Williams named MVP; Reyes picked top rookie

Sta. Lucia stalwart Kelly Williams crowned himself the PBA MVP last night, bagging the crown in runaway fashion a year after copping the rookie of the year honors.

The 26-year-old Fil-Am forward out of University of Detroit-Oakland topped the stats derby and got the nods of the media, the TV coveror and the Commissioner’s Office to claim Season 33’s top honors during the Leo Awards rites at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Williams also made both the Mythical First Team and the Best Defensive Selection. Williams earlier got the Best Player of the Conference citation in the Philippine Cup.

“It’s been an awesome year and winning the MVP is the icing on the cake,” said Williams, dapper in a brown Barong Tagalog, brown pants and white sneakers.

The fourth Fil-Am player to win the MVP after Ricky Brown, Asi Taulava and Eric Menk, Williams said it felt great winning the award but he stressed “my main purpose is to honor God and help my team grow.”

Joining Williams in the Mythical First Team were Ginebra’s Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa, Air21’s Arwind Santos and Coca-Cola’s Asi Taulava.

Williams and Santos were joined in the Best Defensive Team by Rookie of the Year (ROY) winner Ryan Reyes, Wynne Arboleda and Marc Pingris. Reyes won the ROY award in runaway fashion as Williams did in the MVP derby.

Cyrus Baguio was named Most Improved Player and led the Mythical Second Team also composed of Willie Miller, Kerby Raymundo, Bitoy Omolon and Sonny Thoss.

Ali Peek completed the list of the season achievers by winning the Sportsmanship Award. The Talk n Text behemoth was the unanimous choice for the impact of his heroic act, preventing the Pals-Giants fracas from getting out of hand.

Sta. Lucia, the Philippine Cup champion, had the most number of players to win an award with Williams, Reyes and Omolon going home with five honors among themselves. Air21, Ginebra and Alaska had two awardees each while Coca-Cola, Talk n Text and Red Bull had one apiece.

“It’s a bountiful harvest for us after all these years. It’s harvest time and I think it’s about time. It’s the most rewarding season for the team,” said Sta. Lucia govenor Buddy Encarnado.

Williams was the biggest toast, becoming the fifth former Rookie of the Year awardee to also become an MVP after Brown, Benjie Paras, Allan Caidic and Danny Ildefonso.

Paras won the MVP award right in his rookie year in 1989. Brown and Ildefonso both snared their MVP crowns in their third season in the league.

Meanwhile, the PBA will have a Saturday inaugurals in the next season, the first time the league will deviate from the usual Sunday opener.

PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios said the league’s commitments to the national team necessitated the changes, drew up by PBA executive director Rickie Santos.

The PBA board of governors gave their general approval to the new calendar, according to Barrios.

“We want to finish the season early and have our players freed up for the early formation of the national team,” said Barrios.

The coming 2008-09 season will start on Oct. 4, which falls on a Saturday, the first time in the history of the soon-to-be 34-year-old PBA will not hold its season-opening on a Sunday.

The opening and an eight-game schedule for the week will enable the PBA to wrap up the season by the end of June.

“That way, the RP team will have two full months of training, which the (PBA) Board and I think should be enough for it to gear up and do well in its international stints,” Barrios said.

The PBA has been asked by the BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to form the national team seeing action in the 2009 FIBA Asia in China.