Allan Vito Flores Caidic (born June 15 1963, Pasig City, Philippines) is a former professional basketball player from the Philippines. He is considered by many to be the greatest outside shooter the country has ever produced, thus, earning the monicker the "Triggerman" .
He played college hoops at the University of the East (UE), before joining the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 1987, where he broke several Filipino and PBA all-time records -- including the most points scored in a single game (79 points), the most three-point field goals made in a single game (17 triples; breaking his previous record of 15 triples), the most three-point field goals in a career (1,242 triples) and the most consecutive freethrows in a row (76). He has played with several PBA teams and won numerous championships. He played for the Philippine national basketball team including the 1998 Philippine Centennial Team.
Whilst in the league, he was considered one of the best three-point shooters in Asia. The vaunted Chinese national basketball team recognized his ability by always reminding their players to be on the lookout for "Philippine No. 8", referring to Caidic's regular jersey number while playing for the National Team.
He started playing in the Inter Subdivision Leagues at Brookside, in Cainta
before trying out for college teams such as the Ateneo Blue Eagles
and the Mapua Cardinals
but was unsuccessful. He then tried out for San Juan de Letran Knights
and was accepted but after realizing that Letran does not have an engineering program he left. He was later accepted in the University of the East
(UE) in 1981 and spent his first year on the bench. In a deciding game between the UE Warriors and the Far Eastern University Tamaraws
, Caidic missed two crucial free throws that handed the UAAP championship to the unbeaten Tamaraws.
In 1982, Caidic, at 19, bounced back by leading the University of the East Red Warriors to a comeback win against the University of the Philippines Maroons (UP) in the finals, scoring 30 points to capture the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) basketball championship and won the Most Valuable Player award.
In his final two years, Caidic along with Jerry Codiñera led the Red Warriors to back-to-back championships in 1984-1985, the last University of the East basketball team ever to win a championship in the 20th Century. At the same time, he played for several teams in the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL) while playing for the national team.
Meanwhile, outside UAAP, he played for several PABL teams including the CF Sharp, ESQ Marketing and the Magnolia Ice Cream/Lagerlite. He also played for commercial teams internationally, notably the Bank of Rizal| Development Bank of Rizal (1983) that finished third in an invitational tournament in Malaysia and the Countryfair Hotdogs in the 1984 William Jones Cup tournament.
In 1984-1985, Caidic was part of Danding Cojuangco
’s national basketball development program, which formed a team that represented the Philippines in international competitions. The main objective of the program is to win the 1986 Asian Basketball Confederation crown (now known as the FIBA Asia Cup) which was last won by the Philippines in 1973. The team is composed of selected amateur players notably Caidic, Samboy Lim
, Hector Calma
, Franz Pumaren, Elmer Reyes, Tonichi Yturri, Yves Dignadice
, Ludovico Valenciano, Alfie Almario, Jun Tan, Benjie Gutierrez, Louis Brill, Peter Aguilar, Teodocio Alfarero, Jerry Codiñera
, with three American reinforcements Dennis Still
, Jeff Moore
and hotshot Arthur "Chip" Engelland
The team, coached by former Loyola Marymount coach Ron Jacobs, played internationally as the San Miguel Philippines, winning the 1984 FIBA Asian Club Basketball Championship Cup and the 1985 William Jones Cup International Basketball Championship, and represented Asia in the FIBA World Club Basketball Championship at Gerona, Spain.
In 1985 Jones Cup, Caidic played in the San Miguel Philippines’ overtime victory against the USA, coached by the legendary Gene Keady, in the finals. His shooting mentor, Arthur "Chip" Engelland, scored 43 points while Caidic scored 19, to lead the Filipinos in a 108-100 overtime victory to capture the Jones Cup title. Keady, later, told Ron Jacobs that he had the highest respect for two Filipino cagers whom he called 'Heckle and Jeckle' (referring to Allan Caidic and Samboy Lim).
Under the NCC program, Caidic led the Philippines in capturing the 1985 South East Asian Games
Gold Medal and in 1986, he led the last all-amateur national team to capture the FIBA Asia Championship
gold medal and scored 22 points in the final against China
. After winning the Asian Championship, the Philippines qualified for the 1986 FIBA World Championship
, Spain, but due to the political crisis in the country (that led to the Philippine People Power EDSA Revolution
), the national team did not participate in the tournament.
Caidic is a four-time veteran of the Asian Games as a player and shared this distinction with Alvin Patrimonio, as the only PBA players to play in four Asian Games (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998). In 1986, he led an all-amateur national team to Asian Games bronze medal, after a heart breaking controversial loss to South Korea in the semi-final. He went on to win another bronze medal and a silver in the Asian Games basketball tournaments and hold the distinction of being the only Filipino player to win the William Jones Cup championships twice, once as an amateur in 1985 and once as a professional in 1998.
In 1984-1985, he played in the PBA for the all-amateur guest NCC national team, preparing for the international season, and went on to win the 1985 PBA Reinforced Conference. In 1986, he returned to the PBA playing for the all-amateur Magnolia-Philippines preparing for the upcoming Asian Games tournament.
In 1987, he was drafted first pick overall by the Great Taste Coffee Makers and played alongside Ricardo Brown to led the team to the PBA Open Conference finals (In Game 3, he equalled Brown's PBA all-time record for the most points scored by a Filipino in a single Finals game - 48 points) and later captured his first PBA-All Filipino Cup championship. In his rookie season, he earned the 1987 PBA Rookie of the Year award and was named in the All-Star Mythical Five Selection, where he became the third first year-rookie player ever to be named in the Mythical Five Selection after Arnie Tuadles (1979) and Ricardo Brown (1983).
On November 2, 1989, Caidic scored 68 points and 15 three-point field goals made in a single game to lead Presto Tivoli past the Alaska Milkmen in a high scoring overtime game 175-159. Both teams' combined points, at the time, was the most in the PBA history.
In 1990, he set the PBA all-time record for the most three-point field goals made in a single season (160 triples) and lead Presto Tivoli to a championship title. He was named the 1990 PBA Most Valuable Player and was selected to play for the first all-pro national team coached by Robert Jaworski, bound for the Asian Games. In one of his Asian Games appearances, he led the national team's second half comeback win, 86-78, against Japan with 34 points despite playing with a broken hand and held scoreless in the first half. The Philippines went on to win the silver medal after losing to China in the finals with Caidic and Samboy Lim named in the mythical 5 selection.
On October 15, 1991, he broke the PBA all-time record for the most three-point field goals made in a career with 594 three-point conversions after scoring 9 triples in Tivoli's 125-142 loss to Pepsi.
One month later, on November 21, 1991, Caidic sets the PBA all-time records of the most points in a single game by a Filipino (79 points), the most points in a single half (53 points), the most points in a single quarter (37 points), the most three-point field goals made and attempts in a game (17/27 triples), the most three-point field goals made in a quarter (8 triples) and the most consecutive three-point field goals made in a single game (8 triples), to lead Presto Tivoli against Ginebra San Miguel. His performance remained as one of the greatest individual performances in the PBA history. What makes it more remarkable is that while he was playing in the court, his wife Millote was giving birth to their first daughter. He played late in the first quarter and left in the middle of the fourth quarter, in a game where he could have possibly score 100 points or more.
In 1993, he moved to the San Miguel Beermen franchise after his Presto ballclub was replaced by the Sta. Lucia Realtors in the PBA. In his new team, he teamed with Samboy Lim, to form the league's deadliest scoring duo in the 1990s and led the Beermen to the 1993 All-Filipino Cup finals. He ended the season winning the PBA Governor's Cup championship with San Miguel and earned the 1993 PBA All-Star Most Valuable Player award after leading his team (North All-Star) to victory, scoring 40 points (second highest points scored in a single All-Star game) and 9 triples (the most three-point field goals made in a single All-Star game). He became the first PBA player ever to win the MVP awards in the regular season and in the All-Star Game.
In 1994, San Miguel won the right to represent the country in the Asian Games after winning the PBA All-Filipino Cup conference title. In the Asian Games, the Beermen formed the core of the national team with some loan players (notably Alvin Patrimonio and Asia's best point guard Johnny Abarrientos) from the other PBA franchises. The national team finished fourth but Caidic finished as the Asian Games basketball tournament leading scorer and was named in the all-tournament Mythical Five Selection.
In 1995, he became the eighth player to score 10,000 career points in the PBA history and the league's first player to score 1,000 career three-point field goals. He went on to win the PBA Governor's Cup Best Player of the Conference after leading the San Miguel Beermen to the finals. He finished the season as the league's leading point scorer with 20.9 points per game, the last guard ever to led the league in season-best points scoring average in the 20th Century.
In 1998, he was selected by Tim Cone for the Philippine Centennial Team bound for the William Jones Cup (where he scored 25 points with six triples against South East Asian rival, Thailand) and the Asian Games. The team started their international campaign against China and a PBA All-Star Selection but had a dismal display in the PBA Centennial Cup. They went to a tough United States midwest tour and won the William Jones Cup in Taiwan. In the Asian Games, the nationals easily won their group stage but loss in the semi-final and settled for third after beating Kazakhstan in their final game.
In 1999, after retiring as a player, he briefly coached the Barangay Ginebra Kings. Critics and loyal Ginebra followers considered him as the worst coach to ever pilot the league's most popular team. Online discussion boards and radio talk shows were filled with angst laden messages directed at him. Due to this uproar, management blink and re-appointed him as Team Manager. He also served as the national team's assistant coach in 2002 and was an active participant of the San Miguel Corporation All-Stars, a group composed of several former professional basketball players.
In 2000, Caidic was named in the PBA 25 greatest players ever to play in the league's history after the PBA celebrated its 25th year as the first professional basketball league in Asia.
In 2005, Caidic took part in the PBA's 30th Anniversary, leading Virgilio Dalupan's Legends Team to victory, 96-92, in the PBA's Classic Greatest Game with an MVP performance, scoring 30 points (4 triples, 8 rebounds) on May 2005. He also led the PBA Legends Team to a two-game Australian Tour Series and earned himself the series Most Valuable Player award. He was then appointed Sports Ambassador to represent the Philippines in the 23rd South East Asian Games alongside some of the Philippines' greatest athletes (Efren Reyes, Rafael Nepomuceno) to promote the event throughout the country.
Recently, he fittingly released his autobiographical book, "My Life Allan Caidic, The Triggerman" on his 43rd birthday (15th of June 2006).
After a reshuffling between the then-four San Miguel Corporation teams, Caidic became the team manager of the Coca-Cola Tigers. But, he left in March 2007 to become the current assistant coach of the Barangay Ginebra Kings.
Awards and Achievements
Career PBA highlights
- PBA Most Valuable Player 1990
- PBA Rookie of the Year 1987
- PBA Mythical First Team Selection in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1995
- PBA Mythical Second Team Selection in 1993 and 1994
- PBA Best Player of the Conference (1995 PBA Governor's Cup)
- PBA All-Star Games (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995)
- PBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (1993)
- PBA Top 25 Greatest Players of all time (2000)
- PBA 5,000 Points Club Member
- PBA 10,000 Points Club Member
- PBA 1,000 Three-Points Club Member
Philippine Basketball Association all-time records
- Most points scored in a single game by a Filipino (79) - November 21, 1991
- Most points scored in a single half (53) - November 21, 1991
- Most points scored in a single quarter (37)
- Most points scored in a single finals game by a Filipino (48) - 1987 PBA Open Conference
- Most number of three-point field goals made in a single game (17) - November 21, 1991
- Most number of three-point field goals attempts in a single game (27) - November 21, 1991
- Most consecutive three-point shots made in a single game (8) - October 15, 1991
- Most number of three-point field goals made in a single quarter (9) - November 21, 1991
- Most number of three-point field goals made in a single All-Star game (9) - June 6, 1993
- Most consecutive free-throw shots made (76) - October 22, 1992 May 11, 1993
- Most number of three-point shots made in a single season (160) - 1990 PBA Season
- Most number of three-point shots made in a career (1,242)
- First Player to score 1000 career three-points field goal made in the PBA history - July 12, 1995
- Third highest points scored in a single game scored by a Filipino (68) - November 2, 1989
- Third highest points scored in a single quarter (27) - November 2, 1989
- Second highest points scored in a single All-Star game (40) - June 6, 1993
- Second highest number of three-point field goals made in a single game (15) - November 2, 1989
- Sixth highest points scored in a single game by a Filipino (59) - 1988
- Sixth highest points scored in a single game by a player (both locals/imports) (79) - November 21, 1991
- 1982 UAAP-Manila College Basketball Champions
- 1982 UAAP National College Basketball third place
- 1983 UAAP-Manila College Basketball third place
- 1984 UAAP-Manila College Basketball Champions
- 1984 UAAP National College Basketball Champions
- 1985 UAAP-Manila College Basketball Champions
- 1985 UAAP National College Basketball Champions
- 1985 Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Basketball Champions
- 1985 Philippine Amateur Basketball League Invitational Cup Finalists
- 1986 UAAP-Manila College Basketball Champions
- 1986 UAAP National College Basketball second place
- 1986 Philippine Amateur Basketball League Champions
UAAP men's college basketball all-time records
- Most number of three-point field goals made in a single game (10 triples) - August 1985
- Second highest points scored in a single finals game (48 points) - 1985
- Third highest points scored in a single finals game (42 points) - 1985
International career highlights
Club and Country
- 1982 ASEAN School Youth Basketball Championship champions
- 1983 Asian Invitational Basketball Tournament, third place
- 1983 FIBA Asia Championship, ninth place
- 1984 William Jones Cup
- 1984 FIBA Asia Club Championship champions
- 1985 Pesta Sukan Basketball Championship champions
- 1985 William Jones Cup champions
- 1985 FIBA World Club Championships, third place
- 1985 South East Asian Games champions
- 1986 FIBA Asia Championship champions
- 1986 Guam Invitational Basketball Tournament champions
- Guam Tournament Most Valuable Player (1986)
- 1986 Asian Games, third place (bronze medal)
- 1990 Asian Games, second place (silver medal)
- Asian Games All-Star Mythical Five member (1990)
- 1991 China-PBA All Stars Goodwill Exhibition Series
- 1994 Asian Games, fourth place
- Asian Games Tournament top scorer (1994)
- Asian Games All-Star Mythical Five member (1994)
- 1998 Philippines-PBA All Star Selection Goodwill Series
- 1998 William Jones Cup champions
- 1998 Philippine Tour of the United States
- 1998 Asian Games, third place (bronze medal)
- 2002 Philippines-Chinese-Taipei Goodwill Series, Assistant Coach
- 2002 Philippine-Qatar Goodwill Series, Assistant Coach
- 2002 Philippine-Euro Basketball Challenge, third place, Assistant Coach
- 2002 Asian Games, fourth place, Assistant Coach
- 2006 Shell Rimula Brunei Cup, Team Manager
- PBA Classic All-Star Greatest Game (2005)
- PBA Classic All-Star Greatest Game Most Valuable Player (2005)
- PBA Legends Tour of Australia (2005)
- PBA Legends Tour of Australia Series Most Valuable Player (2005)
- 2005 Philippine South East Asian Games Sports Ambassador
- In 2000, Caidic, as a playing coach, placed himself in the reserved unprotected player list for the Brgy. Ginebra, to protect other important players in the team. The expansion team Red Bull picked unprotected players from the dispersal draft. They also drafted Caidic, and got the rights to Caidic. To avoid leaving Ginebra and playing for the Red Bull team, Caidic announced his retirement that year.
- Caidic was the only Filipino player to win the William Jones Cup International Basketball Championships twice in the 20th century, first as an amateur in 1985 and then as a professional in 1998.
- Scored 22 points to lead the Philippines in beating China 82-72 in the 1985 FIBA Asian Basketball Championship Finals.
- Allan Caidic and Alvin Patrimonio, both share the distinction of being the only PBA players to represent the country in four Asian Games basketball tournaments since 1986. Participated in the 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 Asian Games. In addition, they both won the 1998 Jones Cup, 2 bronze medals and a silver medal in the Asian Games. In the PBA, they both played in the latter part of their careers as playing assistant coaches for their respective teams but Caidic would later became the playing coach while Patrimonio became the playing team manager. Currently both served as Team Managers of their respective teams and playing for the touring San Miguel All-Stars.
- He was the third PBA player after Ramon Fernandez and Bogs Adornado to be given the honor of retiring the jersey number by a PBA team and was the first by two PBA teams. The San Miguel Beermen and the Barangay Ginebra Kings franchises both retired his number 8 jersey on year 2000 in honor of his legacy in the PBA.
- Former National Basketball Association superstar Earvin "Magic" Johnson awarded Caidic with the gameball after he scored his 10,000th career point on October 27, 1995. Johnson was in the country for a one-game tournament against a team led by former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Caidic became the eighth player to score 10,000 career points in the PBA history.
- In 2005, aside from being one of the country's Sports Ambassador, Caidic also served as San Miguel Corporation's Philippine Baseball and Boxing Project Director/Liaison Officer for the 23rd South East Asian Games. His teams brought gold medals for the country - 1 for baseball and 9 for boxing.
- Caidic, the PBA's King of Three-points, won the PBA All-Star Three-point Shootout Challenge in 1991 and 1992. In a separate contest in 1991, he led his team in winning the Three-point Shootout title and thirteen years later, he led a Legends team in capturing the 2004 PBA All-Star Legends Shootout Challenge.
- Caidic played in the San Miguel Philippines' overtime victory against the USA (coached by the legendary Gene Keady) in the William Jones Cup final. His shooting mentor, Arthur "Chip" Engelland, scored 43 points while Caidic scored 21, to lead the Filipinos in a 108-100 overtime victory to capture the Jones Cup title.
- He led the San Miguel All-Stars with 17 points (5 triples) against the USA-NBA Legends Team led by former NBA star Dennis Rodman. The SMC All-Stars lost 124-94 (April 2006).
- On April 29, 1997, in a game between the Gordon's Gin and the San Miguel Beermen, Caidic suffered one of the most critical injuries that ever happened in the PBA's history. The incident took place when Caidic jumped for a rebound with his team mate Nelson Asaytono but landed awkwardly and was half-conscious for a while (including vomiting) before he was removed from the court and taken to the hospital.
- He studied Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of the East while playing for the UE Red Warriors.
- Bocobo, Christian and Celis, Beth, Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball, (Philippines, 2004)
- Dela Cruz, Juan, Book of Pinoy Facts and Records, (National Bookstore, Mandaluyong City, Philippines, 2004)
- King, Jenny, Great and Famous Filipinos, 2nd Edition, (Worldlink Books, Philippines, 2002)
- Macauba, Rizza Marie Joy, The Triggerman (2005)
- OFW Guardian, Mr. Inside and Mr. Out, Sport, OFW Guardian, http://www.ofwguardian.com/article.php/I29mrinside, (2006)
- Philippine Basketball Association, The First 25 Years, (Philippines, 2000)