Caidic the triggerman with license to shoot

MANILA, Philippines — Allan Caidic is a gun for hire with license to shoot. He can fire shots at will and get paid well.

Long retired, he remains to be the country's most renowned sniper. The barometer of shooters.

Now 57 years old, he can still hit targets from afar. As if the ring was a hula hoop or a roulette wheel.

No wonder, aspiring and certified gunners want Caidic to train them how to release jumpers faster with higher accuracy.

The same way he befuddled opponents with an awkward yet effective shooting stance in his UAAP days with the University of the East Warriors and with several teams in the PBA.

Starring for Great Taste, Caidic emerged Rookie of the Year in 1987 and topped the league in scoring with an average of 27.38 points per game in 1989.

He was named 1990 MVP after averaging 26.6 points, 3.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds and repeated as most prolific with 27.1 points average in 1991.

That year, Caidic sprinkled 17 triples and pooled 79 points in Presto Tivoli's 162-149 win over Ginebra.

Both records, alongside nine triples and 37 points in one quarter, and 53 points in a half time stand to this day.

Those 17 treys are legendary as it's four better than the NBA record of 13 posted by the great Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors.

In the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games,  where the San Miguel Beermen-laden Philippine team placed fourth, Caidic wound up the tournament's highest scorer and was named to the Mythical Team.

Even in middle-age, Caidic continued to impress.

At 47, he poured 54 points, laced by 14 triples, in 24 minutes as he powered the Red Team past the White, 177-167, in the 2010 NBA Asia Challenge.

That performance left his teammates, former NBA superstars Glen Rice and Gary Payton, and opposing players Chris Webber and Mitch Raymond in awe.

But Caidic wasn't done yet.

in 2018, Caidic piled 142 points and 46  triples (9 in the first quarter and 37 in the fourth) as the PBA Legends toyed with a selection of politicians from Ilocos Sur, 184-73, in Candon City.

Caidic's contemporaries were lucky, despite his The Triggerman moniker he wasn't trigger-happy during his heyday. Otherwise, he would have held all scoring records available.