image by Paul Ryan Tan/Sports5) |
1. Mac Cardona (NLE) - 18.2ppg, 4.6rpg,
1.8apg, 1.0spg, 33.1 EFF
- Despite NLEX’s middling 2-3 slate,
Cardona tops our list of SGs to start the 2014-2015 season mainly because of
his consistency. He hasn’t scored fewer than 13 points in a game yet, and his
offensive performance has been a good barometer for the Road Warriors’ success
so far. In his team’s two wins, Cardona has put up 22.5 points per game, while
in its three defeats, that average has gone down to 15.3. Asi Taulava may be
the heart and soul of NLEX, but Cardona is its bread-and-butter scoring option.
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| Mac Cardona has been among the league's top scorers so far. (image by Paul Ryan Tan/Sports5) |
Outside looking in:
PJ Simon (PUR) - 25.0 EFF
Jonathan Uyloan (ROS) - 24.9 EFF
Ryan Reyes (TNT) - 24.7 EFF
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