Standhardinger an asset to Gilas Pilipinas, says coach Chot Reyes
IT would only take a little while before Christian Standhardinger can get used to the Filipino brand of game.
So as his adjustment to the Manila traffic.
On board an UBER cab, the Fil- German center came in very late in practice as his service got lost while they were trying to brave on the traffic from Makati to Ortigas.
“Unfortunately, he came in late. He tried to do some exploration on his own, he was brought everywhere by his UBER driver. The driver didn’t know where the gym is. So he came in very, very late, but he left his place very, very early,” head coach Chot Reyes told BusinessWorld.
Despite coming in late, Mr. Standhardinger, a pro player in Germany, brought his usually intense game at practice, much to the delight of Mr. Reyes.
“We’re not surprised. We already know what he can bring to the table. The only thing I wanted to look at is the kind of game shape he’s going in and how he’s going to cope with the physicality of the international game. But from what I’ve seen, I don’t think we need to worry about him. He’s out there, not afraid to bang bodies, not afraid to throw at Mike Myers at practice as well as the other guys. I think he’ll be an asset to this team,” said Mr. Reyes.
Mr. Standhardinger will be one of the new inclusions in the Gilas Pilipinas team that will play in the William Jones Cup tournament next week.
On Wednesday night’s tune-up game against NLEX, the 6- foot- 9 player came through with the game-winning basket with six tenths of a second left to lift Gilas Pilipinas to a thrilling victory.
Mr. Standhardinger got his first taste of competing against PBA players and the 28-yearold center was impressed with what he saw.
A player in the Bundesliga League, Mr. Standhardinger remains non-committal on the possibility of playing in the PBA. He would be eligible to play for the coming Rookie Draft, especially now that he’s playing for the national team.
“We’ll see. After Gilas, I will go back home and take care of some personal stuff. Let’s see if there would be teams interested here,” he added. —