Mike Cortez

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Salongaand the surname or paternal family name is Cortez.

Mike Cortez

Blackwater Bossing
Position	Assistant coach
League	PBA
Personal information
Born	(1980-11-10) November 10, 1980 (age 44) San Jose, California
Nationality	Filipino / American
Listed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight	170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High school	Carson (Carson, California)
College	De La Salle
PBA draft	2003: 1st round, 1st overall
Selected by the Alaska Aces
Playing career	2003–2019
Position	Point guard
Coaching career	2023–present
Career history
As player:
2003–2008	Alaska Aces
2008–2010	San Miguel Beermen
2010	Air21 Express
2010–2012	Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
2012–2013	Air21 Express
2013–2015	Meralco Bolts
2015–2016	Blackwater Elite
2016–2017	GlobalPort Batang Pier
2017–2019	Blackwater Elite
As coach:
2023–present	Blackwater Bossing (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
3× PBA champion (2003 Invitational, 2007 Fiesta, 2009 Fiesta) PBA All-Star (2003) PBA Mythical Second Team (2006) PBA Comeback Player of the Year (2009) 2× UAAP champion (2000, 2001) 2× UAAP Mythical Five (2000, 2002) UAAP Rookie of the Year (2000)

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.

Amateur career

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

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

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

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

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. PBA-Online.net
4. RealGM.com