Two of the Philippine Basketball Association’s rising big men get a share of the limelight when the PBA Press Corps holds the 25th anniversary celebration of its Annual Awards Night.
John Paul Erram and Vic Manuel will be the recipient of two traditional awards the men and women who regularly cover the PBA beat will hand out on Jan. 21 at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center.
The 6’8” Erram is going to be honored with the Defensive Player of the Year trophy, while Manuel, known as the ‘Muscleman,’ is the handpicked choice as Mr. Quality Minutes during the affair presented by Cignal TV.
Erram, who just made the Mythical 2nd team for the first time in his career, emerged as the leading shot blocker last season with an average of 1.9 per game playing for Blackwater. Now with NLEX, he consistently topped the department by being no. 1 during the Philippine Cup and Commissioner’s Cup (among locals), respectively, while placing third in the Governors’ Cup.
A native of Licab, Nueva Ecija, the 6’4” Manuel came off the bench in all 50 games he played for Alaska and averaged 16.0 points and 4.8 rebounds as the leading force of the Aces following the trade of star player Calvin Abueva.
Also joining Erram and Manuel in the honor roll list are the first-ever PBA D-League Finals MVP awardees of the 2018 season.
Top rookie pick CJ Perez of Zarks-LPU Jawbreakers is the winner in the Aspirants Cup, while the Foundation Cup goes to Go For Gold’s Gab Banal.
Earlier announced among the awardees include Stanley Pringle (Scoring Champion), Chris Tiu (Breakout Player of the Season), Barangay Ginebra-Rain or Shine triple overtime thriller (Game of the Season), Order of Merit (June Mar Fajardo, Paul Lee, Vic Manuel), the All-Rookie team (Jason Perkins, Christian Standhardinger, Paul Zamar, Robbie Herndon, Jeron Teng), and the All-Interview team (Christian Standhardinger, Chris Tiu, Chris Ross, Mike Digregorio, Joe Devance, Yeng Guiao).
Still to be named are the winner of the centrepiece Virgilio “Baby’ Dalupan Coach of the Year, the Danny Floro Executive of the Year, the President’s Award, and the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.