David leads Best Player of Conference race

B-MEG and Talk ‘N Text will dispute the PBA Commissioner’s Cup starting tomorrow, and for the first time in a long while, the Best Player of the Conference will not come from the tournament’s top two squads.

Gary David and Marcio Lassiter of Powerade, Mark Caguioa of Barangay Ginebra and Alaska’s LA Tenorio and Cyrus Baguio head the list of candidates for the award after occupying the top five positions in the statistical points race at the end of the semifinal round.

Ranidel de Ocampo was the top Talk ‘N Text player in the list, coming in ninth, while former two-time MVP James Yap of B-Meg lays 13th.

David, the scoring champion with a 27.1-point average in 140 games, had a statistical average of 34.5, with Caguioa running second with 31 followed by super rookie Lassiter with a shade over 30 per game.

Baguio and Tenorio finished with averages of 29.1 and 29 SPs, respectively.

According to PBA head statistician Fidel Mangonon, Danny Seigle, then with San Miguel, was the last player to win the BPC without playing in the finals series of the 2006 Philippine Cup.

The PBA did away with an old rule of inserting a team’s top player in the list of candidates if it happens to make the championship series without one of its players in the top five.

David is eyeing the coveted honor for the second straight conference. He won the BPC in the Philippine Cup over Petron’s Arwind Santos.

Caguioa looms to be the favorite after taking the Gin Kings all the way to the Final Four opposite the Llamados. He missed the entire series, though, because of a fractured right eye socket but averaged 16.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 10 games.

Denzel Bowles of B-Meg seems to have a lock on the Best Import award after norming 45.24 SPs built around averages of 25.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists.