LUCENA -- Without five-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo or any naturalized players in the pool, Christian Standhardinger stands as the logical shoo-in for the Gilas Pilipinas squad in the February window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers.
The Fil-German center spearheads the big men in the 24-man list released on Friday which will be tasked to sweep the two-game series against Thailand on February 20 and Indonesia on February 23.
Standhardinger, who is viewed as a naturalized player in Fiba competitions, fits the bill, especially after Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio earlier hinted at parading one for the February games.
"In the first window, maybe you're looking at a Christian Standhardinger or a Stanley Pringle who have naturalized status as far as Fiba is concerned," he said. "Since teams are preparing already (for the next PBA season), maybe we can borrow to augment with the seven players that we have and one of them can be Christian or Stanley."
Stanley Pringle is not listed in the pool, which further boosts Standhardinger's spot in the team.
That, however, still depends on the whims of the still yet-to-be-named head coach, who is only expected to handle Gilas in an interim status.
Aside from Standhardinger, also battling for the spots in the frontline are Japeth Aguilar, Poy Erram, Troy Rosario, the returning Marc Pingris, and young guns Isaac Go and Justine Baltazar.
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