Who deserves Best Import award?

Alaska’s Romeo Travis was named Best Import of the PBA Governors Cup that ended last Friday but it was obvious that he wasn’t in Arizona Reid’s class as the San Miguel Beer reinforcement dominated their matchup in the Finals.

Reid averaged 35.8 points in San Miguel’s four-game sweep of the best-of-7 series while Travis managed 17.3 points. Travis was scoreless in the fourth period of Games 3 and 4 when coach Alex Compton badly needed his offense. Every encounter in the series was settled in the fourth quarter and Reid never failed to deliver in the clutch. While Reid was aggressive and self-confident, Travis was tentative and doubtful.

It was before Game 2 when the PBA announced Travis’ selection as Best Import. After the contest, Reid wondered how the award slipped away from his hands. “I’ve destroyed him so far,” he said. “I think I was robbed. But that’s okay. I’m here to win a championship. That’s what’s important.”

Reid, 29, won the Best Import award in 2011 and 2014 with Rain Or Shine but hadn’t played on a championship squad in four previous conferences until hitting paydirt in the Governors Cup this season. His rights were relinquished by Rain Or Shine after the Painters lost to San Mig Coffee in the Governors Cup Finals last year.

Reid said he will spend a few weeks in town with his girlfriend Kelly and their son Arizona IV who are arriving on Tuesday from the US. He will also attend to an eye issue. Reid has been diagnosed by Dr. Anna Lisa Mateo of the American Eye Center with impaired vision because of an irregularly shaped cornea. His condition is called keratoconus. Reid has been advised to undergo a procedure called cross-linking where the goal is to improve, not correct, the shape of his cornea so he is able to tolerate the wearing of contact lens or eyeglasses to maximize his vision.

There were four candidates for the Best Import award – Travis, Reid, Rain Or Shjine’s Wendel McKines and Star Hotshots’ Marqus Blakely. PBA operations director Rickie Santos said that the selection was based on a points system where statistics carried a weight of 40 percent, media votes 30 percent, player votes 25 percent and the PBA commissioner’s office 5 percent. Theoretically, the total points add up to 5,000 with statistics comprising 2,000, media votes 1,500, player votes 1,250 and the PBA commissioner’s office 250 assuming no spoilage of ballots and 100 percent participation by media and players.

In the final tally, Travis had 1,060 points and Reid, 1,023. McKines was third with 746 points and Blakely, fourth with 497. Reid chalked up 510 points from statistics and Travis, 504. Reid also beat Travis in player votes, 76-66 and the PBA commissioner’s office votes, 150-75. Travis, however, was the media’s runaway choice with 415 points to Reid’s 287. Travis had 31 first-place votes while Reid took only four.

Santos explained that in the statistics category, a pro rata formula was applied so that the total would be 2,000 points. In the media category, only 885 points was accumulated instead of 1,500 because not everyone cast ballots. It was the same with the player votes as less than 25 turned in ballots so that the total points was only 193 out of a possible 1,250.

Santos said only the players involved in the Finals voted. Reid took 15 first-place votes and Travis, 12 from the players. He noted that some ballots were discarded because of disqualifying marks. Clearly, the majority of players must declare their sentiments through the vote for a selection process to be meaningful. Perhaps, the PBA should make it mandatory for players to cast their ballots with a stiff fine as penalty for failing to vote.

Santos said the cut-off to assign points for statistics was the end of the semifinals. Media votes came in after Game 1 so that the tabulation could be made before Game 2. “For all three conferences, the cut-off for the tabulation of statistical points was the end of the semifinals,” said Santos. “In the Philippine and Commissioner’s Cups, voters got to see the first two or three games of the Finals before they voted since the awards were given before Game 4. But in the Governors Cup, it was only after Game 1 because we awarded before Game 2. That’s because we gave the Leo awards before Game 4 of the Governors Cup.”

Santos said in light of what happened to Reid, the PBA may study the possibility of naming the Best Import before Game 4 during the ceremonies for the Leo awards. That would allow voters to assess the performance of the opposing imports in the Finals for at least the first three games.

Travis, 30, was impressive in the semifinals where he powered Alaska to a 3-0 sweep of the Star Hotshots. He showed the rare ability of leading the charge within coach Alex Compton’s system despite not compiling huge numbers. But in the Finals, he was badly outplayed and outclassed by Reid who seemed to have done more than enough to deserve the Best Import award. Reid’s consolation is he finally played on a PBA title squad in his fifth conference. That’s an honor nobody can take away from AZ.