Best of PBA teams in All Stars

The Philippine Basketball Association All Stars Weekend this year promises to be one slam-bang affair, with the biggest names in the league from all 10 teams seeing action in the All-Star Game itself and the special events that precede it during the traditional Fans’ Day tomorrow.

Alvin Patrimonio of Purefoods, the only active four-time winner of the Most Valuable Player trophy, will be there. Not just in the game, but also in the highly popular 2-Ball Contest together with Rey Evangelista.

Olsen Racela of San Miguel has signed for the Buzzer-Beater contest and will be contending with the likes of Jimwell Torion of Red Bull and Jay Jay Helterbrand, even as Dwight Lago looms as the favorite in the 3-Point Shootout together with crowd darling Mark Caguioa of Barangay Ginebra.

Indeed, the big names will show up for the fans, and there are the lesser lights who have made themselves available.

And one of them stands out as the darkhorse who could very well upend the established stars in the most exciting side event of them all.

Joey Mente, San Miguel’s third-string guard, is entered in the Slam Dunk contest which will be held before the game on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum, and from the way staff members of the Beermen describe his skills, Mente could well be the favorite.

And San Miguel team manager Robert Non confirmed this.

"You should see the guy (Mente) do his stuff with the basketball and go for a slam," Non said. "He’s a very creative fellow. He reminds me a lot of Spud Webb when Webb won the NBA Slam Dunk contest a few years back."

Mente could stand to be a shade under 5-foot-10, but the spring in his legs is phenomenal, according to Non, and the likes of John Hartley Arigo of Alaska, Alex Crisano of Ginebra and Davonn Harp of Red Bull are in for a good fight.

The Araneta Coliseum gates for Fans’ Day open at 11 a.m. tomorrow as the Office of the Commissioner has lined up several events for the fans to participate in.

"We have always said that we owe everything to the fans. The PBA will not be here if it were not for the support that they have given us through all of our 26 years," said Sonny Barrios, the league’s officer-in-charge in the absence of commissioner Jun Bernardino.

"This is but the PBA’s small way of giving them something back."

The highlight of All-Star Fans’ Day will be the elimination rounds of the 2-Ball and 3-Point Shootout, with the teams of Patrimonio and Evangelista of Purefoods and Kenneth Duremdes and Rodney Santos of Alaska tagged as favorites.

Boyet Fernandez of Purefoods will be there to defend his 3-Point Shootout title, going up against Caguioa, Dwight Lago and Patrick Fran of Mobiline.