San Miguel Beermen head coach Leo Austria wasn’t bothered at all with the way Christian Standhardinger played in his first PBA game Wednesday night, saying that the veteran rookie is still finding his niche within the team.
The Filipino-German forward looked like he still has a lot to catch up with everything in the Beermen and in the league, having just four points, five rebounds, and two assists while being hounded by five personal fouls.
The Beermen lost, 85-93, to the Meralco Bolts.
“He’s also trying to adjust eh.
“Nasa adjustment period siya eh. He’s trying to figure out what is good para sa team namin, what kind of help he has to provide,” disclosed Austria. “But definitely makikita niyo kung anong worth niya.”
Austria, moreover, focused on the positives Standhardinger has brought and will be bringing to San Miguel — against the Orangemen, Standhardinger had the best plus-minus for the Beermen with a plus-8 efficiency rating.
Photo by PBA Images
“Makikita naman yung energy niya eh, he’s a big help to the team,” said Austria.
With regards to the loss, the Perpetual Coach of the Year rued that just like Standhardinger, the defending Commissioner’s Cup champions also has a lot to adjust with, with being in shape a primary objective for them.
“We’re not yet in game shape, which is very evident,” he lamented. “I think we’re still in the period of adjustment. We started our practice two weeks ago and we were not able to complete the two weeks because of commitments of some players
“Maraming distractions, and we thought na we’re a very strong team, a super team. Before this game talagang hype na hype yun eh.
“Napaka-layo ng laro namin from the last game we had, which is the championship,” the decorated tactician closed.
