MANILA, Philippines – Chot Reyes, who handled an all-pro national team two years ago, once described Jayjay Helterbrand as the best point guard in Asia.
In the current PBA season, Helterbrand is the best basketball player this side of the planet.
The Barangay Ginebra spitfire was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player, beating out a slew of bigger players to clinch the biggest award of his career, which came at a time when he needed to step up and make himself one of the league’s all-time greats.
Helterbrand won the award in runaway style, tallying 3,220 points by ruling every category from the statistical points race to the votes coming from the PBA, television coverer Solar, his fellow players and the covering media.
“It was something that I wished would happen (when I started my PBA career), but I never thought it would be like this,” Helterbrand, who became the first Ginebra player since Eric Menk in 2005 to win the MVP, told scribes.
Helterbrand averaged 17.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and five assists per contest for the Gin Kings this season, numbers which actually dropped from his career-best figures of 18.1, 4.7 and 6.5, respectively, last year.
“If you had told me at the start of the season … that I would be MVP, I probably would have thought that you were crazy,” said Helterbrand, whose assist-to-turnover ratio also experienced a minor dip from 2.44 last year to 2.36 this season.
Arwind Santos of Burger King finished second with 733 points and had to settle for one of the forwards’ slots in the Mythical First Team where he and Helterbrand were joined by Mac Cardona of Talk ‘N Text, Asi Taulava of Coca-Cola and Jay Washington of San Miguel.
Dondon Hontiveros finished third in the MVP race with 650 points, but oddly enough, the San Miguel swingman could only land a place as one of the guards in the Second Team along with Willie Miller of Alaska, Kelly Williams of Sta. Lucia and Jay-R Reyes and Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine.
Norwood won the Rookie of the Year award handily, totaling 3,384 points, with San Miguel point guard Jonas Villanueva copping the Most Improved Player award over Paul Artadi and Reyes with 5,169 total points.
The awards were handed out in glitzy rites called the “Leo Awards,” named in honor of the late founding commissioner, Leopoldo Prieto, just before tip-off of Game 4 of the Motolite Fiesta Cup title series at the Araneta Coliseum.
Other awardees: All-Defensive Team—Arwind Santos, Asi Taulava, Ginebra’s Billy Mamaril and Ronald Tubid and Burger King’s Wynne Arboleda; Sportsmanship Award—Sta. Lucia’s Jay-R Reyes
In the current PBA season, Helterbrand is the best basketball player this side of the planet.
The Barangay Ginebra spitfire was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player, beating out a slew of bigger players to clinch the biggest award of his career, which came at a time when he needed to step up and make himself one of the league’s all-time greats.
Helterbrand won the award in runaway style, tallying 3,220 points by ruling every category from the statistical points race to the votes coming from the PBA, television coverer Solar, his fellow players and the covering media.
“It was something that I wished would happen (when I started my PBA career), but I never thought it would be like this,” Helterbrand, who became the first Ginebra player since Eric Menk in 2005 to win the MVP, told scribes.
Helterbrand averaged 17.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and five assists per contest for the Gin Kings this season, numbers which actually dropped from his career-best figures of 18.1, 4.7 and 6.5, respectively, last year.
“If you had told me at the start of the season … that I would be MVP, I probably would have thought that you were crazy,” said Helterbrand, whose assist-to-turnover ratio also experienced a minor dip from 2.44 last year to 2.36 this season.
Arwind Santos of Burger King finished second with 733 points and had to settle for one of the forwards’ slots in the Mythical First Team where he and Helterbrand were joined by Mac Cardona of Talk ‘N Text, Asi Taulava of Coca-Cola and Jay Washington of San Miguel.
Dondon Hontiveros finished third in the MVP race with 650 points, but oddly enough, the San Miguel swingman could only land a place as one of the guards in the Second Team along with Willie Miller of Alaska, Kelly Williams of Sta. Lucia and Jay-R Reyes and Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine.
Norwood won the Rookie of the Year award handily, totaling 3,384 points, with San Miguel point guard Jonas Villanueva copping the Most Improved Player award over Paul Artadi and Reyes with 5,169 total points.
The awards were handed out in glitzy rites called the “Leo Awards,” named in honor of the late founding commissioner, Leopoldo Prieto, just before tip-off of Game 4 of the Motolite Fiesta Cup title series at the Araneta Coliseum.
Other awardees: All-Defensive Team—Arwind Santos, Asi Taulava, Ginebra’s Billy Mamaril and Ronald Tubid and Burger King’s Wynne Arboleda; Sportsmanship Award—Sta. Lucia’s Jay-R Reyes
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