The Kia Picanto’s miserable 2016-2017 season finally came to an end on Friday night. But despite how bad their campaigns in each of the three conferences went, there’s still a glimmer of optimism about them.
There’s the 2017 Rookie Draft in October, for starters.
The Picanto ended their 2017 Governor’s Cup run winless in 11 games, sending their season win-loss record to 6-27. It may be embarrassing, but the brighter side is that it only helped them get a high pick in the Draft.
As their season has come to a close, the Picanto now own the first pick.
With that said, Kia coach Chris Gavina is unsurprisingly upbeat. With their chances of getting a player who can turn the franchise’s fortunes around higher than ever, the youthful coach already has one aspirant in his radar.
It’s none other than Filipino-German workhorse Christian Standhardinger, who has proven himself as one of the best bigs in the country, all thanks to his stints in the Jones Cup, FIBA Asia Cup, and in the SEA Games with Gilas Pilipinas.
“That’s a great position to be in. Hopefully I’m still the head coach,” said Gavina with a chuckle, about Kia owning the first pick.
“If we can get a guy like Standhardinger, with his experience and demeanor on the court and his skillset, he can easily turn this franchise around.”
The six-foot-seven bruiser, a Most Valuable Player in the German league, was a somewhat late addition to the Draft class, as he only made himself eligible during the deadline of submission of application early this September.
But that does not mean that Kia’s sights are fully locked on the 29-year-old Standhardinger. According to Gavina, his eyes are also set on a few more players, which he saw when he watched some of their games in the PBA D-League.
“I like Jason Perkins. I like [Raymar] Jose from FEU. Both those guys are versatile. They remind me of Joe Devance — a type of guy who has multiple skillsets and has great basketball IQ. I like the guy(s) from Cignal too — (Davon) Potts and the Fil-Swede (Andreas Cahilig)? He impressed me in their championship run also.”
“Hopefully these guys land our way,” said Gavina.
