Arboleda, Castro, Cortez honored in PBA Awards

MANILA, Philippines - The PBA Press Corps has chosen Burger King’s Wynne Arboleda as the Defensive Player of the Year, Talk n Text’s Jason Castro as Mr. Quality Minutes and San Miguel’s Mike Cortez as Comeback Player of the Year.

Arboleda, Castro and Cortez take the spotlight as the Smart Sports, Coca-Cola, San Miguel Corp. and Pagcor present the 2008 PBA Press Corps Annual Awards at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at The Alegria of Holiday Inn Manila Pavilion.

Throngy Aldava has been chosen as Referee of the Year while Rookie of the Year awardee Gabe Norwood leads the season’s All-Rookie squad that includes Sol Mercado, Jared Dillinger, Bonbon Custodio and Larry Rodriguez.

They will be awarded elegantly-crafted trophies by Zamora and Sons in the awards rites sponsored by Smart Sports, Coca-Cola, San Miguel Corp. and Pagcor.

Highlighting the affair is the crowning of the Coach of the Year and the Executive of the Year.

Arboleda and Cortez were the unanimous choices as Defensive Player of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year while Castro beat Joseph Yeo in a close fight for the Mr. Quality Minutes award.

Arboleda, the Burger King chief playmaker respected by peers and foes for his gung-ho game, emerged thre best defensive player for the second time in the last three years.

His inclusion in the RP team which competed in the 2009 Jones Cup in Taipei best underscored the respect the hard-working player has earned for himself in pro play.

He averaged 9.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals in the 2008-09 PBA season.

Cortez was the hands-down choice as Comeback Player of the Year as he returned with a flourish from surgery, helping San Miguel win the Fiesta Conference championship.

The former La Salle Archer, suffering an ACL tear early in the season, even emerged as the team’s leading local scorer in the finals with an average of 13.0 points. He played 19 games in the season, piling up 8.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists an outing.

Castro beat Yeo for the Mr. Quality Minutes award for the key role he played in Talk n Text’s championship run in the first conference.

The season’s No. 3 draft pick was No. 7 in assists (3.9), No. 9 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8) and No. 10 in steals (1.1) in the season.