With June Mar Fajardo possibly out for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, all eyes will be on 6-foot-7 Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger and how he will fare against the big men of the top-flight teams of Asia.
“I think this is one of the most prestigious tournaments I’ve ever played in,” the Munich-born cager said on the eve of their flight to Beirut, Lebanon. “I’m excited to showcase what we can do.”
Standhardinger, who was the 2016 Most Valuable Player of German league ProA, is hoping that he and Gilas Pilipinas rally around each other now that they are down one man entering the continental tournament.
“June Mar is an amazing player and it hurts the team that he is not here obviously. I think that we need to come together as a team now,” the 28-year-old reflected.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of pressure. Andray [Blatche] is not playing, June Mar is not playing, we did not have as much practices as we wanted to because of the PBA schedule, but we just have to go out there and play our best.
“At the end of the day, we can’t do anything but do our best. If we played good, we’d be happy, if not, at least we did our best. That’s what my mother told me, if you think about it, you could only do your best,” stated Standhardinger, who averaged 11.8 points and 7.4 rebounds during the recently-concluded William Jones Cup.
In addition, Standhardinger is ready to take on China’s twin towers of Li Muhao (7-foot-2) and Han Dejun (7-foot-1).
“Actually, I like to play against taller players. I might have the disadvantage in height because usually I don’t play five but in the Philippines I am the five to help the team,” said Standhardinger about facing China on August 9. “I’ll take on the challenge.
“I hope that they will not like playing against me.”
