PBA Power Ranking: Who was the Best Player of the PBA Bubble?

 Is it really overstating it if I say that the PBA bubble tournament was one of the most fun competition presented by the PBA, this century?

Nevertheless, I cannot go over the fact that Christian Standhardinger did not only fail to carry Northport to the semifinals. Northport was even eliminated.

The question now is, who is the best player in the PBA bubble?

Here are my top 5 candidates.

#5 Scottie Thompson
It is not even debatable at this point that Thompson hit the two most important corner three-pointers in this PBA bubble. His main selling point remains to be his playmaking, #2 in assists, and rebounding, #6 in rebounds. But for me, his strongest selling point is the fact that he has been getting the highest playing time for Ginebra. Scottie played more than 35 minutes in every game, except one. It shows that he has been doing a lot of good things for Ginebra and not seen in the boxscore.

#4 Calvin Abueva
Calvin may have been late to the party but his statline of 13.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 43% FG per game. What was really amazing about his performance in the bubble was the fact that he ended up as #1 in assists. And if you watch their games, you will really see him making a lot of good moves and actions to create good shots for his teammates. Defensively, he is still one of the most versatile and energetic in the entire league.

#3 Stanley Pringle
Pringle has reached this level of play that his 18.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 49% FG, 43% 3FG and 2.6 three-pointers made per game looks boring. He is not boring though. He is just becoming more masterful in the way he operates on the offensive end. That is the reason why his efficiency are really pretty good. With the PBA bubble championship, Pringle just proved that he can be the leader of a championship team. 

#2 Matthew Wright
Even Calvin Abueva said that Wright is the main man of their team. And am I crazy to say that Wright is more successful now than the Stanley Pringle of Northport/Globalport? Wright averaged 22.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.4 steals, 3.3 three-pointers and 38% 3FG per game. Yes, he was #2 in terms of scoring and #3 in terms of assists. 

Being one of the elite scorers and playmakers in the league is not an easy feat to do. Especially when we are talking about a guy who is a legit 6'4. I think Wright is a very special player. And in the near future, he will be battling for the MVP award.

#1 Bobby Ray Parks 
Ginebra deserves that championship. Together with TNT, they played the best basketball from start to finish in the bubble.

But still, TNT only has its best player in one game. The player that I believed played the most prolific shooting conference in recent years. Although, it will be hard to debate if you have Wright over Parks. At the end of the day, Wright number was better.

Although, the advanced stats clearly points to Parks as the player with more impact, as shown by his #5 net rating.

Overall, the defense of Parks is actually the main reason why I chose him over Wright. The same way that those who will go with Wright will point out his playmaking. Parks was consistent all throughout the bubble that he can defend almost all types of guys. When I say defend, I mean defend pretty well.