Christian Standhardinger remains uninterested in individual awards. Instead, his primary concern is how his NorthPort would traverse this unprecedented PBA season, held inside the bubble in Clark, Pampanga.
The league has yet to discuss the awards for this tilt. Still, according to online fans, the Filipino-German forward is a favorite for top honors — whether it be a Most Valuable Player or Best Player of the Conference plum.
Such is the faith of many in the 31-year-old. And he has proven his value after leading NorthPort to a historic trip the 2019 Governors’ Cup semis, eventually bagging BPC honors.
Reigning, six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo once told 2OT that his ex-teammate is among those whom he believes can become the PBA’s new king, with Fajardo sitting out this season to continue his recovery from a leg injury.
“It really doesn’t matter,” Standhardinger said in a media availability session Tuesday.
“It is an honor that I became Best Player of the Conference last year but it really, really does not matter, especially in our situation right now.”
The 2017 top pick is more concerned about his team, especially after the Batang Pier got off to a disappointing start in the shortened Philippine Cup following an 89-96 loss to Blackwater Monday.
“We had our first loss which I think we could’ve done much much better,” said Standhardinger, who led his side with 23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and two steals in the loss that saw them go down by as much as 17.
“But yeah, it doesn’t matter. There are so many revelations. Like, let’s just come together as a team and try to win this. Whoever gets it, gets it.”
The 6-foot-8 bruiser admitted that he and some of his teammates found it hard to get into the rhythm due to the long layoff. Now, the goal moving forward into the tourney is to address that.
“I talked to a bunch of my teammates. For a lot of us it was very hard to get into the flow, into the rhythm of the game, like the feel of the game. And obviously that has several reasons — it’s the bubble, it’s rusty, they didn’t play for six months,” Standhardinger said.
“So now we just have to [work] as a team and listen to Coach Pido [Jarencio] how we can get this.”
