PBA Commissioner's Cup 2013 Semifinals: Thoughts and Predictions on the ongoing BPC race

      It's the semifinals, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be to ideal to suddenly talk about an individual award, since (as of this writing), two teams are in danger of getting eliminated, and one already is. One survived a rampaging 6'5 hurricane. The third are in danger of having the same fate as Rain or Shine. But, it's something that's bound to be in the conversation one of these days.

     The Best Player Of The Conference award.

      It is an award given to the player who performed the most exemplary in the conference that he performed in. Only locals are allowed to receive it. It is actually not as debatable as the MVP award since this award does state that the BEST PLAYER is the winner, and not the MOST VALUABLE. But that's for another conversation.

    When talking about the BPC award for the Commissioner's Cup this year, three names come to mind, and those are Calvin Abueva, LA Tenorio and Jayson Castro.

     Sadly, Mark Caguioa will not be eligible for the award, since he missed the cut for the number of games you are required to contend for the award. Probably if he reached the cut, he would have been the runaway winner.



     I will critique the three candidates according to these categories: Statistical Standpoint, Impact To The Team, Impact To The Media, and Impact To The Crowd. 

     The Statistical Standpoint is pretty self explanatory. Impact To Team means how this player has impacted his team in terms of stats, leadership and others. Impact To The Media covers how popular he is in the media, and how is reputation is. Impact To The Crowd covers how the crowd relates to the player, if they care about him, if they hate him, if they love him and so on and so forth.

Calvin Abueva - Alaska Aces #8, 6'1 SF/PF
   

The Beast has been tearing through the league for the second straight conference.
Rookie MVP?

Statistical Standpoint - The Beast has averages of 11.6 points, 8.9 caroms and 1.3 assists. His average of 8.9 rebounds leads all locals in the league. The next highest local in that statistical category is Marc Pingris who's 1.4 rebounds behind. And... Marc is 4 inches taller than Calvin. Crazy. Calvin has a total SP (unoffical though) of 28.2 which is second in the league. Who's on top? Not any of the two candidates we have, but Mark Caguioa. Even though the number I got isn't official, just looking at Calvin's statistics and the record of Alaska, there is no doubt his stats are top caliber.

Impact To The Team - The Alaska Aces was #1 in the whole league for this conference sporting an impressive 11 - 3 record, only losing to the Air 21 Express and the San Mig Coffee Mixers, their current playoff foes, twice. Obviously, what Calvin brings to the table for the Aces is his rebounding. Other than that,  he also brings an insane amount of hustle and defense. He can be that spark for the Aces. The other thing the Calvin brings to Alaska is.... something very un - Alaska. And that's his swagger. Yung angas at yabang. He is incredibly arrogant. The San Mig Coffee Mixers must know that by now. But at most times, this brings good fruit for the Aces. It provides a spark and energy whenever  the Aces need it. 

Impact To The Media - For the most part of the conference, Calvin has been pretty under the radar. Fine he had that monster 27 point performance against SMC, and those blocks he gave Sundov, but other than that, he hasn't been covered. In fact, Alaska has been pretty under the radar. But come the playoffs, Calvin was no longer under the radar. FAR FROM IT. He was all over the net and to some extent, the papers because of his altercations with James Yap in their ongoing semifinals series. All of a sudden, he was noticed again. Because of these altercations, the media would start hyping up the James - Calvin match up during the games of Alaska and San Mig. 

Impact To The Crowd - This doesn't even have to be talked about anymore. The impact this guy gives the crowd is CRAZY. He loves interacting with the crowd. He likes to piss off the opposing team's supporters, and to his delight, he has the rabid San Mig Coffee Planet to piss off. And he has been successful so far. Fans hate him because of his flopping and his arrogance. Fans love him because he has been an absolute beast. There's just nothing else to say. 

Jayson Castro - Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters #17, 5'11 PG/SG

Can The Blur win his second straight BPC award?

Statistical Standpoint - Jayson has averages of 14.3 points, 3.11 assists, and barely a steal a game. He is 4th in the league in scoring among locals, despite the fact that he is in a loaded Talk 'N Text with scorers such as Ranidel De Ocampo and Jimmy Alapag. In terms of efficiency, he is 5th in the league with an EFF of 29.93, better than those of his two opponents. However, in terms of the number of statstical points, he is also 5th in the league with 25.7, although worse among the three contenders for the award. The Tropang Texters ended the regular season with a record of 7 - 7, good for 6th in the league. 

Impact To The Team - The impact that Jayson brings to the team cannot be seen in the stat sheet alone. He does score so much points for Talk 'N Text, but his mixture of speed and power affects the opposing team's defenses as well. His speed can disrupt the defensive sets of opposing teams, thus giving his team better opportunities to score. He is also a relatively decent defender, usually giving opposing point guards trouble because of his speed. In the Tropang Texters, he acts as the slasher, and occasional three pointer, thus giving the team more weapons for its offense. '

Impact To The Media - Here's the thing Jayson will struggle with the most, for now at least (if they do make the finals). He hasn't made such a big impact to the media because of three things; The Calvin - James rivalry, Ginebra in general, and their import changes. All conference long, Jayson has been under the radar. I really can't blame why he was under the radar for the early part of the conference because TnT wasn't dominating like they used to, and Jayson wasn't putting up monster numbers. Sure, the From The Stands podcast has been hyping up The Blur a lot, and for good reason, but the rest of the media? Not as much. 

Impact To The Crowd - He isn't a crowd pleaser like James Yap or Mark Caguioa. He doesn't piss people off like Calvin Abueva. But, he does do one thing to the crowd, and that's to WOW them. Every time this guy slashes to the paint, it is just beautiful. Despite a huge import blocking his way, he still finds ways to score. The crowd won't talk about him as much as the aforementioned stars. But for sure, the crowd will remember him, and if they're cheering for the opposing team, they better fear him.

LA Tenorio - Barangay Ginebra San Miguel #5, 5'8 PG

Can he step out of the shadow of Mark Caguioa and win the BPC?

Statistical Standpoint - LA has averages of 13.1 points, a shade under 5 rebounds a game, 5.1 assists a game and 2 steals a game where he leads the league at. Among the three contenders, he has the most all around statistics. For the regular season, he was second place in the statistical race with 28.6 SPs, just behind his fellow Ginebra team mate Mark Caguioa. Although after a couple of bad games in the quarters and the semis, his statistical average has dipped to 26.9, good for third in the league. After the regular season, his team ended up with the 7th seed which didn't have that much of an effect with his stats. Reaching the finals wouldn't be too bad either for his statistics. 

Impact To The Team - Among the locals in his team, he is the one playing second fiddle to Mark Caguioa. Mark calls all the shots for the team, as evidenced by his 22 point average. When he suffered the MCL injury in the middle of the conference, of course someone had to take his spot. LA would end up taking his spot. He didn't score as much as Mark, but he had more control of the offense. He would be the one to set up his team mates for easier looks. What LA brings to the team is a high basketball IQ, and a great play maker. In the course of the conference, he has developed a good pick and roll game with import Vernon Macklin, which has been a reason for the team's success. 

Impact To The Media - Just like his two opponents for the award, he wasn't too talked about during the conference by the media. Most of the attention of the media was given to Renaldo Balkman, Mark Caguioa and Denzel Bowles' return. Little attention was given to LA. But, by the end of the regular season, all eyes were on LA, after news came out that he was the leader for the BPC award, since Caguioa was no longer eligible for the award. During the quarter finals and the semi finals, he hasn't been that much talked about since his game has been so so, and most of the attention has been given to Vernon Macklin, and the renaissance of Kerby Raymundo and Jay Jay Helterbrand. 

Impact To The Crowd - Truth is, we can't really measure the impact of LA to the crowd individually because of the team he is on. He's in Ginebra, a crowd favorite. It doesn't matter if you're arrogant, or if you're humble. As long as you're in Ginebra, you will be loved. Of course, LA is extremely loved by the crowd, but we can't really say that he is a favorite. Most of the cheers will go to, of course, Mark Caguioa. Rim rattlers Vernon Macklin and Chris Ellis will always get the love. The crowd knows LA, that's for sure, but the impact that he brings to them just isn't the same compared to his compatriots. 

      So... who's my pick for the award?

    Personally, my favorite player among the three is Calvin Abueva, and my favorite team is Alaska. I will be honest, I have some bias for him, and I really think he should have won the award the past conference. But if I were to choose analytically.. it would really depend on the course of the semifinals.

    Alaska is already in the finals, so the fate of the BPC award will depend on the result of the TnT - BGSM series.

     If Talk 'N Text wins......

     it will depend on how Jayson and Calvin perform in their respective series'. The two players are practically on par with each other right now, and both of them have been phenomenal in the semifinals. At this point, Calvin is favorite because of his clutch performance against SMC, but I see Jayson giving The Beast a run for his money.

     If Ginebra wins......

     I see Calvin locking up the BPC, win or lose in the finals. LA hasn't been too phenomenal in the semifinals, and most of the attention has been on Vernon Macklin, and the great play of Jay Jay Helterbrand and Kerby Raymundo. Of course there's the fiery coaching of Alfrancis Chua. LA has been almost nonexistent in the series. Calvin on the other hand, has received tons of attention because of his defense, and the swagger he brings to the Aces. He's also been playing well, so that gives him a huge edge against the Gilas standout.

      All three players are deserving of the award, but sadly, there can only be one winner.

      May the best player win.