All-Star: Simon never expected MVP

BACOLOD CITY – For Purefoods guard Peter June Simon, playing in his first PBA All-Star Game was an unforgettable experience at the West Negros University gym here last Sunday.

“I was just so thankful I was even picked to play,” he said. “I never dreamed of becoming the MVP. I only wanted to play my best because I didn’t know if I’ll ever be chosen again.”

For Simon, rising to the occasion has become a hard habit to break.

As a rookie applicant, he was almost ignored in the 2001 draft. Simon was Sta. Lucia Realty’s fifth round selection, the 43rd of 48 players named. The five players picked after Simon were Topex Robinson, Allen Patrimonio, Isagani Malindog, Jonathan Serrano and Leode Garcia. The first round draftees included Willie Miller, Mike Hrabak, Mark Caguioa, John Arigo, Kiko Adriano, Norman Gonzalez, Roger Yap and Joey Mente. Only 13 of the 48 draftees are still playing in the PBA and Simon, a longshot, is one of them.

Although he was drafted by Sta. Lucia, Simon never played for the Realtors. The Makilala, North Cotabato, star from the University of Mindanao failed to survive the tryouts and wound up toiling in the MBA then the PBL where he played on a title team and bagged MVP honors.

It took Simon three years from his draft to finally barge into the PBA. Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio gambled on Simon who came in as a free agent with co-rookie James Yap in 2004. Simon averaged 6.2 points in his first year, 4.4 in his second and 12.4 last season. In the recent Philippine Cup, he hit at a 13.5 clip.

Clearly, Simon makes the most of every opportunity. In the All-Star Game, he saw action in only 20 minutes but claimed the MVP trophy after scoring 29 points on 11-of-14 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws to lift the South to a 163-158 overtime win over the North.

Simon, 27, said he was surprised when South coach Boyet Fernandez tapped him to replace Jimmy Alapag in the five-minute extension.

“It was my first time to play point guard,” said Simon. “I asked Jimmy what to do. Since Cyrus (Baguio) was on the floor, all I thought of was giving him the ball for an isolation.”

Simon bailed out the South in overtime with five points, including a clutch triple – his third in the game.

“We kept running the pick-and-roll and my defender was going under to stop me but luckily, my jumpers fell in,” he said.

Simon said while the contest was high-scoring, it wasn’t like the players didn’t defend. “I was matched up against Willie, Jay-Jay (Helterbrand) and Mac-Mac (Cardona),” he went on. “Willie blocked one of my shots under the basket. We let go a lot of breakaway layups and dunks but in the halfcourt, we played defense. That’s what coach Boyet wanted – he told us we would win with defense in the end.”