MANILA, Philippines — Christian Standhardinger will be arriving Friday to join the San Miguel Beer training camp earlier than expected following the early exit of his team in the ABL ousted by another SMC team – San Miguel Pale Pilsen Alab Pilipinas – in the semifinals.
“We did expect him to come before the start of the second conference, but not the start of our training. But because their ABL playoff ride was cut short, he’ll be with us just on the second day of our training,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
The Beermen resume training two days before the PBA Commissioner’s Cup opening twinbill at the Smart Araneta Coliseum featuring Blackwater versus Columbian Dyip (Kia Picanto) and TNT KaTropa opposite GlobalPort.
San Miguel and Magnolia, however, won’t play a game at least in the first week of the tourney, being the finalists in the recent all-Filipino tourney.
Standhardinger made an impression in his ABL stint although his team Hong Kong Eastern failed to make it past the semifinals, swept by SMB Alab in their best-of-three series.
“He’s a consistent double-double performer. He’s even delivering 30-point games. He just had a hard time in the last two games as he had to contend with Renaldo Balkman and Justin Brownlee. His import partner was a mere role player,” said Austria.
He added that the 6-foot-8 Fil-German player is capable of playing the small forward, big forward and center spots.
“He’s an agile big man and he would give us much flexibility,” said Austria.
“Against Alab, he was even defending Justin Brownlee who’s playing from the outside, and he did a good job. It means he can play the No. 3 position and be on the floor together with Arwind Santos and June Mar Fajardo,” Austria added.
San Miguel also features an import that can play multi-position as the team chases a possible second jewel to a possible grand slam season.