Better late than never, as they say
A rainy Thursday night at the Upper Deck Gym in Pasig City marked the return of Gilas Pilipinas to their daily grind, as they now prepare for two upcoming tourneys abroad, the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup and the 2017 SEA Games.
But Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger looked like he did not get the memo.
The six-foot-eight bruiser came into the facility at around 6:45 PM — 45 minutes after the 6:00 PM call time. He came already in full practice gear, went straight to head coach Chot Reyes, and explained why he arrived late.
“It was a miscommunication. I changed numbers and we had a miscommunication,” said the 28-year-old, who also had a case of tardiness in one of Gilas’ morning practice session last week, during the Jones Cup in Taiwan.
Even the returning Gabe Norwood noticed Standhardinger running late for Monday night’s session.
“Good guy but late. I heard that was a common thing with him,” said the team’s eldest statesman with a chuckle.
Standhardinger was still able to work out with the team for over an hour. There was no serious punishments handed to him or whatsoever, but his head coach gave him a task to fulfill for tomorrow’s practice.
“I have to buy pizza now, but I like to buy pizza for my teammates so we have a great practice tomorrow,” said Standhardinger. “I don’t know if it’s a punishment. Coach said I should buy pizza so I buy pizza.
