Calvin Abueva

Calvin Abueva

Abueva preparing to shoot a free throw
No. 8 – Alaska Aces
Position Small forward / Power forward
League PBA
Personal information
Born (1988-02-04) February 4, 1988
Angeles City, Philippines
Nationality Filipino
Listed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight 185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school Holy Angel University
College San Sebastian College – Recoletos
PBA draft 2012 Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Alaska Aces
Playing career 2012–present
Career history
2012–present Alaska Aces
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Philippines
FIBA Asia Championship
2015 Changsha Team
William Jones Cup
2015 Taipei Team

Calvin Abueva (born February 4, 1988) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Alaska Aces in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was picked second overall by the same team during the 2012 PBA Draft.[1] Nicknamed The Beast due to the all-around threat he brings at both ends of the court, he dominated the nation's collegiate ranks by posting excellent numbers during his tenure with the San Sebastian College – Recoletos Stags in the NCAA.[2] He is the first player in history in any major league in the Philippines to finish as leader in points, rebounds, and assists in one season.[3]

College and amateur career

Abueva studied at San Sebastian College. He started his collegiate career in NCAA playing for the Stags in 2009. Abueva caught national acclaim as Jimbo Aquino’s key support when the San Sebastian Stags coached by Ato Agustin held off the San Beda Red Lions to claim the NCAA title in 2009. When Aquino moved out of SSC, he amply took over. He became the leader of a menacing trio that also consisted of Ronald Pascual and Ian Sangalang. He won the Most Valuable Player award during the 87th season of the NCAA by leading the league in scoring (20.6), rebounding (13.7), and was fourth in assists (3.9) although he also had an alarming league-high 5.6 turnovers.

In his 4th and final year in the NCAA, Abueva was a shoo-in to win his second and rare back-to-back MVP award. He performed beyond reality as he made numerous dominating performances.

He recorded 16 double-double's and 4 triple-double's, a league record. But on August 25, 2012 in game against Lyceum, Abueva punched Lyceum’s Vence Laude at the back of the head during a scuffle with 6:08 minutes left in the third quarter. He was then merited a disqualifying foul. A disqualifying foul automatically merits a one-game suspension. But worse, the suspension meted on the league’s best player makes him ineligible to win any individual award this season If not for the misconduct, Alaska’s No. 2 pick in the recent PBA draft would have handily won the MVP derby as he leads the current statistical race by a wide margin.[14][15]

Statistics

Correct as of 27 September 2012[16]

Led the league
Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011 SSC-R 22 29.0 .411 .265 .726 13.7[17] 3.9 .7 .6 20.6[18]
2012 SSC-R 17 33.0 .364 .216 .724 16.4[19] 6.5[20] 1.2 1.6 20.1[21]
Career 39 30.7 .388 .234 .725 14.9 5.0 .9 1.0 20.4

Abueva played for the NLEX Road Warriors in the PBA Developmental League. Playing with the talent-laden Road Warriors, he helped NLEX to win three straight championships.

PBA career

Alaska Aces (2012 - Present)

Early Years

"It's nice to have Calvin because he brings so much to our team energy wise. He's going to be the backbone of this franchise. His energy is infectious and we were able to come back from 12 points down because of that. Once he started playing, he immediately became the energizer of our team. We’re fortunate to pick him second in the draft."

—Luigi Trillo, head coach of the Alaska Aces, about Abueva's debut game.[22]

Abueva was not able to suit up in Alaska's first three assignments as he still needed to finish his duties with his school in the NCAA. In his highly anticipated debut game, Abueva made an immediate impact as he came through with a beastly performance against the Petron Blaze Boosters. Still smarting from his alma mater's NCAA final four loss to Letran 4 days before, he showed that he definitely is ready for the big leagues, finishing with 12 points and 16 rebounds in just 27 minutes.

Early in the season, he was one of the front-runners for the Best Player of the Conference title in the 2013 PBA conferences. Despite leading the statistical points in the past 2013 Philippine Cup and 2013 Commissioner's Cup conferences, he did not gain the Best Player of the Conference award.[23] Nevertheless, his stellar performance in the first two conferences put him on the Rookie-MVP discussion, in which was only achieved by Benjie Paras. He was a big factor for the Alaska Aces' in winning the 2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup Championship. However, a dip in his performance as well as Alaska's quick exit in the season-ending Governors' Cup has eroded his claim to both awards.[24]

Abueva was still awarded as the 2012–13 PBA Rookie of the Year despite the season ending struggles.[25]

Abueva's struggles seemed to continue towards the next season. He felt that his penchant for fouling out and getting into foul trouble early in the game limited his chances of helping the Aces down the stretch on most of their games. Although Abueva claims he had tried to taper off his overeagerness on the defensive-end so he can stay out of foul trouble.

His coach Luigi Trillo, however, had different take. He felt Abueva may have been “shackled” this season compared to last, thinking that teams may have allowed Abueva to play his game last season. He felt that team's may have found ways to neutralize "The Beast" after trying to study his game. Pointing that after having a monstrous debut, teams' started to try to figure him out.

Despite the seeming limitations, he still tried his best to contribute to help Alaska win. He averaged about 20 mins of playing time with 9.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists; worse than his numbers last season.[26]

True Form

In his third season, Abueva started to become an "Angry Beast". His stats have well improved from the previous season. On October 28, 2014, he was instrumental in a comeback 100-98 win against the Talk 'N Text after trailing by as much as 18 points and hit the game-winning buzzer beater. He finished the game with 26 big points and a career high, 22 rebounds, making him the shortest PBA player to record 20+ rebounds in a single game. On November 11, 2014, he then again recorded another 20-20 performance in a win against the KIA Sorento, scoring 23 points and grabbing 21 rebounds. He started the 2014-2015 PBA Philippine Cup averaging 15.33 rebounds per game as the fans compared him to Dennis Rodman for his rebounding skills and suicidal hustle.

On May 13, 2016, Abueva was awarded the PBA Commissioner's Cup Best player of the conference award. He averaged 17.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals in the tournament.[27]

On October 14, 2016 Abueva was recognized during the PBA Leo Awards Night as he was named to the PBA Mythcial First Team.[28]

PBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played  MPG  Minutes per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage
 3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game
 PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Correct as of September 23, 2016[29]

Season-by-season averages

Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2012–13 Alaska 51 26.4 .384 .262 .630 9.4 1.8 .9 .8 12.3
2013–14 Alaska 42 20.8 .332 .148 .641 7.2 1.8 .9 .4 9.2
2014–15 Alaska 57 22.9 .447 .138 .647 8.9 2.3 .9 .5 12.9
2015–16 Alaska 58 25.6 .436 .333 .648 8.5 2.5 1.2 .6 15.4
Career 208 24.1 .409 .276 .642 8.6 2.1 1.0 .5 12.7

Personal life

Calvin Abueva was born Calvin Sweeney to an American father, also named Calvin, and a Filipina mother, Evelyn.[30] He was somewhat self-trained in basketball. As a young boy in Angeles, Pampanga, he followed a routine wherein he would watch his childhood idol Robert Jaworski on television at night and by noon the next day, he would mimic what he saw on television on the cement courts of Bayanihan Park. He observed how Jaworski became one of the PBA's best rebounders of all-time despite being a guard and tried his best to duplicate the legendary grit with his pals.[31] Aside from basketball, Abueva also played volleyball during his childhood years.[32]

References

  1. ↑ Alaska Aces draft Abueva, Alaska Aces
  2. ↑ Sydrick Salazar. "2012 PBA Draft: Calvin Abueva – 2012 PBA Draft – Hoops". Hoops.Blink.ph. Hoops.Blink.ph. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ Karlo Sacamos. "'The Beast' rewrites history". Spin.ph. Spin.ph. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ "NCAA: Pampanga Trio delivers 62, dispatches CSB – GMA Sports". GMAnews. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ "NCAA: Abueva, Stags bring Altas back down to Earth – GMA Sports". GMAnews. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  6. ↑ "San Sebastian escapes Lyceum behind Pascual's 32 points – Inquirer Sports". Inquirer.net. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Abueva dominates as San Sebastian edges EACs – Interaktv". Interaksyon.com. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  8. ↑ "San Sebastian grabs big win over San Beda in first round clash – Interaktv". Interaksyon.com. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  9. ↑ "NCAA: Abueva returns, leads San Sebastian over CSB – Inquirer Sports". Inquirer.net. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  10. ↑ "The Beast With Another Triple-Double As SSC-R Shatters Mapua – Inboundpass". Inboundpass.com. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  11. ↑ "JRU survives San Sebastian; F4 hopes remain alive – Inboundpass". Inboundpass.com. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  12. ↑ "San Sebastian thwarts Perpetual Help, secures playoff for 2nd place – Inquirer Sports". Inquirer.net. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Abueva nails record as San Sebastian downs San Beda to take second spot – Interaktv". Interaksyon.com. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Abueva squanders bid for 2nd MVP  – Philstar". Joey Villar. August 25, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Goodbye to MVP award as 'Beast' runs wild – Spin.ph". Karlo Sacamos. August 23, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  16. ↑ NCAA Player Profile at PBA-Online!
  17. ↑ 87th Season League Leaders (Rebounds) at PBA-Online!
  18. ↑ 87th Season League Leaders (Points) at PBA-Online!
  19. ↑ 88th Season League Leaders (Rebounds) at PBA-Online!
  20. ↑ 88th Season League Leaders (Assist) at PBA-Online!
  21. ↑ 88th Season League Leaders (Points at PBA-Online!
  22. ↑ "Beast Mode On: Debuting Calvin Abueva helps Alaska rally to victory over Petron". InterAksyon. October 19, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Alaska's Calvin Abueva on pace to make PBA history".
  24. ↑ Richard Dy (January 19, 2014). "Calvin Abueva blames overeagerness for brief, foul-plagued return for Alaska". Spin.ph. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  25. ↑ Richard Dy (October 18, 2013). "Abueva wins Rookie of the Year honor but hears boos from pro-Petron crowd". Spin.ph. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  26. ↑ Richard Dy (January 10, 2014). "Has the 'Beast' been shackled? Abueva, Trillo give take on early-season struggle". Spin.ph. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  27. ↑ http://www.philstar.com/sports/2016/05/13/1582834/abueva-crowned-pba-conferences-best-cager
  28. ↑ "PBA Leo Awards 2016 Winners & Nominees (Complete List)". PinoyBoxBreak. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  29. ↑ Player Profile at PBA-Online!
  30. ↑ Abueva appeals for understanding Joaquin "Quinito" Henson, philstar.com, August 30, 2013
  31. ↑ "Calvin Abueva: Beast of Baste – Slamonline". Mico Halili. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  32. ↑ Terrado, Reuben (19 January 2016). "Calvin Abueva's volleyball background comes in handy in crucial Game Two save". Spin.ph. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
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