Christian Standhardinger happy for Andray Blatche, questionable for 6th Fiba window

Christian Standhardinger. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Christian Standhardinger begged off from national team duties ahead of the Philippines’ next matches against Qatar and Kazakhstan in the second round of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

San Miguel’s star big man cited his knee injury that has bugged him for the past year as to why he would like to be removed from the team and also to make room for former NBA player Andray Blatche to be Gilas’ Pilipinas naturalized player.

“To be honest with you guys, you can see my knee is recovering but I have to build strength now so I’m happy that Blatche is now part of the pool because he’s a great basketball player,” said Standhardinger, who is part of the 14-man pool as the backup naturalized player.

The 2017 top overall pick was fresh off leading the Beermen to a 99-91 win over Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum when he publicly stated that he would want to be temporarily relieved of his national team responsibilities.

Standhardinger, however, has been a dutiful soldier for Gilas having donned the Philippines’ colors even before he got to the PBA.

Even when he was still with Hongkong Eastern, the 6-foot-8 Standhardinger eagerly represented the Philippines in the 2017 William Jones Cup and in the 2017 Fiba Asia Cup wherein he replaced Blatche as Gilas’ naturalized player when the former Brooklyn Net pulled out of the game against Lebanon due to security concerns.

Standhardinger was also a pivotal part of the Philippine national team that won the gold in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games and he took part in the Fiba 3×3 World Cup, that the country hosted, despite his knee injury.

The Filipino-German center/forward then, played under Yeng Guiao in the 2018 Asian Games before once again teaming up with the fiery head coach in the Iran game in the second round of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Still, Standhardinger said that he’d be ready in case Gilas calls.

“”If they need me, everybody knows they can call me up,” said Standhardinger, who had 26 points, six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks against the Gin Kings. “I played injured or not injured but right now I’m very happy that they Blatche and he will carry it.”

“Blatche is a great basketball player. I’m focusing on my knee and San Miguel now.”