Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)
While still playing for Fash in the PBL, Purefoods offered him a two-year contract as a rookie free agent. He was actually drafted by the Sta. Lucia Realtors as the forty-third overall pick in the 2001 PBA Draft. He toiled for a while in the MBA and PBL where he further enhanced his skills.
But like his stints in the MBA and PBL, his PBA career did not start hot as he played behind fellow star rookie James Yap. In Purefoods' seventh game in the 2004-05 Philippines Cup, however, PJ got his game going as he led Purefoods in a come-from-behind win over Alaska, by scoring four of his team-high 18 points in the final eleven seconds of the game.
In his first three seasons in the PBA, PJ Simon only showed flashes of his brilliance far and wide. In the 2007 PBA Fiesta Cup, he was named Accel PBA Player of the Week for the period May 6 to 13. He came up with a team-high 22 points in a game against Coke on May 4 then on May 13, he exploded for PBA career-high 31 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Purefoods in routing Ginebra, 117-105.
The 33rd season of the PBA proved to be the coming-out party for PJ Simon. While he was still in the giant shadow of his more famous teammates, he created his niche by being the super sub for his team. As Purefoods set a franchise-record of 7-0 to start a season, PJ was the biggest hero in two of those wins. He scored 15 of his game-high 27 points in the first quarter to lead Purefoods to its fifth straight win as they massacred Ginebra, 103-76, on November 4, 2007.
Then ten days later, he once more top scored Purefoods by making 22 points in their 100-81 rout on Air21, tying the franchise's best to start in the All-Filipino.
In the Finals, PJ Simon had four scintillating games. Purefoods lost however to Sta. Lucia in seven games. But nevertheless, PJ Simon averaged 13.3 points to firmly establish himself as Purefoods' primary offensive off the bench.
Owing to his impressive performance in the 2007-08 PBA Philippine Cup, he was selected in a reserve role to take part in the All-Star Game held in Bacolod City. And PJ did not disappoint those who thrust him into that position as he made the most out of the opportunity. Although he only played for 20 minutes, he scored 29 points on 11-of-14 field goals and 4-of-4 on the line to tow the South team in a thrilling victory in overtime over the North squad, 163-158. With that, he was cited as the Most Valuable Player, his first major PBA award.
In the 2009-10 Philippine Cup Finals, Purefoods swept Alaska, 4-0, to be crowned 2009-2010 PBA Philippine Cup champions.
The Llamados entered the 2010-11 PBA Philippine Cup as defending champions. In the first round of the tournament, Simon averaged 17.4 points per game, while the team ended the Classification Phase with a 7-7 record. On November 10, 2010, Simon scored a career-high 42 points against the Air21 Express. The Davao City native and two-time MVP James Yap led the team to the quarter-finals, in which the Llamados scored back-to-back wins against the Meralco Bolts. For the series, Simon averaged 29.0 points and his contributions helped the Llamados to overcome Meralco in two games. However, they couldn't keep up the momentum in the semi-finals after losing to the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters in six games.
Read more about this topic: Peter June Simon
Famous quotes containing the words basketball and/or association:
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