Why trade Standhardinger?

Fil-German Christian Standhardinger is touted to be the next franchise player in the PBA. So when Kia traded him to powerhouse San Miguel Beer for three seldom-used veterans and next year’s first round pick, a lot of eyebrows went up the hairline.

Several PBA team managers cried foul and raised a howl of protest. They called out PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa for approving what they felt was unfair and one-sided. An infuriated team manager said before Narvasa cleared the trade, the majority of the PBA Governors issued a statement supporting a fair and unbiased decision. He said it wasn’t the case and labelled the decision a farce.

In the NBA, the Commissioner is empowered to veto a trade. What brought the veto about was Cleveland owner Ted Stepien’s infamous trade of consecutive first round picks from 1982 to 1985. The NBA even froze Cleveland’s trading rights to stop Stepien’s crazy transactions which resulted in the Cavaliers losing more than 50 games over three straight seasons. One of Stepien’s notorious trades was dealing the Cavs’ first round pick in 1982 to the Los Angeles Lakers for Don Ford and a future draftee. The Lakers wound up choosing James Worthy who could’ve gone to Cleveland. Other players who could’ve moved to the Cavs if not for Stepien trading first round picks were Sam Perkins, Derek Harper, Roy Tarpley, Detlef Schrempf and Dennis Rodman. Stepien, by the way, didn’t last long as Cleveland owner and sold his interest in 1983.  Eventually, the NBA instituted the Stepien Rule that prohibits teams from trading first round picks in consecutive years. Perhaps, that deserves study for application in the PBA.

In the PBA, trading the first overall pick isn’t new. Blackwater gave up the No. 1 overall slot to TNT in a trade for Larry Rodriguez and the KaTropa’s own No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft. In that same draft, Kia traded its No. 2 overall pick Troy Rosario to TNT. Mo Tautuaa was chosen first overall by TNT. In this year’s draft, the same thing happened but the situation was magnified because of Standhardinger’s undisputed status as a blue-chipper. San Miguel won two of the three conference titles this past season so taking in Standhardinger looked like a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poor. From all indications, it widened the gap between the haves and the have-nots. As Commissioner, Narvasa has the prerogative to veto any trade or revise its terms in line with the league’s objective of balancing the power equation.

The other day, I sought out Kia PBA Governor Bobby Rosales to check why the franchise let go of a potential game-changer in Standhardinger for Ronald Tubid, Rashawn McCarthy, Jay-R Reyes and San Miguel’s first round pick next year.  Did it make sense? Is it good for the league that is striving for parity? 

Rosales said trading Kia’s first overall pick became a hot issue because of Standhardinger’s reputation. “Everybody coveted him,” he said. “It’s a fact that we received offers from several teams for a trade. Our newly-designated team manager Joe Lipa saw an opportunity for us. No doubt, Christian is a talented and strong player. We all saw what he’s capable of doing with Gilas. Joe felt the draft couldn’t give us depth and we’ve got only nine players with live contracts. In our situation, we can’t rely on just one man. We figured if we could get three or four players for Christian, why not? So we looked at San Miguel’s offer. We wanted hungry players who didn’t get enough minutes before because they weren’t given a chance. We didn’t mind Keith Agovida who played with us previously and is familiar with our system but the Commissioner didn’t approve his inclusion and instead named Tubid whom I know can help us. McCarthy is young with a lot of potential and will improve with exposure.  Jay-R is a veteran frontliner who’ll play a bigger role with us. We wouldn’t have been able to get those three players if we didn’t trade Christian and we still have San Miguel’s first pick next year.”

Rosales said after posting a 0-11 record in the last Governors Cup, Kia is determined to bounce back. “Our modest objective next season is to qualify for the quarterfinals in every conference,” he said. “We want to be a fighting team with our players giving 100 percent in every game. Who doesn’t want to become a champion? We’re not giving our team a timetable within which to win a title, that’s unnecessary pressure. For three years, we had a management contract with Sen. Manny Pacquiao but he’s now involved in more pressing matters in the Senate and the same with Congressman Eric Pineda. We’re grateful for their involvement but it’s time to move on. Chris Gavina has been elevated from associate head coach to head coach with Joe as our team manager. Chris is a young and highly motivated coach and we believe he’ll learn a lot from Joe.”

Rosales said Gavina’s coaching staff will include Ricky Dandan, Art de la Cruz and Johnedel Cardel. “We’ve given Joe full authority in handling the team and he’s recruited experienced coaches for our staff,” he said. “Will there be more trades? It depends on how Joe plans to form our team. If we lack material, he’s empowered to do whatever it takes to build a winning franchise.”

Rosales said Kia will maintain a core of 14 to 15 players. “Last season, at one point, we had 24 players,” he said. “We’ll keep our pool to a minimum so we can focus on everyone closely. We don’t want to divide attention. We’ve started our camp and we’re looking forward to being competitive this coming season. We never commented on trades of other teams in the past because that’s their discretion for as long as the Commissioner approves. Let’s respect the goals of every team and just move forward.”