NETIZENS were quick to notice that TnT rookie Mikey Williams got the vote of the PBA Commissioner’s Office over eventual winner Calvin Abueva in the Davco-PBA Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference race.
The Fil-Am rookie guard, who turned 30 on Wednesday, finished a close second to the bruising Magnolia forward in the final BPC tally, losing by a mere 83 points after tallying 843 against the 934 of the ‘Beast.’
Williams’ cause was boosted by the 150 points he received from the Commissioner’s Office. Abueva was voted third by PBA officials and got 25 points, behind Magnolia teammate Ian Sangalang who got 75 points for second place.
Only a wave of media votes swung the BPC race in favor of Abueva, who topped the statistics race and placed second in the votes among players.
Williams settled for fourth place in the statistics with 389, having fallen from No. 2 to No. 4 after struggling in the early part of the playoffs, most especially in TnT’s semifinal series against San Miguel.
But he finished second in the media votes (245) and topped the players’ votes with 59 points to crowd 'The Beast' for the singular honor.
The BPC tally is broken down to 40 percent statistics, 30 percent media votes, 25 percent players’ votes, and 5 percent PBA vote.
The practice of the PBA Commissioner’s Office having a vote in the league’s individual awards began in 2003 when it did away with a four-man committee back then, which comprised 10 percent of the breakdown, aside from the 30 percent each for statistics, media votes, and players votes.
The change in the percentage arose from the controversies that usually accompanied the selection of the BPC winner.
The 10 percent of the votes were broken down to five percent for the league's television coveror and the remaining five percent to the Commissioner’s Office.
In 2011, the voting percentage was altered anew. The five percent for the TV coveror was removed and so was the five percent from the players’ vote, both of which were added to the statistical value.
The five percent of the Commissioner’s Office votes were however, retained.
Commissioner Willie Marcial previously bared his plan to give up the votegiven to his office, although it has yet to be enforced this season.
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