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By Frank C. Calapre, Correspondent
FIL-AMERICAN Kelly Williams of Sta. Lucia Realty
was named Best Player of the Smart-PBA Philippine Cup Friday at
the Araneta Coliseum.
It was the second individual award for the
6-foot-6 Williams after earning the Rookie of the Year honors last
year.
“It’s a great honor for me to be chosen as
the conference best player. But I would not forget that all these
wouldn’t be possible without my teammates. I owe these awards to
all of them,” said the former Oakland University standout who
joined the elite circle of past winners Danny Ildefonso and Danny
Seigle of Magnolia as well as Eric Menk of Barangay Ginebra.
Williams, a member of the RP squad that saw
action in the 2007 FIBA-Asia Championship in Tokushima, Japan,
tallied 1,393 points to beat closest pursuer Willie Miller of
Alaska.
Miller, the 2007 MVP, finished with 878 followed
by Purefoods’ Kerby Raymundo (810), Arwind Santos of Air21 (413)
and Asi Taulava of Coca Cola (390).
Only the top five players in the overall
statistical standing at the end of the two-round elimination were
included in the voting. The votes came from the media (30%),
statistical points (30%), players (25%), ABC-5 (10%) and PBA (5%).
“I really hope this honor will lead all of us
in the team to eventually win our second championship crown,”
added the soft-spoken Williams, the top pick in the 2006 annual
draft.
The 26-year-old Williams was born and raised in
Michigan. He played for Magnolia Ice Cream in the Philippine
Basketball League five years ago.
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