Wayne Bernard is a 28 year old 180 cm guard from San Diego that is playing his second season with MBC. He played at Davidson in North Carolina from 1999-2003. His best season was his senior year where he played 27 games averaging 15.1ppg, 3.3rpg, 5.4apg. In 2003, he became a professional coming to Europe to play for Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan (Israel-Premier L.) playing 10 games and averaging 14.0ppg, 2.1rpg, 5.5apg, 2.4spg, but got waived and finished the season in Greece for Ilysiakos Athens playing 8 games and averaging 7.5ppg, 2.0rpg, 1.4apg, 1.1spg. In 2004-2005, he played for Norrkoping Dolphins in Sweden playing 30 games and averaging 14.3ppg, 3.8rpg, 4.2apg, Steals-3(2.2spg), FGP: 40.7%, 3-Pts: 30.5%. In 2005-2006, he played for Etoile Charleville-Mezières (France-ProB) playing 34 games averaging 14.1ppg, 2.0rpg, 2.9apg, 2.0spg, FGP: 49.4%, 3PT: 42.2%, FT: 75.7%, and during the season moved to ESPE Chalons-en-Champagne Basket Pro (France-ProB). In 2006-2007, he played for ESPE Chalons-en-Champagne Basket Pro (France-ProB), French League playing 18 games and averaging 10.4ppg, 1.7rpg, 1.6apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 37.7%, 3PT: 37.0%, FT: 70.6%; , but left in January 2007 and then joined Kouvot Kouvola (Finland-Korisliiga) playing 11 games and averaging 14.1ppg, 4.1rpg, 2.6apg, 1.9spg, FGP: 45.9%, 3PT: 40.0%, FT: 84.4%. In 2007-2008, he stayed with Kouvot Kouvola playing 47 games and averaging 16.3ppg, 3.1rpg, 2.5apg, 2.2spg, FGP-3(62.0%), 3PT: 36.2%, FT: 78.8%. In 2008-2009, he came to Germany to MBC playing 30 games and averaging 14.4ppg, 2.3rpg, 2.6apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 56.9%, 3PT: 43.2%, FT: 80.4%. He earned 2009 PRO A player of the year honours. Last season, he played 34 games averaging 8.6ppg, 1.9rpg, 1.7apg, Steals-5(1.5spg), FGP: 41.6%, 3PT: 33.6%, FT: 80.8% Wayne took the rapid Miles 10 questions basketball exchange for German Hoops talking basketball.

How was your summer? How does a normal Wayne Bernard work out day look like in the summer?

My summer was ok. When I got back to the States I took some time for myself to let my body relax for a bit. Then I began my workouts after a few weeks. Every summer I travel somewhere but this summer was pretty low-key.

You are back with the MBC wolves for a third season and are captain. How excited are you about the upcoming season?
I am excited about this season, mostly because I get excited about every season when its just beginning. The process of learning to play with new teammates and coming back to a place that I’m familiar with brings both fun and comfort for me. I’m looking forward to the competition, games, and of course our wonderful fans here in Weissenfels.

How has training camp been? You had some hard workouts and then your first exhibition game against the BSW Sixers winning 70-52. How is the team coming together in the early phase?

Training camp was tough, but thats to be expected. My legs are STILL killing me from the workouts we are doing but they are good. The team is coming along great in this early part of training. Everybody is trying to adapt to each person’s playing style, and encouraging as well so so far I think we are coming along good.
The team lost some key players but also added some talented players. What can we expect from the MBC Wolves in the 2010-2011 BEKO BBL season?

Yes, our roster is different this season. As far as expectations go, I expect us to come out and work hard and smart every game, to put us in a solid position in the BBL.

The secret to last seasons team was that you had a lot of players that could step up on any day which made the team very unpredictable. What will be the key to being successful this season?

I think the key to being successful this season is again the same – that any player can step up and have a good game, especially since we have a few more experienced guys on the team now.

The team brought in Americans Tim Blue and Davon Roberts. What is your early impression of these guys and what are their best qualities?

Both Tim and Davon are athletic, mobile forwards who can score both inside and out. Both of their biggest strenghts, in my opinion, is their versatility (both on the offense and defensive end).

The team also brought in Michael Jordan. Was a player like Jordan missing last season with so much experience that might of brought the team over the hump and making the playoffs?
Its hard to say what was missing last year, because there could have been any number of reasons as to why we didn’t make the playoffs. But Mike definitely brings in experience to our team, and his history shows that he has experience on winning teams. His physical and athletic strengths, along with his “Basketball I.Q.”, will certainly help the team this season.

You are turning 29 soon. Are you in the prime of your career and could you have more of a scoring role this season?

I’ve been in the prime of my career ever since I started playing basketball as a kid. ( joke). But I honestly think that if a player is still playing basketball, he should always think he is in the prime of his career, regardless of his age/experience. Otherwise, if he thinking “im not in my prime yet” , he may not have the confidence that he needs. If he thinks “I’m past my prime” he also lacks confidence. The key is maintaining a willingness to learn, as well as staying confident in your abilities. Once a person’s career is over, then he can look back and decide which part was his prime. As far as my scoring role, yes I want to have more of a scoring role this season. But I play this game to win games, not reach a scoring title. Both would be nice, of course. But for me, the feeling of winning a game outweighs the feeling of losing one, no matter how much I score.

How well will the Miami Heat do with Lebron James this season?

I think the Heat will not win the championship this season. They may do it another year but I just don’t see it this season. But, some of my feelings could be because I just don’t want to see them win it. I just naturally root for the underdogs. And, I think the Lebron interview on ESPN was ridiculous. I understand it as a business decision, and that he probably did it to increase revenue for his business empire (did he really need it?), but I do not respect that as a fan of the sport of basketball. He doesn’t have any rings, and I have never seen any of the 50 greatest NBA players do something like that. But like I said, I think he made that decision purely for business.

Michael Jordan is a great player but also a good practical joker. How are you going to protect yourself from him and possibly being photographed in an embarrasing way?lol

Well, if Mike has some practical jokes, this may be a long season of everybody trying to protect themselves from embarrassment. But it is basically impossible since every phone has a camera and most of our bus trips will be long. But the good news is that there are plenty of other guys on the team who have some tricks up their sleeves or is that a bad thing? I guess we’ll see. You must have forgoton to ask the “Miles Question”, which is, “which was the last movie you’ve seen on DVD?” Well, I can’t even remember the last movie I saw on DVD was because it was probably about 4 months ago. but the last movie I saw in the theaters was Inception, which was a good one.

Thanks Wayne for the chat! Good luck this season!