BY MICHAEL JUGADO
TWO straight awards for reigning MVP Scottie Thompson of Ginebra? Or will San Miguel Beer star June Mar Fajardo regain the PBA’s top individual award he previously won for six years in a row?
That will be known on Sunday, Nov. 5, when the pro league fetes last season’s best and brightest in the annual Leo Awards at 4 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The do-it-all Thompson is in the running for a rare back-to-back MVP plum but will face stern competition in a four-way race against Fajardo, Thompson’s teammate Christian Standhardinger and Beerman CJ Perez.
Fajardo, Thompson, and Standhardinger are all Best Player of the Conference winners, while Perez contended for the award in all three tourneys last season.
Fajardo bagged the all-Filipino BPC award in San Miguel’s title run in the import-less conference, while Thompson ruled the Commissioner’s Cup when the Kings won the crown at the expense of foreign guest team Bay Area.
Standhardinger was the best player in the season-ending Governors’ Cup.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo showed the way with 42.2 statistical points (SPs) per game. Perez was second with 36.1, followed by Thompson with 35.5 and Standhardinger with 33.6.
The pro league’s new cage wars open shop with the awards night taking place before the formal opening ceremony set at 5 p.m. and followed by the TNT-Magnolia duel at 7 in the evening.
The highly anticipated clash between the Tropang Giga and the Kings will highlight the Dec. 25 double-header that also features a clash between San Miguel Beer and Phoenix, still at the Big Dome.
As MVP candidates, the four are automatically in the race for the Mythical Team.
Thompson and Perez are in the mix in guard spots with new Ginebra addition Maverick Ahanmisi, Kevin Alas of NLEX, Meralco’s Aaron Black, Robert Bolick, formerly of NorthPort, TNT’s Jayson Castro, Jio Jalalon of Magnolia, and the Tropang Giga pair of Roger Pogoy and Mikey Williams.
Contending for the center/forward slots with Fajardo and Standhardinger are Calvin Abueva of the Hotshots, Ginebra’s Jamie Malonzo, Calvin Oftana of TNT, SMB’s Jeron Teng, Batang Pier Arvin Tolentino and the Road Warriors’ Don Trollano.
The fight for Rookie of the Year award is among Blackwater’s Renato Ular (23.8 SPs), Justin Arana of the FiberXers (22.7), Tropang Giga Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser (22.1), Tyler Tio of Phoenix (19.😎 and Gian Mamuyac of Rain or Shine.
Also to be handed out during the awards rites named after Leo Prieto, the pioneering commissioner of Asia’s first play-for-pay league, are the Most Improved Player plum, the Sportsmanship Award and the All-Defensive Team.
Ahanmisi, Malonzo, Tolentino, Trollano and RK Ilagan are contesting the Most Improved Player honors, while Alas, Black, Castro, Fajardo, Thompson, and NorthPort’s Paul Zamar are contenders for the Sportsmanship award.