Fajardo slim BPC leader over Aguilar
FAJARDO (left): Frontrunner ARNOLD ALMACEN
June Mar Fajardo, the well-built and agile Petron Blaze center, finished the year that passed with a double-double average and will take a slim statistical points lead over Barangay Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar in PBA 2014.
After norming 15.5 points and a league-best 17.3 rebounds, the 6-foot-9 Fajardo is averaging 43.5 points in the SP derby for the Best Player of the Conference award of the PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup.
Aguilar is second with 41.2 points.
Japeth Aguilar
There were actually four big men in the Top Five, with Arwind Santos, the reigning MVP, running third with a 37.3 average followed by Greg Slaughter, Ginebra’s No. 1 overall rookie pick, with a 36.5 average.
Jason Castro, the BPC here last season, is the only guard in the elite list, using his league-leading 20.7 points-a-game average for 37 SPs even as another big man, Globalport’s Jay Washington, was in sixth with 36.4 SPs a game because of a second best 20.4 points a game average.
Aguilar, who together with Slaugher has transformed the Gin Kings not just from crowd-darlings but to formidable tournament leaders, averaged 3.8 blocks a game—tops in the tournament—while norming 19.8 points per outing and plucking down 9.5 rebounds.
Fajardo, who missed the last two Petron games because of a knee injury, is very close in the blocks department with an average of three a game, while the 7-foot Slaughter is norming 2.1 swats a night which makes the Ginebra inside defense the most difficult to penetrate.
Slaughter obviously, leads all rookies in the season Rookie of the Year race, having a formidable buffer on Globalport’s Terrence Romeo, who has a 23.8 SPs average. Ian Sangalang, the No. 2 pick of San Mig Coffee, is in third with 20.1.
LA Tenorio, who lost the MVP to Santos by a very slim margin last season, is one of the main reasons why Aguilar and Slaughter are looking good, leading the league in assists with 7.5 feeds a night for a 31.3 average and seventh spot.
Sol Mercado of Globalport, the third-best scorer with 20.2 points a game, is in eighth with 30.3, while Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz of Petron round out the top 10 with averages of 29.9 and 28.8 SPs, respectively.
