Right in his return from an injury, Barangay Ginebra behemoth Greg Slaughter made a huge impact and was amply rewarded with the PBA Governors Cup Best Player of the Conference award.
Meanwhile, Allen Durham of Meralco distinguished himself as the first in seven years to win back-to-back Best Import honors.
Slaughter and Durham were feted as the Best Player of the Conference and Best Import before Game Two of the PBA Governors Cup best-of-seven championship series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
From a long hiatus, Slaughter emerged as the tournament's best, winning the coveted award over Meralco's Chris Newsome, San Miguel Beer's June Mar Fajardo, TNT KaTropa's Jayson Castro and another Beerman Arwind Santos.
It was quite a feat for this Fil-American gentle giant, considering he sat out the last 10 months due to an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear.
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Back on top of his game, Slaughter quickly reemerged as an elite player, capturing another top individual award after winning the 2014 Rookie of the Year honors then gaining memberships in the 2014 Mythical Second Team and the 2015 Mythical First Team.
The 2013 top draft selection handily won the 2017 Governors Cup BPC award, amassing 975 points from the stats and from the balloting where he's the top choice by the sports media and the PBA Commissioner's Office.
Newsome, the top selection in the balloting by his fellow players, garnered 707 points.
Durham was the stats winner and the choice of everybody in the Best Import balloting.
The former Grace Bible College stalwart thus became the first player to defend a Best Import award since Gabe Freeman, the winner of the Fiesta Conference Best Import plum in 2009 and 2010.
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He joined Bobby Ray Parks, Billy Ray Bates, Norman Black, Derrick Brown, Jerald Honeycutt, Ken Redfield, Arizona Reid and Freeman in an elite list of PBA reinforcements who've won the Best Import award at least twice.
