He played college hoops at the University of the East before joining the Philippine Basketball Association
in 1987, where he broke several Philippine 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
made(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.
While 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.
PBA career
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 lead 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). He also finished the season as the first rookie player ever to lead the league in scoring.
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 Air Force 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 led 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 remains 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 came off the bench late in the first quarter and left the game in the middle of the fourth, in a game where he could have possibly scored 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.
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 made a successful recovery from that injury and 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 lost in the semi-final and settled for third after beating Kazakhstan in their final game.
Post-playing career
In 1999, he became the playing coach of the Barangay Ginebra Kings after a sudden resignation of interim coach Rino Salazar.In 2000, Caidic, as a playing coach, placed himself in the reserved unprotected player list for the Barangay Ginebra Kings 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 and decided to hang up his jersey that year. His early retirement ended a long distinguished career that started in 1984 as an amateur guest player in the PBA. He also became 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. Both franchises retired his number 8 jersey in honor of his legacy in the PBA. In the same year, 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.
After his retirement, Caidic remained with Ginebra as a full-time head coach and despite reaching the 2001 PBA All-Filipino Cup finals, he piloted Ginebra to one of its worst season runs in its franchise history. Due to fans' uproar, management blinked and promoted him as Team Manager in 2004. 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 May 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). 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. 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 South East Asian Games. His teams brought 10 gold medals (1 from baseball and 9 from boxing) for the country.
On June 15, 2006, on his 43rd birthday, he fittingly released his autobiographical book, "My Life Allan Caidic, The Triggerman", one of the first sports biographies by a Filipino athlete. In November 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.
In January 2007, Caidic joined with former national teammates Hector Calma and Samboy Lim, as well as former national team head coaches, current national team members and head coach Chot Reyes in expressing their support to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and for the lifting of suspension of the country from FIBA-sanctioned tournaments.
In 2008, he joined several PBA legends in a charity Tour of California but played a minor role due to personal commitments. Later that year, he led the PBA Legends to victory over the Manny Pacquiao-led Philippine Army Basketball Team to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the army.
In August 2009, he joined another PBA legends' tour in North America, and weeks later he led a PBA All-Star Selection (scoring five straight triples in the quarter) against Domonique Wilkins'-led NBA Generations.
On August 27, 2010, he scored 54 points during the 2010 NBA Asia Basketball Challenge held at Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. He also defeated Glen Rice, 7-5 in a three-point shooting contest. Their team won 177-167.
More recently, he has been named as an assistant coach of the De La Salle Green Archers and would primarily be the shooting coach of the team.
