Barangay Ginebra San Miguel big man Christian Standhardinger and TNT Tropang Giga import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson were named Best Player and Best Import of the Conference, respectively, prior to the start of Game 4 of the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Standhardinger, who missed Ginebra’s first game this conference, has been playing some of his best basketball in this Governors’ Cup, taking the cudgels from frontcourt partner Japeth Aguilar, who missed most of the tournament due to a knee injury. Getting the bulk of the minutes as the defending champs’ sole big man, the Fil-German has averaged 23.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists through Game 2 of the finals.
The Bulldozer tallied 534 SPs, 506 media votes, and 70 player votes for a total of 1,010 points.
This is Standhardinger’s second BPC award, with the first one coming in 2019, also in the Governors’ Cup but playing for the Northport Batang Pier. He averaged 22.7 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists for the Batang Pier in that conference.
Hollis-Jefferson, who replaced TNT’s original import, Jalen Hudson, early in the conference, proved to be the right choice, leading the Tropang Giga all the way to the finals with per game norms of 29.8 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 6.8 assists, and 2.1 steals.
The former NBA veteran totaled 1,147 points—619 SPs, 457 media votes, and 71 player votes—to edge out Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee.