Chris Ross and Charles Rhodes made the San Miguel Beermen franchise proud once more, as the two stars earned the Best Player of the Conference and Best Import awards, respectively, in the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The 32-year-old Ross accumulated a total of 1038 points, 410 coming from stats, 426 from media votes, 52 points from players, 150 points from the PBA office. Alex Cabagnot came in second with 746 points, while Jayson Castro finished third in the race with 630 points.
Ross edged out teammate Cabagnot for his first-ever BPC award despite having the same amount of statistical points at the end of the conference semifinals, where they both garnered 34.125 SPs.
The 2016 Defensive Player of the Year also outran TNT Katropa star point guard Castro, who posted norms of 16.8 markers, 3.9 rebounds, and 6.4 assists at the end of the semifinals, en route to the award.
Ross averaged 13.2 points, 5.2 boards, 8.1 dimes, and 2.94 steals in their 3-1 semis win over Star Hotshots.
Rhodes, meanwhile, defeated fellow reinforcements Ricardo Ratliffe of Star — the leader among imports with numbers of 32.2 points and 20.8 caroms — Justin Brownlee of Ginebra; and Joshua Smith of TNT to bag home the Best Import honors.
The 31-year-old averaged 27.4 markers, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks after the semis.
Rhodes finished with 1174 points (461 stats, 517 media votes, 56 from player votes, and 150 from the PBA office). Ratliffe came in at second with 943, while Brownlee was a far third with 706 points.
