It had just been less than a month since Christian Standhardinger has been part of the Gilas program. But in that short amount of time, he has developed a reputation of speaking his mind.
During Gilas’ tune-up series a week before leaving for Taiwan, the 28-year-old figured in verbal tussles with the likes of hard-nosed cagers Calvin Abueva and Doug Kramer.
So it was no surprise that the 6-foot-8 big man was seen in another skirmish, this time at the 39th William Jones Cup in Taipei, Taiwan, against a player of the 3D Global Sports Canada early in the game which they lost, 77-90.
But what caught the attention of many was Standhardinger’s shouting match with his own coach, Chot Reyes, also during that game.
It is an unusual sight to see when a coach and a player shout at each other as if they are of the same age. But the outspoken mentor downplayed what happened, saying that it’s just a normal occurrence in the team.
“That’s part of the culture that we are building in this team,” said Reyes.
“I keep telling my players I’d rather [choose that] we shout at each other, [and] you answer me back while you’re in the game playing hard, as against you’re not gonna shout, you’re not gonna answer me, but you’re gonna sit in the corner, and you’re gonna feel bad and you’re gonna stop playing.”
After Saturday night’s incident, Standhardinger served as one of Gilas’ anchors against Chinese Taipei-A, scoring 17 markers alongside 15 rebounds to will his team to victory. And with that, Reyes could not be more satisfied.
“We had a nice little shouting match, but today, he came out and he played hard.
“That’s just the kind of culture that we’re building here. We are all very passionate, we all want to win, and the important thing is what you do on the floor,” furthered the five-time Coach of the Year.
As long as Standhardinger backs up his words, there will definitely be no problem between him and the rest of Gilas.
