Ranking the 50 Greatest PBA Players of All Time (40-31)

To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), The GAME editor-in-chief Sid Ventura and noted PBA historian Jay P. Mercado took a stab at naming and ranking who they think are the 50 greatest PBA players of all time.

These rankings are independent of the league’s own top 25, top 40, and top 50 lists, meaning players on these lists did not automatically make our own rankings (i.e., PBA 25 Greatest members Lim Eng Beng and Manny Paner and 40 Greatest members Marlou Aquino, Chito Loyzaga and Kerby Raymundo did not crack our top 50).

So again, these are our own 50 greatest rankings, and they are not meant to undermine the PBA’s selection.

A word on our methodology

Measuring a player’s greatness is always a tricky proposition. Comparing players across different generations is even trickier. How many Best Player of the Conference (BPC) awards would Ramon Fernandez, Bogs Adornado, Atoy Co, Sonny Jaworski, Abet Guidaben, or Ricky Brown have won if the award had been there earlier than 1994? And surely the likes of Guidaben, Abe King, Bernie Fabios, and Freddie Hubalde would have earned more Mythical Team selections if only the Mythical Second Team had already been in place from the start.

Would James Yap, Mark Caguioa, Willie Mille, and Eric Menk have won more titles or BPCs if the league hadn’t gone to the two-conference format from 2004 to 2010? Are All-Star appearances worth anything, considering that All-Star Games were virtually non-existent in the 1970s and 80s?

In the face of these challenges, we focused on five items that were universal to all players regardless of era: longevity, championships won, impact on the game, statistical achievements, and individual awards like Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defensive Team and Mythical Team selections. In comparing players from the same eras or adjacent eras, we factored in Finals MVPs and BPCs.

Also, all player evaluations are based solely on their PBA careers. Their achievements in the MICAA, collegiate level, or in the international arena were not taken into consideration.

READ MORE: Ranking the 50 Greatest PBA Players of All Time (50-41)

40-31:

40. Hector Calma

He was called “Hector the Director” and with good reason. For nine seasons and through nine championships, Hector Calma directed the vaunted offense of the San Miguel Beermen. During one stretch in the late 1980s, the Beermen were simply dominant, winning six of seven titles, including a grand slam in 1989. At the middle of it all was Calma, who was the league’s best point guard during this run. With Ramon Fernandez, Samboy Lim, Ricardo Brown, Ato Agustin, and later Ato Agustin as his teammates, Calma didn’t have to score much. But when he did decide to score, he did it at a high level: for his career, he shot 49.5% from the field.

39. Bong Hawkins

His vertical leap was virtually non-existent, and he was slightly undersized as a power forward, but Bong Hawkins was still one of the best lowpost players on both ends of the floor during his 13-season run. Hawkins averaged double digits in scoring for the first 11 of those seasons while earning one All-Defensive Team accolade. He was a key member of the most dominant team of the 1990s, the Alaska Milkmen, with whom he won six titles. On a team that included gifted scorers like Jojo Lastimosa, Johnny Abarrientos, Kenneth Duremdes, and Jeffrey Cariaso, Hawkins still managed to average no fewer than 15.3 points per game in any single season over a four-year stretch.

38. LA Tenorio

When talking about what makes a great player, the words “longevity”, “consistency”, and “winner” are often thrown around, and LA Tenorio checks all three boxes. Now on his 18^th season, Tenorio is the PBA’s Iron Man, holding the record for most consecutive games played at 744. His season-by-season averages have been remarkably consistent: in 11 of those 18 seasons, he averaged double digits in scoring, while in 12, he dished out at least four assists per game. An eight-time champion, he was Finals MVP in half of those championship series. And his name is all over the record books: currently he’s fourth all-time in 3-point shots made, sixth in steals, and sixth in assists.

37. Yoyoy Villamin

The 1980s was an era marked by physicality and ruggedness, and Yoyoy Villamin fit right in. The nickname he shared with fellow power forward Ricky Relosa said it all: The Bruise Brothers. On his own, Villamin’s nickname was just as intimidating as he was labeled The Bicolano Superman. Whatever he was called, Villamin was a force on both ends of the floor. He was tough to guard once he got the ball down low, and he was equally tough to score against, as evidenced by his seven All-Defensive team nods. More importantly, Villamin was a winner. He has nine championships to his name, and he is one of only four players to have won both Most Improved Player and Comeback Player of the Year.

36. Samboy Lim

Samboy Lim’s career was relatively short – just 335 games over an injury-filled nine seasons – but he sure made every moment memorable. Very few PBA players elicited the cheers that Lim did whenever he took off his warm-up jersey, and even fewer generated gasps of excitement the way The Skywalker did whenever he took to the air. Samboy did things with the ball that had never been seen before in the league, and his hang time was among the longest ever. But Samboy Lim was more than just a dazzling high leaper. He won nine titles, all with SMB, while averaging 16.0 points per game. His greatest legacy, though, was his behavior on the court. He was the first recipient of the Sportsmanship Award, and in 2016, the league named the award after him.

35. Jeffrey Cariaso

Jeffrey Cariaso’s legacy goes beyond his achievements on the basketball court. Along with Vince Hizon and Chris Jackson, The Jet paved the way for Fil-foreigners to give the PBA a try once more, around a decade after Ricky Brown and Willie Pearson broke the barrier. But Cariaso’s on-court achievements weren’t too shabby, either. He was Rookie of the Year, Mythical First Team member four times, and All-Defensive team member four times as well. He also collected eight titles, including a grand slam with Alaska, and is one of only a handful of players with at least 2,000 defensive rebounds and 2,000 assists.

34. Asi Taulava

During his record 24 playing seasons, Asi Taulava was literally and figuratively larger than life. His arrival in 1999 as a brash six-foot-nine center from Tonga ushered in a new era in the PBA, when Fil-Foreign players started arriving in droves. Taulava quickly established himself as an offensive force in the paint, averaging 20 points or more in four of his first five seasons. Through all the controversies and issues that hounded him early in his career, Taulava stayed the course and made his mark. Although he won just one championship, he snagged one MVP award and four Mythical First Team mentions and three All-Defensive Team nods. And in December 2023, he made history as one of just two players — the other being Robert Jaworski — aged 50 or older to play in an official PBA game.

33. Arnie Tuadles

Arnie Tuadles was the embodiment of kontra-tiyempo, a master at baiting opponents to jump too early or too late while taking his sweet time putting the ball in the hole. Tuadles had an assortment of offensive moves, from posting up his defender to knocking down a mid-range jumper to burying it from beyond the arc. The first rookie to be named to the Mythical First Team, Tuadles won nine titles with the Toyota and Great Taste franchises. He also saved his best for last: with leading scorer Allan Caidic out in Game 7 of the 1990 All-Filipino title series, it was Tuadles who stepped up and dropped 33 points to lead Presto to its sixth and last PBA title.

32. Eric Menk

Eric Menk’s nickname was Major Pain, and during his early years in the PBA, that’s exactly what he inflicted on opposing defenders. Menk was a force of nature during his first two seasons with Tanduay, when he averaged 20.1 and 24.2 points per game. In his very first PBA conference, he immediately led the Rhum Masters to the finals. But it was with Barangay Ginebra where Menk truly made his mark, leading the franchise to its first title in the post-Jaworski era in 2004. In total, Menk helped the franchise win four titles in the 2000s, and he was Finals MVP in three of them. He was also named BPC thrice while capturing one MVP.

31. Jerry Codiñera

Jerry Codiñera had one of the coolest nicknames in the PBA: The Defense Minister. He justified the moniker by earning a record 10 All-Defensive Team nods in his 18-season career to go along with one DPOY award. But Codiñera wasn’t just a defensive asset. For a long stretch of the 1990s he was among the league’s best centers, getting named to the Mythical First Team three times and the Mythical Second team a record five times. His partnership with Alvin Patrimonio in the post produced five championships for Purefoods, while individually he retired with over 10,000 career points and is still third overall in total rebounds and first in total offensive rebounds.

Banner Images courtesy of Sid Ventura, Excel Panlaque, and Instagram accounts of Mark Caguioa, Alvin Patrimonio, and James Yap.