MANILA, Philippines — While tough, Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone admitted that both the team and Christian Standhardinger wanted to go different directions, and the endgame – a blockbuster trade approved by the PBA on Saturday, July 13.
Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle, and Ginebra’s 10th overall pick in Sunday’s rookie draft were traded to the Terrafirma Dyip in exchange for Stephen Holt, Isaac Go, and the third pick.
All four players were former No. 1 rookie selections.
“It was a combination of things,” Cone told Rappler. “First off, let me just say, it was tough to move on from Christian and Stanley, who were absolute studs for us over the past few years.”
“Stanley was absolutely dominating when we first acquired him and Christian was the best player in the league next to JuneMar (Fajardo) over the past couple of years,” he added.
“However, on our part, we felt we needed to get younger, and for Christian, he had stated to us a conference ago that he would prefer to play in a different system and under a different coach.”
Standhardinger won the Best Player of the Conference in the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup, as well as the Finals MVP in the 2022-2023 Commissioner’s Cup.
The Filipino-German also stands as the presumptive MVP runner-up and Mythical First Team member in the 2023-2024 PBA season.
“No doubt, he loved his teammates and playing for the Ginebra fans, but he felt it was better to move on,” Cone said of Standhardinger.
In the recently concluded season, Standhardinger finished behind seven-time league MVP June Mar Fajardo in the statistical points race, which makes up for 40% of the MVP criteria.
Standhardinger, a 35-year-old big man, normed 19.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks for Ginebra last season, but their team got ousted in the semifinals in both conferences.
Pringle, now 37, saw his performance dip since winning the Best Player of the Conference award iin the PBA “bubble” during the pandemic-hit 2020 Philippine Cup.
According to Cone, Ginebra contemplated various trades before going ahead with the Terrafirma deal, saying it gave them “the chance to move up in what we see is a strong draft.“
This allows the team flexibility in acquiring a point guard or big man of choice in a talent-heavy draft class bannered by Justine Baltazar, Kai Ballungay, RJ Abarrientos, Sedrick Barefield, Mark Nonoy, and Draft Combine MVP Jonnel Policarpio.
“We will miss Christian and Stanley and always appreciate the championships we won together,” said Cone, the concurrent Gilas Pilipinas tactician.
“We wish them the best as they continue their careers.” — Rappler.com
