Maybe, the third time’s the charm for Christian Standhardinger.
The 2017 overall top pick has yet to book a career W with his Philippine Basketball Association team San Miguel Beer, with the agile big man still adjusting to a “whole different sport” Asia’s first league has to offer.
In their out-of-town bout later this afternoon against streaking Alaska Aces in Dumaguete City, the Fil-German standout is looking to help his team chalk up their first win in the Commissioner’s Cup which the Beermen will be vying to retain after taking it all last season with Charles Rhodes.
A victory tonight would definitely ease some lingering doubts whether the 6’8” center has really adjusted to a new role in a new team and in a new league.
In a dismal debut against Meralco, finished with just four points, five rebounds and two assists. Despite making the first attempt at the basket of his PBA career shortly after coming in for JuneMar Fajardo, he would only add two more in garbage time.
In his second outing, he picked his spots and was more confident in scoring the basketball.
In a 123-119 OT loss to Rain Or Shine last week, the 28-year-old rookie lifted his stats to a double-double average after a 17-point, 15-rebound performance in 35 minutes—15 more minutes on the floor as opposed to his first game against the Bolts.
After two games, Standhardinger can boast a career stat of 10.5 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 3.0 apg and most importantly, 5.0 personal fouls a game.
If you’d be looking at this numbers and consider them now in prospect, it will say a lot about the trend on which the top pick’s career would follow.
Of course, nobody’s whole career is dependent on two games, but if a grand slam coach like Norman Black says those numbers belonging to a player which “is going to be one of the best players in the league eventually,” then we might be looking at a double-double machine who has an eye for a dime in the long run.
Then again, there’s still those five personal fouls a game that he commits we can’t leave out.
He has yet to, in the vernacular term, “graduate” from a game, but then if we rely on numbers to speak for themselves, this will be a perennial problem for the big man in a league where physicality is the norm but the rules are ever changing.
So far, that’s the only “bad” thing about his game. Coming off an entirely different league, it’s understandable that he’s adjusting to the calls, but in his first two games, there were sparks of brilliance and good indications of things to come for SMB fans to look forward to.
He demonstrated that he can be a facilitator, a scorer, or a defender when needed. He also showed us that he can grab a rebound, run the length of the floor, bulldoze two defenders and still find an open Arwind Santos under the basket.
Likewise, the Beermen’s top pick knows how to use the pick which could be a massive weapon added to their already stacked arsenal in a team where the big man is the focal point of both offense and defense.
Standhardinger could also lighten the load for 4-straight PBA MVP Awardee JMF, and be the designated defensive anchor whenever the Kraken is on the bench.
For now however, Standhardinger, and SMB, need a win.