Christian Standhardinger has inside track on Best Player of the Governors’ Cup

Northport big man Christian Standhardinger could end up winning his first ever Best Player of the Conference award despite ranking third in the statistical points race after the end of the semifinal round of the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup.

The 30-year old Fil-German compiled an average of 35.1 SPs to finish behind pace-setter and former teammate June Mar Fajardo’s 38.8 and Columbian super rookie CJ Perez’ 37.2.

Fajardo and Perez, however, would likely be bypassed since San Miguel was eliminated by Brgy. Ginebra in the quarterfinals while the Dyip failed to make it past the eliminations.

NLEX guard Kiefer Ravena placed fourth with 34.5 SPs but the top-seeded Road Warriors failed to advance to the final four despite holding a twice-to-beat advantage over Standhardinger and the rest of the Batang Pier.

Jayson Castro rounded up the top 5 as the Best Player of this season’s Commissioner’s Cup registered 31.6 SPs for the TNT KaTropa who made it to the semis but was ultimately dispatched in 5 games by the Meralco Bolts.

The league has yet to name a BPC from a team that failed to make it to the semifinals while Castro was the last player from a non-finalist team to win the award.

Standhardinger played 4 games for the Beermen this conference and averaged 3.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in only 12.8 minutes of playing time. He immediately jacked up his average after being dealt to the Pido Jarencio-mentored squad for Moala Tautuaa.

The top overall pick of the 2017 draft averaged 22.7 points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals in 40 minutes per outing and was instrumental in the Batang Pier’s surge which climaxed with their stunning upset of the Road Warriors in the quarterfinals.

Stats comprise 40% of the criteria for the BPC while the rest will be determined by votes from the media (30%), players (25%) and the PBA Commissioner’s office (5%).