NO. 10 ON THE HORIZON
After June Mar Fajardo wrapped up a six-minute scrum with journalists, the 6-foot-10 San Miguel Beer center was approached by a familiar figure who played a key part in enriching the Beermen’s PBA history.
The man was the legendary Ramon Fernandez, the multifaceted center whose deep bag of skills, hard-to-break statistical achievements and championships collected make him a favorite candidate for the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) debate.
“Let’s leave [the GOAT debate] for the basketball fans to argue [about] and what have you. They know their basketball,” Fernandez said of those arguments often foisted on social media and other corners of the Internet.
Fajardo is more than crowding him for that title now. For context, Fernandez has been called many monikers during his career: El Presidente. The Franchise. Don Ramon.
He used to be known, along with fellow legend Alvin Patrimonio, as the player with four MVP trophies and at one point during the PBA history, that record was deemed untouchable.
On Sunday, Fajardo was officially crowned his ninth.
And it seems the MVP No. 10, a number that will likely be unreachable for maybe the league’s next 50 years, remains a strong possibility with Fajardo expected to be at the forefront of San Miguel’s quest to repeat as champion of the Philippine Cup.
“As long as he stays healthy, he can still do it. I won my fourth [in 1988] when I was 35,” Fernandez said of the 35-year-old Fajardo. “He just needs to control his weight because as you get older your knees will give out.”
That doesn’t seem far-fetched. Fajardo is a double-double waiting to happen every game. Not that he’s counting.
“If it comes, it comes,” Fajardo said. “But if I think about winning 10 MVPs, I will no longer think of my teammates or our team goals.”
But if he does succeed with helping San Miguel reach its team goals, championships, that 10th MVP would be practically sewn up.
Fajardo was the hands down choice as the best player of Season 49, beating NLEX’s Robert Bolick and Arvin Tolentino, who played last season with NorthPort before taking his act to South Korea.
The standout from Cebu garnered 3,041 points based on statistics and votes from the media and players. Bolick was second with 1,914 points followed by Tolentino with 1,901.
He also took home two other trophies for membership to the Mythical First Team and the All-Defensive Team.
Bolick, Tolentino, TNT’s Calvin Oftana and Fajardo’s teammate CJ Perez were also part of the Mythical First Team while 2021-22 MVP Scottie Thompson, fellow Barangay Ginebra star Japeth Aguilar, TNT’s RR Pogoy, Converge’s Justin Arana and Magnolia’s Zavier Lucero were in the Mythical Second Team.
Lucero joined Fajardo, Ginebra’s Stephen Holt, NorthPort’s Joshua Munzon and TNT’s Glenn Khobuntin in the All-Defensive Team while Munzon also had two trophies after winning Most Improved Player honors.
The Rookie of the Year went to Barangay Ginebra’s RJ Abarrientos while the Samboy Lim Sportsmanship Award was handed to Rain or Shine’s Gian Mamuyac.
The Leo Awards served as the official end to the 49th season and the transition to the landmark 50th that started at nearby Smart Araneta Coliseum, the opening ceremonies graced by former players who were instrumental in the five decades of the league considered as Asia’s first pay-for-play circuit.
Artists from the past, from Randy Santiago to Jett Pangan to Mike Hanopol, entertained the audience during the traditional “palabas” in a prelude to the Barangay Ginebra-Magnolia tussle that was ongoing at press time.
And with that, the longest season the PBA will ever have was off and running.
