Cone confident Standhardinger can fit into Ginebra culture

Now Ginebra Gin King Christian Standhardinger. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone doesn’t see any problems with Christian Standhardinger integrating himself into the culture of one of the PBA’s most storied clubs.

Standhardinger spent two conferences with NorthPort and was traded to Ginebra for Greg Slaughter after the 2020 Philippine Cup.

The undisputed star of the Batang Pier, Standhardinger is moving into a team with a defined pecking order but Cone believes the 6-foot-9 big man will understand the team’s culture quickly.

“I think they’ll get the system quickly especially Chris. Christian has got to probably learn to kind of initiate our offense and be a little bit more patient than he normally is. The key will really be our culture, how he (Standhardinger) fits in to our culture. That’s really paramount to us.”

In the two conferences with NorthPort, Standhardinger earned the 2019 Governors’ Cup Best Player of the Conference plum while averaging upwards of 20 points and 12 rebounds a game.

Helping Standhardinger integrate into a new team are veteran leaders LA Tenorio, Joe Devance, and Mark Caguioa.

“They accepted that culture and modeled that culture. They’re superstars in their own right, but they still stayed with the culture,” said Cone as per PBA.ph.

“These are certain cultures that we tried to inculcate with the guys. Luckily, we have great models.”

Caguioa, Devance, and Tenorio have 26 championships between them and though they’re already at the twilight of their careers they are still important figures in the Gin Kings’ identity.

Cone said that it was those three players that helped Best Player of the Conference Stanley Pringle acclimate himself quickly into the team.

Pringle also came from the Batang Pier and was a former scoring champion but saw himself quickly getting integrated into the Gin Kings’ system, winning two titles with the club.

“Stanley got the system quickly. He just had to learn to get the ball moving a little bit more than what he’s normally been used to and trusting the ball to comeback to him,” said Cone.