A day had already passed since Christian Standhardinger was sent back to the dugout by head coach Chot Reyes after the Filipino-German was deemed to have performed acts unbecoming of a Gilas player during the Philippines’ win against Iraq last Thursday.
“I didn’t like the extra stuff my other guys did, so I took them out of the game,” said the 53-year old mentor, pertaining to the cheap shot Standhardinger threw at Iraq’s Dhulfiqar Al-hchaimi.
And after a day of recollection, the 28-year old naturalized Filipino shared that he has already moved on from the it, expressing his utmost respect for the national team tactician.
“Nohting changed,” shared Standhardinger after Gilas’ 80-91 loss to Lithuania. “Yesterday got heated but nothing changed.
“I have much respect to coach and that’s the most important things.”
The on-going William Jones Cup is Standhardinger’s first stint with Gilas and being under the watch of coach Chot. And as seen all throughout the tournament, the 6-foot-8 big man is not afraid to speak his mind, figuring in multiple war of words – including Reyes.
Despite this, the Munich-born cager believes that his squabbles with Reyes have resulted to them understanding each other better for the long run.
“I feel like it lifts our relationship to the next level because we went through this experience together,” furthered Standhardinger, who is averaging 11.9 points on 53 percent shooting to go along with 8.4 rebounds in the tourney.
“I hope we will be successful through the years.”
