My 2013-2014 PBA All-Rookie Teams

Who would you pick as the top five rookies of the season?

With four teams having already ended their season (as of this writing) and only six clubs remaining to dispute the Governors’ Cup, I think the time is ripe to begin talking about some of the end-of-season awards. I already started this in my previous post about Greg Slaughter’s being the runaway Rookie of the Year and about how he should also be a member of one of the Mythical Five teams.

In this particular post, I’ll talk about even more of the rookies and try to build two PBA All-Rookie Teams. For the record, the PBA itself doesn’t announce two All-Rookie Teams. There really is just one, but I think it would be pretty fun to make a second team especially for this batch of rookies because so many of them have had shining moments this past season.

There are only a couple of guidelines to consider here:

1) A player named to any of the following teams must be a bona fide rookie in the 2013-2014 season.

2) Each team is composed of one center, two forwards, and two guards. Given this particular limitation, I will take the liberty to judge whether certain players can play multiple positions or not.

2013-2014 PBA Rookie Ladder as of April 19, 2014

With just two games left in the eliminations, we already know which PBA teams won’t advance to the quarterfinals (hello, GlobalPort and Barako Bull!), and we know which eight teams will make it. We also know which two teams will enjoy twice-to-beat advantages (whattup TNT and SMB!) and that the Gin Kings can still avoid a bottom two seed if they can give the Elasto-Painters a beatdown.

And what do all those things also mean? We can now look at which rookies really stepped up and made their marks this conference. Most of the guys on this list won’t shock PBA diehards, but slam dunk master Justin Melton slips out of the top five, while a GlobalPort big man makes the grade. Also, despite playing well of late, Eric Camson falls short, while another Raymond Almazan continues to really turn some heads. As for the others? Read on.

Big men rule our list of the top five rookies this conference!

As always, this list is principally based on the Efficiency Ratings (EFF) as calculated by the sublime stat website, PBA-Online.net. Once again, this measures production and NOT potential.

Anyway, here they are – the top five rookies right now in the 2014 PBA Commissioner’s Cup as of (the morning of) April 19, 2014:

2013-2014 PBA Rookie Ladder as of March 26, 2014

This month’s edition of the PBA Rookie Ladder will be a little different. Instead of looking at the rookies’ stats for the entire season, we will only rank them based on their stats for the current conference. Now that every team has played at least three games (It’s the morning of March 26 as I write this), it stands to reason that we can more or less have a good representation of how well, or how bad, these greenhorns have performed thus far.

As always, this list is principally based on the Efficiency Ratings (EFF) as calculated by the sublime stat website, PBA-Online.net. Once again, this measures production and NOT potential

Anyway, here they are – the top five rookies right now in the 2014 PBA Commissioner’s Cup as of (the morning of) March 26, 2014:

Not surprisingly, Greg Slaughter, Terrence Romeo, and Ian Sangalang
are part of our first rookie ladder for the Commish Cup.
(composite image by Enzo Flojo/Hoop Nut)

PBA Best of the Week - March 19-24, 2014

This is the second post in what I hope will be a regular series about the best performers for every week in the PBA. Unlike the NBA, our local pro circuit doesn’t really have any citations for Player of the Week and other similar accolades, so this is something that I hope will satiate fans who want their hardcourt heroes duly recognized.

Once again, this past week saw a lot of very impressive performances. Two teams, in particular, stood out. Both San Miguel Beer and Talk N Text went unscathed this past week, with the former going 3-0 and the latter winning both its assignments. In this post, we will be rewarding their efforts by citing many players from these teams. 

Without further ado, here are Hoop Nut’s picks for the best PBA players of the past week:

A rookie, the reigning MVP, and a replacement import comprise
the best of the past week in the PBA.
(composite image by Enzo Flojo/Hoop Nut)

The PBA’s Best of the Week: March 12-17, 2014

This is the first of what I hope will be a regular series of posts about the best performers for every week in the PBA. Unlike the NBA, our local pro circuit doesn’t really have any citations for Player of the Week and other similar accolades, so this is something that I hope will satiate fans who want their hardcourt heroes duly recognized.

This past week, of course, saw a lot of very impressive performances, but three players, in particular, really stood out. Each of these guys led his respective team to a 2-0 record this past week, which definitely helped pad his case to be counted among the Best of the Week.

There will be three citations in this series of posts: Import of the Week, Rookie of the Week, and Player of the Week.

Without further ado, here is the inaugural set of players for Hoop Nut’s PBA Best of the Week:

Clockwise from top right: Ian Sangalang of San Mig Super Coffe,
Jayson Castro of Talk N Text, and Brian Butch or Meralco.