Birthday Greetings to Jimmy Alapag ( Dec 30 )

JIMMY ALAPAG
CAL STATE-SAN BERNARDINO
BORN DEC. 30, 1977 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
5-9, GUARD
Alapag was the season's valedictorian, winning championships, reap- ing several individual awards and again donning the national jersey. The 5-foot-9 phenom won the MVP plum over Arwind Santos and Mark Caguioa, capping an outstanding season that also saw him snare two Finals MVP awards and Best Player of the Confer- ence honors once. As the undisputed Tropa leader, Alapag led the team in scoring, assists, three-point conversion and free throw percentage. He topped the league in three-pointers made with 137 and in free throw percentage at .840 and ranked No. 3 in assists with 5.4 an outing. It's a season that is hard to match, making him only the second TNT player to win the most coveted individual award after Asi Taulava in 2003. Curiously, Alapag won the Rookie of the Year plum as the 10th draft selec- tion that year. He has since become a nine-time PBA All-Star player, thrice a member of the Mythical Five and once a member of the All-Defensive Team.