[First of a Series]
Picking a 'best' list is always a tricky proposition. One's choices do not always conform with what others think. And in a country like ours where basketball is what people eat for breakfast, we expect a vigorus debate as we come out with our list of 10 players who we thought ought to be added to the 40 Greatest PBA Players earlier chosen.
Our list is a selection that we will release, one player at a time, while the PBA itself is trying to form its own list of 10 to be selected by a committee formed by PBA commissioner Willie Marcial to complete the 50 Greatest in time for the league's 50th Anniversary celebration next month.
The selection committee is composed of league greats, former commissioners and select mediamen from different outlets.
We assure our readers that our selection is not influenced by what is deliberated closed doors by the committee whose members, including one from SPIN.ph, have vowed not to divulge any part of the discussion or voting procedure.
Here's the first installment of our series on 50 Greatest.
ARNULFO 'ARNIE' TUADLES
Frankly, we don't expect Arnie Tuadles' name to be called when the PBA announces the new additions to its Greatest Players list.
We get it. His body of work in a career that started at Toyota in 1979 and ended with Presto in 1992 doesn't have enough championships won, career milestones or individual awards to nudge him past others deserving of the ultimate honor.
READ: Glenn Capacio names his six toughest defensive assignments
But fans who saw him play when the PBA was in its infancy and trying to gain traction as Asia's first professional basketball league, will agree that the Cebuano forward was a complete offensive player. He scored in a variety of ways - facing the basket, with his back to the basket; from the perimeter, from long range; from under the basket; from everywhere, actually.
He made scoring look easy; and for him, perhaps, it was.
For much of his 14-year career, he looked a little flabby in the middle, yet can outmuscle anyone at the post where he was tough to stop. He was no more than 6-foot-2 and can jump just about as high as a can of sardines, but got more than 1,000 offensive rebounds in his career.
Natural-born scorer
If there ever was a natural-born scorer, Tuadles was it. He entered the pro league in 1979 and, as a rookie, more than held his own in a star-studded Toyota team that had Mon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz and Abe King.
And as an affirmation of his talent, Tuadles was named to the Mythical First Team, the first rookie to earn the distinction. When Toyota disbanded, Tuadles brought his distinct talent to various teams with stops at Great Taste, Ginebra, Alaska, Shell, and Presto.
READ: Asaytono, fellow snubs get another shot at 'Greatest' list
Glenn Capacio, an eight-time PBA All-Defensive Team selection, lists Tuadles among the players he found toughest to defend alongside Allan Caidic, Vergel Meneses, Ato Agustin, Jojo Lastimosa, and the late Samboy Lim.
"Akala mo ang bagal, pero ang hirap depensahan," said Capacio, remembering one finals game Purefoods played against Presto which an injured Caidic missed, only for the Hotdogs to be burned by Tuadles' 30-plus points.
In 1996, he died under controversial circumstances at the age of 40 and just years after his retirement. He is hardly mentioned in any 'Greatest' conversations since, but he's very much a part of it in our book.
Arnie was tough to stop and so much fun to watch.
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