Early season #PBA2015 MVP

Enzo Flojo

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Early season #PBA2015 MVP
Here are potential MVPs early in the PBA 2015 season as broken down by Rappler's basketball columnist Enzo Flojo

We’re down to the last four teams in the #PBA2015 Philippine Cup. The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters squared their semis series with the Alaska Aces Saturday, December 20, and I’ve been impressed with a lot of players stepping up so far.

That brings me to an interesting questions at this point in the season — who is the early season Most Valuable Player?

I’ll put on my English Teacher cap on and construct a multiple choice item to try and answer this.

My early season #PBA2015 MVP is…
A. Paul Lee
B. Arwind Santos
C. Calvin Abueva
D. Jayson Castro
E. June Mar Fajardo

Why Paul Lee?
Lee has been Rain or Shine’s best player so far. After his stint with Gilas Pilipinas earlier this year, the “Lethal Weapon” has been putting up a career-high scoring average. He has also rediscovered a couple of things he kind of lost last season — rebounding and playmaking. Take a look at his stats from last season to this season:

2013-2014: 13.0ppg, 3.2rpg, 2.7apg, 27.2 EFF
2014-2015: 14.4ppg, 3.7rpg, 3.3apg, 29.9 EFF

Paul Lee (R) is rebounding and passing more in the PBA 2015 Philippine Cup. Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images

In addition to the slight increase in his production, Lee has also helped lead Rain or Shine back into title contention. After a 1-2 start to the season, the Painters have won eight of their last nine games to move within three wins of a berth in the Philippine Cup Finals. Lee even leads his team in multiple categories: scoring, assists, total three-pointers made, and three-pointers made per game.

Why Arwind Santos?
Sure, June Mar Fajardo is the new face of the San Miguel Beermen, but don’t let that drown the fact that Arwind Santos has seen a spike in his contributions relative to the last couple of seasons. Just take a look at the following:

Scoring: 15.7ppg (his highest since coming to SMB from Air 21/Burger King)
Assists: 2.0apg (career-high)
Blocks: 1.6bpg (career-high)
3pts made per game: 1.8 (highest since coming to SMB from Air 21/Burger King)
3pt shooting: 36.7% (career-high)
Efficiency Rating: 35.1 EFF (highest since the 2011-2012 season and even higher than his MVP season)

Arwind Santos is putting up one of his best conferences since wearing an SMB/Petron jersey. Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images

Santos flirts with a double-double on a nightly basis while also doing more than his fair share on defense and in playmaking. He has worked a lot on his outside game, and the fruits of his labor are hard to ignore. Fajardo might be the face of the Beermen and its most unstoppable force, but one has to wonder where they would be had Santos not played as well as he has so far.

Why Calvin Abueva?
I find it a little strange that Alaska is facing ROS in the semis, if only because both teams are similar in a multitude of ways. Neither team can be considered among the top four deepest teams in the league (for the record, these are SMB, Purefoofds, Ginebra, and TNT in no particular order), but both are now among the last four teams left standing. For Alaska, the undisputed biggest reason they’ve gotten this far has been the resurgence in Calvin Abueva’s game. The 2013 Rookie of the Year went through a bit of a sophomore slump in 2013-2014, but he has rebounded quite nicely, even eclipsing the already jaw-dropping numbers from this maiden season.

His career stats as of December 21, 2014:
2012-2013: 12.3ppg, 9.4rpg, 1.8apg, 0.9spg, 38.4 FG%, 31.6 EFF
2013-2014: 9.2ppg, 7.2rpg, 1.8apg, 0.9spg, 33.2 FG%, 26.2 EFF
2014-2015: 15.1ppg, 12.0rpg, 3.1apg, 1.1spg, 46.6 FG%, 38.2 EFF

Calvin "The Beast" Abueva has been putting up monster numbers and has led Alaska to the semis. Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images

Wow, right? “The Beast” currently leads the league in total points scored, total defensive rebounds, total overall rebounds, and is the only non-center among the top four double-double guys. It’s crazy when one thinks of how Abueva is not a shade taller than 6’3″ and yet he grabs a dozen caroms per contest. The caveat? He also leads the league in turnovers per game and total turnovers, but, heck, that’s a small price to pay for the Aces making it this far, right?

Why Jayson Castro?
The reigning Best Point Guard in Asia continues to be Talk N Text’s de facto leader on the court. With him at the helm, TNT rose to fourth overall in the team standings and blasted both the Barako Bull Energy and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel en route to the semifinals. Castro leads TNT in scoring, assists, and total three-pointers made, while also leading the entire league in total dimes handed out.

Jayson "The Blur" Castro is still regularly blowing by defenders and has been instrumental to Talk 'N Text's semis gig. Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images

Can Castro lead TNT to reclaim the Philippine Cup crown? It’s quite possible, though they’ll have to bounce back from the shellacking they received in Game 1. Castro’s talent has never been in question, but he has to rediscover the ability to carry the Texters on his back all the way to the title (for the record, he was Finals MVP in the 2010-2011 Philippine Cup and 2010-2011 Commisioner’s Cup).

Why June Mar Fajardo?
Hmmm… let’s see. He leads the team and league in scoring, rebounding, blocks, and field goal shooting. He is the best player on the league’s best and (arguably) deepest team. And, well, his game is continuing to grow:

2012-2013: 12.1ppg, 9.3rpg, 0.6apg, 1.2bpg, 56.4 FG%, 58.6 FT%, 33.2 EFF
2013-2014: 16.8ppg, 14.2rpg, 1.4apg, 2.1bpg, 54.9 FG%, 62.8 FT%, 43.4 EFF
2014-2015: 18.9ppg, 12.5rpg, 1.6apg, 2.3bpg, 57.3 FG%, 65.1 FT%, 45.0 EFF

The only thing missing in his curriculum vitae? An actual PBA title. That’s right, after 6 PBA conferences, a couple of stints with Gilas Pilipinas, and an MVP trophy, Fajardo still hasn’t won the big one.

Reigning PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo lives up to his billing, leading the Beermen to the top of the standings and straight to the semis. Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images

The way things look, though, that will probably change soon. I mean, Fajardo has reeled in 10 double-doubles in 12 games, and, if Game 1 is any indication, it’ll be really tough for TNT to find an answer to the Fajardo conundrum.

In the end…
Fajardo is the easy choice, but until he actually wins a title, he still has something to prove (at least in my book). If SMB wins the crown, Fajardo is my early season MVP hands down, otherwise, my pick is Abueva. Abueva has less to work with compared to Fajardo and yet he was able to steer his club to the top of the standings for most of the conference. As hard as it is to quantify, My opinion is that Abueva means more to Alaska than Fajardo does to SMB. Take Fajardo out of SMB and that’s still one of the deepest teams in the league, but take Abueva out of the Aces and, well, I’m not even sure where they’re going to get their motor.

Bottom line? Calvin Abueva is my early season MVP.

– Rappler.com

Do you have your own pick of early season PBA MVP too? Let us know in the comments below

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!