The rich will definitely get richer
San Miguel Beermen head coach Leo Austria sees no issue with top pick Christian Standhardinger as far as fitting into the team is concerned, asserting that his arrival will only help the superstar-laden squad become that much better.
The 6-foot-8 Filipino-German arrived in the country on Friday afternoon and quickly reported for practice on Saturday.
“Very flexible yung team namin ngayon,” said the three-time Coach of the Year. “Pwede kami mag-three small, three big, pwedeng tatlong mabibilis dahil if we have Christian and Troy [Gillenwater], these two guys tumatakbo.
“Eh si Christian naman alam naman natin na yung kanyang ability to run.”
With this, Austria and his deputies have apparently found answers to the “good problem,” which he addressed moments after he steered the Beermen to their historic, fourth straight Philippine Cup championship last April 6.
“Alam ko na kung anong gagawin dito dahil alam naman natin.. Ang maganda dito very flexible siya eh. He can play 3, 4, 5,” said Austria.
“And good thing, those players na talagang mahaba ang playing time, mabibigyan sila ng pahinga.”
Hopes have definitely skyrocketed with the Gilas Pilipinas stalwart’s arrival into the storied franchise. But before Standhardinger embarks on this new journey, Austria is giving him the time he badly needs to recover.
The 28-year-old forward is still fresh from his stint with the Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team in the ASEAN Basketball League, where he and his team lost to San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the semifinals just last weekend.
“He has to take care of his body dahil wear and tear eh,” said the six-time champion coach. “Yun ang nangyari sa kanya, so we’ll give him time to recover. Pwede namin i-give up yung physical condition niya but yung mental conditioning, that is what is important because we’re running a lot of plays eh.
“And we have a system on defense. We have a lot of rules. So they should know that right away before our first game.”
