Mike Salonga Cortez (born November 10, 1980) is a Filipino-American professional basketball coach and former player. He is an assistant coach for the Blackwater Bossing of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played for eight franchises during his career in the PBA. Cortez gained prominence in the amateur ranks for the De La Salle Green Archers in the UAAP and the ICTSI Archers in the Philippine Basketball League. In 2003, he was the first overall pick of Alaska Aces in the 2003 PBA draft.

Mike Cortez
Blackwater Bossing
PositionAssistant coach
LeaguePBA
Personal information
Born (1980-11-10) November 10, 1980 (age 44)
San Jose, California
NationalityFilipino / American
Listed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High schoolCarson (Carson, California)
CollegeDe La Salle
PBA draft2003: 1st round, 1st overall
Selected by the Alaska Aces
Playing career2003–2019
PositionPoint guard
Coaching career2023–present
Career history
As player:
2003–2008Alaska Aces
2008–2010San Miguel Beermen
2010Air21 Express
2010–2012Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
2012–2013Air21 Express
2013–2015Meralco Bolts
2015–2016Blackwater Elite
2016–2017GlobalPort Batang Pier
2017–2019Blackwater Elite
As coach:
2023–presentBlackwater Bossing (assistant)
Career highlights and awards

Amateur career

edit

In 2000, Cortez debuted for the De La Salle Green Archers. With him, veterans Ren-Ren Ritualo and later Mark Cardona, the Green Archers won two of the three UAAP titles from 2000 to 2002.

He also played in the PBL for the ICTSI Archers, a team composed mostly of DLSU players alongside then University of the East star James Yap. With the two playing together, ICTSI almost won a PBL title in 2001 only to be defeated by the veteran-laiden Shark Energy Drink.

By 2002, Cortez's performance had quickly led to him being considered the top prospect for the PBA. He was included in the mythical 5 in the 2000 and 2002 UAAP season.

Professional career

edit

After the 2002 UAAP season, Cortez applied for the 2003 PBA draft and was quickly drafted by the Alaska Aces as the top overall pick. By then, he was considered as the successor to Johnny Abarrientos as the team's next big star at the point guard position.

However, he struggled in his first season in the pros with inconsistent performances due to Tim Cone's triangle offense system, and the emphasis on Ali Peek, Don Allado and fellow rookie Brandon Cablay. Despite this development, he was a member of the 2003 PBA Invitational Champions defeating the Coca-Cola Tigers.

He lost race to fellow point guard Jimmy Alapag of the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals in the Rookie of the Year.

By the 2004–05 PBA season, he was starting to increase his role as Alaska added young players such as Sonny Thoss, and veterans Reynel Hugnatan and Jeffrey Cariaso.

The next season, he played probably his best season in the league, playing in a consistent level while forming a two-man tandem with Willie Miller as Alaska almost went to the PBA Philippine Cup finals, but they lost to the eventual champion Purefoods Chunkee Giants 4–3.

He missed most of the 2006–07 PBA Philippine Cup following a season-ending ACL injury in the third game of the conference.

On March 19, 2008, he was traded along with big man Ken Bono to the Magnolia Beverage Masters (now renamed back to San Miguel Beermen) for LA Tenorio and Larry Fonacier.

In 2009, after recuperating from his second ACL injury in his pro career, he received the Comeback Player of the Year award for his role in the 2009 PBA Fiesta Conference title of the San Miguel Beermen. His second conference title and third overall in the PBA.

On June 11, 2010, he played his last game with Air21 as he was traded after that game for Ginebra's Billy Mamaril.

Although he helped Alaska and San Miguel win a single title each, the Cool Cat did not win a crown with the Barangay Ginebra. But he recorded his first triple-double in his pro career with the Kings on Game 3 of the 2012 PBA Commissioner's Cup Quarterfinals against B-Meg Llamados when he registered 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists earning Best Player of the Game honors.

On November 7, 2012, he was traded back to the Express, in exchange for rookie Yousef Taha, where he reunited with coach Franz Pumaren, Ren-Ren Ritualo and Cholo Villanueva — all members of the 2001 La Salle four-peat squad.

On September 6, 2013, he was traded to Meralco Bolts in exchange for the rights of Asi Taulava, who at that time was coming off a successful campaign in the ASEAN Basketball League with San Miguel Beermen.[1]

On August 7, 2015, Cortez and James Sena were traded by Meralco to the Blackwater Elite in exchange for Larry Rodriguez, who was also traded by the Bolts to the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters via the Elite in exchange for Jimmy Alapag.[2]

On September 1, 2016, he was traded by the Blackwater Elite to the GlobalPort Batang Pier in exchange for Ronald Pascual.

PBA career statistics

edit
Legend
  GP Games played   GS Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

[3][4]

Season-by-season averages

edit
Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003 Alaska 56 34.9 .401 .262 .782 4.4 4.2 1.5 .4 11.4
2004–05 Alaska 57 34.4 .391 .382 .774 4.1 5.5 1.1 .3 12.3
2005–06 Alaska 46 33.4 .408 .313 .708 4.0 4.8 .9 .2 12.8
2006–07 Alaska 23 27.7 .437 .270 .716 3.4 3.6 1.4 .1 11.3
2007–08 Alaska 55 29.6 .416 .349 .765 3.8 4.4 1.0 .4 10.8
Magnolia
2008–09 San Miguel 19 20.4 .392 .328 .679 2.6 2.3 .5 .3 8.9
2009–10 San Miguel 49 23.4 .429 .325 .782 3.4 3.4 .9 .2 9.4
Air21
Barangay Ginebra
2010–11 Barangay Ginebra 57 23.4 .396 .340 .735 3.1 2.9 .6 .3 6.8
2011–12 Barangay Ginebra 45 27.9 .395 .414 .740 3.9 3.8 .9 .2 9.4
2012–13 Barangay Ginebra 42 28.1 .414 .338 .644 4.4 4.3 1.3 .2 9.3
Air21
2013–14 Meralco 15 31.6 .481 .404 .793 3.3 5.3 .7 .4 11.5
2014–15 Meralco 41 26.3 .374 .316 .594 2.8 2.9 .8 .1 6.6
2015–16 Blackwater 27 31.9 .410 .304 .851 3.7 4.3 1.0 .2 9.9
2016–17 GlobalPort 36 23.3 .444 .388 .778 3.2 2.1 .9 .1 6.9
2017–18 Blackwater 23 14.0 .380 .350 .692 2.0 1.7 .6 .1 3.3
2019 Blackwater 30 16.4 .426 .237 1.000 1.9 1.7 .9 .0 3.1
Career 621 27.5 .408 .338 .747 3.5 3.7 1.0 .2 9.3

References

edit
  1. ^ Badua, Snow (September 6, 2013). "Air21 Express acquire Taulava from Meralco in exchange for Cortez". Spin.ph. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  2. ^ Ganglani, Naveen (August 7, 2015). "Jimmy Alapag to come out of retirement, will join Meralco after trade". Rappler. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  3. ^ [1] PBA-Online.net
  4. ^ [2] RealGM.com