Who was the most hyped player to enter the PBA in the last fifteen years? You may think that it was June Mar Fajardo because of how dominant he is in the past six years but it was him. It was not even Greg Slaughter, Ian Sangalang or Christian Standhardinger.
It was always been Japeth Aguilar.
He was basically the Kai Sotto of the 2000s. He was this athletic 6'9 who gave the Philippines a glimpse of hope of finally witnessing a full-blooded Filipino play in the NBA because he played in the NCAA division 1 in the US for three years.
He even ended up being drafted in the NBA D-League, now called NBA G-League, by the Santa Cruz Warriors, the affiliate of the dominant Golden State Warriors.
When he returned to the PBA in 2013, the PBA universe expected him to be dominant.
He was not.
His hype slowly diminished in the past few years as June Mar Fajardo and Ian Sangalang grew their fandom.
From a player expected to be an MVP in the league, he became just one of the top 5 centers in the league. That is still a pretty good stature for a player, but that was not his destiny.
This season, the opportunity finally opened for him to be recognized as the best player in the league because of the absence of June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter.
It feels like a great timing too because he has a lot of momentum after claiming the Finals MVP of the 2019 PBA Governors' Cup Finals.
He has been a dominant force in the last two seasons. Last year he averaged 14.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.6 blocks and 56% FG per game in just 28 minutes of play.
Without Greg Slaughter, Aguilar should be averaging around 35 minutes of play. That is enough time for him to showcase if he can, for even just this single season, be the most valuable player.
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