ANALYSIS: Latest PBA ‘Greatest’ batch a blueprint for future selections

The latest addition to the PBA 50 Greatest List during an anniversary gala on Friday. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

There is that sense that those who chose the latest batch of players added to the PBA’s Greatest list got it right.

Of the 10 players added to the elite group that now numbers 50, only two are active players.

There was some noise regarding the inclusion of Scottie Thompson, the 2021 PBA MVP—for a reason. As with previous enshrinements, there are those who feel that active players should be left for future consideration.

Mathematically speaking, that argument has validity.

After all, because the Greatest list is a finite set, by adding a player whose career is still unfolding, you not only take away a spot from a deserving legend but you also are betting on a career that might crater down the line. In set theory, that’s called opportunity cost.

Thompson has already spoken on the criticisms of his inclusion—graciously, in fact.

“I truly respect everyone’s thoughts and comments because this is a free world,” he said. “I totally respect whatever they say. Those are their opinions, I have my own, they have their own, but it’s all about respect.”

The next batch of players is expected to be named in the PBA’s 60th year, in 2035. Perhaps the selection committee could make it a special group composed of those whose careers are already over, to ensure that no legend will be forgotten.

The members of the PBA 40 Greatest List during an anniversary gala on Friday. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

There are two legitimate points to support that.

First, with each passing enshrinement that a legend is overlooked, the chance that he will miss out on that precious spot forever grows—the spotlight of history and memory can shine only so brightly before it begins to fade.

Second, and more importantly, an active player who is truly a great-in-waiting will always have his chance in the future. An important thing to note here is that future lists are additions, not reboots. So inclusion may be capped now, but it’s almost guaranteed later if player merit holds.

(Mathematically: Let O [as in Olsen not as in zero] be the set of greatest players in year Y and A be the set of active players. If O_60 = O_50 + New_inclusions, and as long as A could be O_60 – O_50, then active players will get their turn without displacing legends from before—or I think that’s how the computation goes).

So yeah, intuitively and mathematically, it makes sense to delay the inclusion of active players to the list.

Unless, of course, you have a player like June Mar Fajardo, who has won eight MVP trophies—and is on track for a ninth—and is already in his 30s.

This latest batch—which features the fewest active players named, either by finger count or percentage-wise—should set a trend for future inductees to the greatest list. The fact that the list includes names like Nelson Asaytono, Bong Hawkins, Abe King and Arnie Tuadles—players who fans have argued for in previous lists—makes the 10 additions even more fitting.

Perhaps by the time the list becomes the PBA 60 Greatest, there will be no need to wait a long time to make it up to those who were snubbed in favor of careers still unfolding.

(Francis T. J. Ochoa is the sports editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.)