I am scraping the bottom of my statistical barrel.
I still have a lot of hidden gems, but I think they are not as big as the stats I had since I made this project.
The 2000 PBA season is a weird one. First up, the season featured one of the best rookie batches in league history and arguably the worst PBA Draft class of all time. This is also a time when there is some basketball civil war in the country with the MBA challenging the awesomeness of the PBA.
And then there's the Hardcourt Annual.
Right smack between the 1999 and 2000 PBA seasons is the 25th-anniversary coffee table book of the PBA. It's an awesome read. Like most annuals, it has player profiles, stats, and league records. It also has a couple of articles about the previous season and what to expect from the current season.
But unlike most Hardcourt annuals, it also has an article about the 25 Greatest PBA Players, and it's a great read especially if you don't know much about the pioneers.
However, when they combined the two seasons, we never got to see the final season numbers of a lot of popular stars. I think I can vouch for ten incomplete names, but I think there are more. Yves Dignadice is the biggest missing name. El Stampita is one of the vital cogs of San Miguel's 1989 grand slam run. Injuries derailed his career though, and he ended up retiring with SMB sister squad Ginebra. Rhoel Gomez and Jun Reyes were also part of a grand slam run, this time with the Alaska Milkmen in 1996. Actor/baller Jayvee Gayoso is another player with incomplete stats, as with San Miguel defensive ace Art Dela Cruz, The Firecracker Bobby Jose, El Pistolero Boyet Francisco, former San Sebastian ace Brixter Encarnacion, and former Shell resident import John Best.
One player whose stats I wanted to check out from that season is JR Henderson or JR Sakuragi if you know something about Japanese basketball during that time period.
This is why I don't like the idea of researching PBA stats. I don't need to seed money to quench my statistical thirst. This needs to be readily available to the public, especially at a time when there are more spectators in semi-pro circuits than in the PBA.
Anyway, it would be great if I could get hold of these stats. This would be my holy grail if I get my hands on these stats.