2016-2017 Early Top 5 2017 Bounce Back of the Year Candidate

Almost all players will suffer down years but the excellent ones will always find their way again and bounce back. Here are the top bounce back candidates this season. 

#5 Rabeh Al-Hussaini
Yeah, it sounds absurd because we have been waiting for a bounce back year since his sophomore year. Without acquiring any bigman in the offseason, it seems like the Bolts will be giving him the opportunity to redeem himself. In their preseason games, he was given the playing time so let us find out if he will also get that in real games.

#4 Solomon Mercado
We saw him play a huge role to their triumphant Governors Cup run but numbers wise, he continue to regressed. I am counting on his Governors Cup performance to push him up in their rotation and to be given more opportunity to score and create. 

#3 James Yap
The scoring production of James Yap has been on the downtrend for the last five seasons. Last season, he averaged his lowest average per game at 11.6 points. The haters pointed to his age as the main reason why here fans said that it was due to his injuries. 

I think, this will be the last year for him to proved that he is still a starting caliber player. Rain or Shine will give him the opportunity, can he convert?

#2 Alex Mallari
Alex' transfer to Purefoods, four seasons ago, was met with optimism and according to him, that squad was family. Unfortunately, he never found his footing there as he was hampered by inconsistency. In his first game with Mahindra, he was no doubt the best playmaker and scorer as he registered 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.

#1 Paul Lee
In his five seasons with the Elasto Painters, he played his worst, and last, in the previous season. That was due to his injuries. Now that his doctors has done their job, can he finally do his and show us his superstar qualities?