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| June Mar Fajardo is once again the headliner of the Leo Awards winners. Joseph Sanvictores |
QUEZON CITY--June Mar Fajardo may have already reached Cloud 9 in his PBA career as he captured his ninth PBA MVP title during the Leo Awards on Sunday.
In a separate ceremony at the Novotel Manila Araneta City Ballroom before the highly anticipated opening rites for Season 50 at the adjacent Smart Araneta Coliseum, the San Miguel center received his latest top individual honors, beating NLEX's Robert Bolick and Seoul SK's Arvin Tolentino.
Fajardo amassed a total of 3,041 points, nearly double that of Bolick (1,914) and Tolentino (1,901).
Fajardo was the runaway winner in the statistical points (1,668) and votes from the media (855) and players (518).
Bolick, who also had a spectacular season with the Road Warriors, finished second in the stats race and the player votes.
On the other hand, Tolentino, who made it to the MVP finalist list following a stellar Season 49 with NorthPort before taking his talents to the KBL, was second in the media votes.
The three MVP finalists headlined the Mythical First Team and were joined by Fajardo's fellow Beerman, CJ Perez, and TNT Tropang 5G's Calvin Oftana.
The Mythical Second Team was composed of Ginebra's Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar, TNT's RR Pogoy, Converge's Justin Arana, and Magnolia's Zav Lucero.
On the other hand, Gin King RJ Abarrientos won the Rookie of the Year.
Ginebra's supersub bested Rain Or Shine's Caelan Tiongson and Blackwater's Sedrick Barefield, who both started for most of last season.
The media votes became the deciding factor as Abarrientos, who topped the said votes while also finishing second in SPs, totaled 1,971 points.
Barefield, who was number one in the stats race, also topped the player votes, but he did not get a single vote from the media and fell to third with 1,424 points, while Tiongson was second with 1,505.
Meanwhile, Titan Ultra Giant Riser Joshua Munzon was named the Most Improved Player over Elasto Painter Adrian Nocum and FiberXer Schonny Winston.
Munzon, who finally showed glimpses of being a former number one pick when NorthPort still owned the franchise now under Titan Ultra's name last season, got a unanimous vote from the media for the full 2,500 points, overtaking Nocum, who got the majority of the player votes to finish second with 1,163, and Winston, who got 419.
Fajardo, Lucero, and Munzon also made the All-Defensive Team and were joined by TNT's Glenn Khobuntin and Ginebra's Stephen Holt.
ROS's Gian Mamuyac won the Sportsmanship Award, also anchored by a unanimous media vote to beat Meralco's Aaron Black and SMB's Marcio Lassiter.
