JEFF Chan is a keen student of the game, and as one of the top marksmen ever to come out of the PBA, he surely knows the history of some of the greatest gunners produced by Asia’s pioneering pro league.
The 39-year-old Barangay Ginebra veteran named the players he considered the best shooters in the league, including the three he believed are the greatest of all time.
GOAT
Chan’s top three greatest players actually reads like a who’s who of Philippine basketball’s illustrious outside gunners.
“Una ko si coach Allan (Caidic), Jimmy Alapag, and si James (Yap),” Chan mentioned one after the other during his guest stint in the SPIN Zoom In podcast.
Alapag, Caidic, and Yap of course, are in the Top 3 of the league’s career three-point scoring list of all time in that order.
The 44-year-old Alapag, now an assistant coach with the Stockton Kings in the NBA G League, holds the No. 1 spot with 1,250 career three-pointers made, followed by Caidic with 1,242 and Yap with 1,171, respectively.
[See The long, long wait for the 'next Allan Caidic']
The three have also won a combined five Three-Point shootout titles in the annual All-Star, with Caidic being the maiden winner when the contest was institutionalized in the mid-season classic in 1992.
Chan incidentally, was once compared to Caidic as both were known to be left handed and possessed almost the same shooting stroke.
Among the young guns, Matthew Wright of Phoenix is no. 1 on his Top 5 list.
“Well, si Matthew (Wright). (Roger) Pogoy, si (Robert) Bolick andiyan,” said Chan.
Barangay Ginebra teammate Arvin Tolentino and former teammate at Rain or Shine Paul Lee complete the list.
“Maiwanan mo si Arvin, for sure mataas ang percentage niyan,” said Chan of the stretch 4 sophomore, who played a key role in the Kings retaining their Governors Cup title recently at the expense of the Meralco Bolts.
Chan has glowing words for Lee, the Magnolia hot shot with whom he won two championships during their time together with the Elasto Painters.
“Kita ninyo naman yung range ni Paul Lee, Steph Curry ang datingan,” he said.
“Hindi mo puwedeng iwanan yun, parang computer na.”
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