MANILA, Philippines — Days after the Meralco Bolts’ Jimmy Alapag surpassed his total for 3-pointers in a career, Allan Caidic, the previous owner of the record, said that he was fine with the former’s feat.
Alapag broke the 17-year-old record when he drilled the 1,243rd triple of his career during Game Two of the current Governors’ Cup Finals between Meralco and the last club that Caidic played and coached, Barangay Ginebra.
“If there is one guy to accomplish that, it’s Jimmy. Hats off ako,” said the man known as “the Triggerman” for his shooting exploits during his heyday in the amateurs and professional ranks. “I was already done playing and was into coaching when Jimmy came up with Talk ‘N Text. Nakita ko kung paano siya makibagay; with the way he conducts himself on and off the court.”
“More so because Jimmy is a former Most Valuable Player and is a member of the PBA’s 40 Greatest so it’s all right. Besides, records are meant to be broken.”
Unknown to many, Caidic didn’t start out as a shooter or even as a forward. “I played center when I was in high school which explains why I can post up,” related Caidic in a conversation a day after Alapag’s milestone. “When I moved to college, I could no longer play the position because I was smaller than other guys and I was too thin. So I moved to the small forward position where I began to practice my outside shot.”
At that time the three-point shot wasn’t in existence locally despite the field goal being introduced in the now defunct American Basketball Association during its 1967-68 season and in the National Basketball Association during the 1979-80 season. The three-point shot was officially allowed in the Philippines in 1984.
“I began to practice my outside shooting taking anywhere from 200-500 shots a day,” recounted the long tom artist. “The more tired I was the greater my focus. Playing against taller players helped me develop the quick release shot. It also helped that when I was with Northern Consolidated Cement when my former teammate Chip Engelland helped me with my form and mentality in getting shots and in attacking the basket.”
“My former coach in the University of the East, (the late) Roehl Nadurata asked me a long time ago, ‘Allan, saan ang favorite spot mo?’ I told him sa left. And he said, ‘bakit hindi mo naman subukan sa kanan para masanay ka sa lahat ng lugar sa court?’ That really helped me in my approach to the game.”
Caidic says that to his mind, the best shooters in the PBA in this generation that he has seen are (in no particular order) Jimmy Alapag, Dondon Hontiveros, and Renren Ritualo. There are others of course like Bogs Adornado, Atoy Co, and Ricky Brown to name a few.
“They have what I call are the ‘three Cs” – consistency, confidence, and coordination – in making their shots,” said Caidic.
During the 2010 NBA All-Star Challenge where former PBA players got to play alongside NBA legends such as Gary Payton, Glen Rice, Chris Webber, and Mitch Richmond, Caidic hot 14 treys in a scintillating performance that had the Americans in awe. “Kahit exhibition game lang yun, highlight din yan kasi naipakita ko kung ano kaya ng Pinoy,” recalled the Triggerman who finished with a game high 54 points in only 24 minutes of play.
Despite losing the three-point record to Alapag, Caidic still holds 18 other individual records in the PBA.