Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger finally his much-anticipated arrival at powerhouse San Miguel Beermen.
The six-foot-eight forward — who had been in the country six days ago for a tour of duty in the ABL — arrived from Hong Kong on Friday afternoon and reported for practice on Saturday morning at the Acropolis Gym in Quezon City.
“It was great,” said Standhardinger of his first practice with the Beermen.
He admitted, however, that he has yet to fully recover, as he hasn’t had much rest, having played with Hong Kong Eastern after suiting for Gilas Pilipinas. Still, he decided to attend to familiarize himself with his new home.
“Actually I do feel tired,” shared the 28-year-old. “[But] I don’t think it’s the flight. I think it’s the… You know, in the ABL season, I played for 40 minutes a game, and before that, I played for Gilas. So I do feel my body a little bit.
“It’s good that I am here so early so I could really learn the plays and recover and be ready for our first game.”
It was somewhat unfortunate that four of San Miguel’s Fab Five weren’t at practice — Chris Ross was the only one present but did not suit up — but Standhardinger is looking forward to working out with them in coming days.
#PBA2018 Christian Standhardinger attends first practice with San Miguel Beermen. The 6-foot-8 Fil-German arrived in the Philippines yesterday. pic.twitter.com/VJkWEh0ti3
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) April 21, 2018
“I think they’re somewhere else — on vacation or something,” the first overall pick in the 2017 PBA Rookie Draft said. “Well-deserved. They need to recover as well. I mean, they all played a lot of minutes, I saw.
“I can’t wait til they’re here.”
With Standhardinger’s arrival in the home base of the four-time Philippine Cup champions, the rich just got richer. Many people see the German League Most Valuable Player as a major piece of the puzzle — the rare, Grand Slam puzzle, that is.
But he doesn’t want to talk about being this or being that for the storied franchise, saying that his main focus for now is helping this “very great team.”
“Well, I don’t like to talk about that stuff,” said the 2017 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist. “They have a very great team already. So my job is not to get in here and try to be a key piece or try to make something happen.”
“My job is to really see what I can do — what I can personally do — to try make this great team a little bit better. I will try to do that, and we will see what happens, and I hope that we win two more championships this year.”
