TNT Tropang Giga’s Calvin Oftana throughout the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals against Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Calvin Oftana has heard the excitement surrounding the potential of being named the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) within the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
“I’ve been asked about it for the previous couple of weeks,” Oftana said, adding that his primary focus is how he can get the job done for TNT against Barangay Ginebra within the Finals, which began at press time at Mall of Asia Arena.
Being on the championship stage is the rationale why Oftana has a robust likelihood of claiming the award in what might be a neck and neck race with NorthPort star and good friend Arvin Tolentino.
READ: PBA: Arvin Tolentino, Calvin Oftana frontrunners for Best Player plum
Oftana and Tolentino are among the many five candidates for the distinguished honor, together with San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo, NLEX’s Robert Bolick and Converge rookie Jordan Heading.
Fajardo leads the Statistical Points category with a mean of 42 followed by Bolick (37.1), Tolentino (36.3), Heading (32.6) and Oftana (31.9). Forty-five percent of the statistics might be used to find out the winner.
The remaining will come from votes from the media, which has 30 percent, and the players, who’ve 25 percent. Historically, the winner has been selected who has essentially the most votes amongst those covering the league.
READ: PBA Finals: RHJ powers TNT past Ginebra for 1-0 lead
While Fajardo, holder of a record 11 BPCs, and Bolick have the sting when it comes to numbers, voters won’t take heavy consideration on either player since San Miguel and NLEX each did not make the playoffs.
How about Heading? Converge’s quarterfinal loss to Rain or Shine has put him out of the image as well. No player that missed the playoff or played for a team that lost within the quarters has won the conference best player plum.
Humble beginnings
That leaves Tolentino and Oftana because the strongest contenders. Each have never won the award, but getting one would mean so much at this early stage of their respective big league careers.
Tolentino had perhaps his best conference within the PBA, leading the Batang Pier to only their third semifinal appearance after topping the eliminations with a 9-2 record and defeating the Magnolia Hotshots within the quarters.
He averaged 20.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks in 18 games, but struggled within the semis when NorthPort was decisively battered, 4-1, by Barangay Ginebra.
In that series, Tolentino scored just 12.8 points, though he had 7.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks.
Oftana got here up with 18.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 18 games for the Tropang Giga through the tip of the semis, and had been one in all the the explanation why they’ve a shot at a second straight championship.
A number of weeks prior, he had mentioned Tolentino as a deserving winner, given the work he had done at NorthPort, but can be honored if the nod goes in his favor.
“If ever [I win the award], I might feel blessed, not due to what I’ve done individually, but due to what the team has completed,” he said.
