SMB’s Fajardo bags PBA prized plum

SEVEN years after playing in his first organized basketball game, June Mar Fajardo is at the pinnacle of the sport this country loves the most.

The 6-foot-10 San Miguel Beer cornerstone was named the PBA’s Most Valuable Player yesterday, announcing his emergence as the new force in Asia’s first play-for-pay loop  after just two seasons in the league,

“This is a reward for all the hard work,” Fajardo said in Filipino while recounting his days as a scrawny beanpole back in Pinamungahan town in Cebu where he failed to make the Bato National High School cage team twice.

Fajardo thus became the second straight Beerman after Arwind Santos to win the trophy and the third straight player counting Mark Caguioa of Barangay Ginebra in 2012 to be given the league’s highest individual accolade without winning a championship for the season.

The province of Cebu also toasted its first PBA MVP in Fajardo, who later said that Pinamungahan, an impoverished town made up mostly of farmers, cannot celebrate his win because it is in mourning.

Fajardo lost uncle Lito Dugho, his mother’s brother, who died of cirrhosis just last Thursday. Dugho took the Fajardo family under his roof while June Mar’s parents were starting their lives as a couple.

Asi Taulava, the 41-year-old from Air21, Talk ‘N Text’s Jason Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo and San Mig Coffee’s Mark Barroca were also named to the Mythical First Team together with Fajardo, who scooped a total of four awards for the night.

Rain or Shine’s Paul Lee, San Mig’s PJ Simon and Marc Pingris, Alaska’s Sonny Thoss and Rookie of the Year Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra were named to the Mythical Second Team.

Fajardo was also named the Most Improved Player.

Pingris, Gabe Norwood and Jireh Ibañes of Rain or Shine, Barroca and Fajardo made up the All-Defensive Team, with former two-time MVP Willie Miller of Barako Bull going home with the Sportsmanship Award.