For the first time in history, the PBA will give out an award for the best player in the elimination stage. Ranidel de Ocampo will be given the Fiesta Cup Phoenix Fuel- PBA Elims Top Performer award. De Ocampo beat Kelly Williams, Mac Cardona, Jimmy Alapag and James Yap for the award. The trophy will be handed out on Sunday during the wildcard stage.
I find the award very strange, to say the least. It comes at a time when James Yap is performing much better than the previous conference. In fact, he was only 8th in the statistical race last conference. He is in 5th place this conference. The same PBA press corps voted for the top performer award this season as last season's best player of the conference award. So, what gives ?
I could be wrong but could it be a way designed for James Yap to lose out in this conference's MVP award ? Could it be a way for the PBA to justify a James Yap defeat in the season's MVP race ? After all, James' recent break-up with the presidential sister paints a whole new scenario to the case. I have the funny feeling that the PBA might not want to "offend" the first family by handing out its highest achievement award to James Yap. It is truly unfortunate and an injustice should James Yap be denied of his due because of politics. But then again, the PBA has played politics before and is not new at it at all.
I'll answer your question. The timing of the award is like that of the regular season MVP in the NBA. If you noticed in the NBA, a team may not have been able to make it to the championship, but since all the candidates are given equal chance (82 games max), the MVP could come from that team. Like for example, Cleveland was eliminated and yet LeBron got the award. In the PBA, the tournament format is unique. A team that makes it to the Semis outright gets this disadvantage of less games for its MVP candidate/s. Like what happened to Arwind in the Philippine Cup, so they give the award after all candidates got equal chances (18 games max) to pile up their stats. To cut the long story short, there is neither politics nor conspiracy in this award for Ranidel.
ReplyDelete--- The Hotdog Stand
dear hotdog stand,
ReplyDeletethank you for the information.
is ranidel's award the same as the best player of the conference ? because if it is, it is such a disservice to james yap. last conference, james yap landed 8th in the statistical race after the eliminations and yet won as the best player of the conference. now at 5th place, he loses ? without a doubt, yap is playing more superbly this conference than last. what makes it truly outstanding is that he is doing it while having tremendous personal concerns. now more than ever, james yap deserves to win all the mvp awards.
Hindi pa siya best player of the conference. Actually James could win the best player of the conference, and the MVP. I think that will be the first time, if ever, that a player swept all those awards.
ReplyDeletethat award is a consolation prize. yun lang yun. it can't even be compared to regular season MVP in the nba.
ReplyDeletethe pba press corps could dish out more awards in the coming years, for all i care.