There was a time between 1996-2003 that the basketball world of Alba Berlin seemed as perfect as the Michael Jordan run with the Chicago Bulls, the seemingly always flawless face of Cindy Crawford even in her rise in age or the breathless scenery of the lake Geneva. In these 7 years Alba Berlin was able to win 10 German basketball titles, including 7 league titles in a row and three cup wins.  Alba Berlin ruled the German basketball world and was on top of the world like Dirk Nowitzki currently is after winning his first NBA title, or 19 year old Borrusia Dortmund  German Mario Gotze currently is by invitation of the media. However since 2003, the team that plays in the posh O-2 World arena has seemed to lost that magic touch as they have only been able to win 3 titles in the last seven years with the league title in 2008 and two cup wins 2006 and 2009. What have been the main problems? Did the team loose their hunger in 2003 which somehow has been transferred over to the next teams? The Beko BBL has become more competitive and athletic in the last 5 years, coaches have come and gone, and the player transfers have not always seemed to have fit and team chemistry was lacking as well.  Despite being only a game away last season from winning their 9^th title, Alba Berlin knows that in order not to get passed this season by a Bamberg and Munich, the club had to react and could have heightened their title chances in 2012 with the arrival of mastermind coach Gordon Herbert.

Last season, Alba Berlin rebounded well after not knowing how the coaching change from Luka Pavicevic to Muli Katzurin would end, but the club lost on the road to the always very strong Brose Baskets Bamberg in 5 games in the Beko BBL final. Alba Berlin had chances to win game 5, but some small mistakes and missed shots coupled with some big John Goldsberry three pointers washed out their hopes of bringing the championship back to the Spree. Muli Katzurin did a wonderful job taking over a squad in mid season changing the Pavicevic style and making the Albatros game more fast and mixing up the defensive sets. He led the team from a come from behind series win against the EWE Baskets Oldenburg and a very satisfying win over the Deutsche Bank Skyliners winning 3 games on the foreign floor of the Ballsporthalle. Katzurin brought new life to guys like Bryce Taylor and Heiko Schaffartzik, but somehow despite him saving the season from a possible nightmare had he not stepped up to the helm in January, Alba Berlin was looking in a new direction with Gordon Herbert.

Alba Berlin had had success with Americans Julius Jenkins and Immanuel Mcelroy, but there is always a time for a change, just like when you give your apartment a new new look changing the colours of the living room walls. Alba Berlin did a gradual face lift bidding farewell to ex Beko BBL MVP Julius Jenkins, the best defensive player in the league  Immanuel Mcelroy who had won a combined 5 titles in Berlin, 2010 Eurochallenge winner Taylor Rochestie, Serbs Tadijia Dragcevic, Miroslav Raduljica and Germanys leading title holder Patrick Femmerling. Alba Berlin kept a solid core of players with ballerina dancer Derrick Allen, Bryce Taylor whos dunk over Predrag Suput will remain in the heads of many from last seasons final series against Bamberg and a core of Germans including three point sharp shooter Heiko, Mr”when you need a crazy three point bomb give me the ball please” Schaffartzik, Sven Schultze, Yassin Idbihi, and Lucca Staiger.

Alba Berlin didn´t waste anytime getting their most important order of business squared away as they hired Gordon Herbert very early this summer. Alba Berlin see Herbert as being the man to get Alba Berlin back on the title road and not getting run over by teams like Bamberg and Munich. This will be Herberts 5^th season in the Beko BBL. He led Frankfurt to their first league title in 2004 and reached the cup final that year. In 2010, he was two points away to getting Frankfurt that 2^nd league title as the Skyliners lost a bitter game 5 final in Bamberg. Last season, Frankfurt lost in 5 games to Alba Berlin. Herbert is known as getting the best out of his players, but also known in being able to build a strong and successful  team even if talent and deepness is lacking. Now Herbert will have a type of new challenge as the talent will be about as abundant this season for the Canadian as there is with top Israel team Macabbi Tel Aviv. Now all eyes will be focused on Herbert to see how he will make an already very talented club even better.

Even after Alba Berlin had kicked out the Deutsche Bank Skyliners  from the playoffs in their own living room, they still had no mercy as they stole Mr road runner Dashaun Wood from the heart of the fans. Despite that Wood had signed a contract to stay with Frankfurt, he did put some clauses in so that he could leave the club. One of those clauses was that he would go where Gordon Herbert would go. A heart of a player can be as big as Mount Everest for a team, but about as often as the sun shines in the Costa De Sol in south Spain, the green numbered paper that rules the world mostly keeps the heart of a player more green than red. Wood who was the leagues MVP in 2011 playing 42 games: Score-1(19.0ppg), 4.6rpg, Assists-2(5.9apg), 1.2spg, FGP: 50.0%, 3PT: 33.2%, FT: 80.3%, will more than likely not be able to post stats like that again with alba Berlin. He will have a different role in Berlin as he will be surrounded by many scorers and not have the burden on his shoulders having to score as he often did in Frankfurt. The question will be how well can his ego get used to his new role, but he has stated that winning is his biggest priority and not scoring 20 points a game.

Alba Berlin then got a versatile 4/5 man with Boston native Torin Francis who should be a solid complementary player to Yassin Idbihi at the center position. Francis is a 29 year old  210cm American from Boston. He is a a highly-skilled and gifted athlete with game-breaking ability, versatile all-around frontcourt player who plays both ends of the floor extremely well, has a physical offensive and defensive presence on the court and runs the floor extremely well for a player his size. He is explosive in the post, smart decision maker with the ball and an unselfish player who knows how to distribute the ball. This will be his 6^th professional season as the Notre Dame alumnist  has played in countries like Italy, Israel, Turkey and Greece. Last season, he played for Bornova Bld (Turkey-TBL, starting five): 13 games: 10.2ppg, 7.2rpg, 1.3bpg, FGP: 48.2%, FT: 61.1%; and in January 11 moved to Panellinios Athens (Greece-A1, starting five): Greek League: 16 games: 12.6ppg, 6.1rpg, FGP: 52.7%, FT: 68.8%; EuroCup: 6 games: 15.7ppg, 8.2rpg, 1.2bpg, FGP: 65.0%, FT: 72.7%. His only rap may be that he has never won a title at the professional ranks.

 

For the departure of Serb Tadijia Dragcevic, the team hauled in another talented Serb with Marko Simonovic who seem to be around on the basketball block as much as the buses on Madison avenue in New York city. Simonovic is a 24 year old 202cm forward that is a great athlete with enormous jumping ability and an attractive player with great three point shoot. He played for BC Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro) the last three years and last season played Adriatic League: 27 games: 13.8ppg, 5.2rpg, 1.3apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 54.8%, 3PT: 37.8%, FT: 69.2%; Euroleague Qualifying Round: 2 games: 8.5ppg, 5.5rpg, 1.0apg, 2.0spg. He may only be 24, but has vast experience for a player of his age having played for teams like Telindus BC Oostende (Belgium)and KK Hemofarm Vrsac. The Serbs in general for European basketball teams seem to be as exchangeable as the women on the side of George Clooney and with Simonovic it won´t be any different as he will help Alba Berlin with his inside out game.

The last player Alba Berlin got was highly touted and exciting Kyle Weaver.  He is a 25 year old 198cm guard/forward from Beloit, Wisconsin. Since graduating from Washington St. (NCAA) in 2008, he has breathed NBA air most of the time except for some short D-league stays and ending last season with TEC Spirou Charleroi (Belgium). In his senior year at Washington State, he played  35 games: 12.2ppg, 5.3rpg, AssistsConf-4(4.3apg), StealsConf-4(1.7spg), FGP: 46.3%, 3PT: 36.4%, FT: 73.3%: Is the first player in Pac-10 history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 175 steals and 75 blocked shots in a career. Finished collegiate career ranked second in assists in Washington State history with 465, third in steals with 188, seventh in blocked shots with 93 and 17th in scoring with 1,162 points. In his first three seasons as a professional basketball player he has played a total of 73 NBA games for The Oklahoma Thunder and Utah Jazz. Weaver shins with his great defensive play and anticipation skills and is a guy that does many things well including passing and displaying ferocity of attacking the boards. His perimeter shooting has improved since turning pro. Weaver could be one of the new stars of the Beko BBL this season.

Line Up:

PG Wood/Schaffartzik

SG Weaver/Taylor

SF Simonovic/Staiger

PF Allen/Schultze

C Francis/Idbihi

German players italic

New Players Bold

Outlook:

Alba Berlin on paper belongs to the top three teams in the Beko BBl with The Brose Baskets Bamberg and FC Bayern Munich. I might even go as far as saying that Alba Berlin is my top favorite to do serious damage in the hardware department this season. Of course the club is deep, but having Gordon Herbert on board and Dashaun Wood is more than half the rent. The team is very strong at every position and have the one of the top coaches in the league. Bamberg will be going for the triple and once again have more than 80% of their team back and have top class coach Chris Flemming and will be hard to beat. Alba Berlin will have to contest with the Bamberg toughness and feisteness of FC Bayern Munich to establish themselves in the league this season. However Herbert and Wood want to win titles. Wood last season satisfied his ego demonstrating that he was the best player in the Beko BBL and could play in the NBA given the chance. Now he has the chance to win titles and nothing else to worry about. Herbert has shown that he can get the best out of a team despite what is given to him. He will make Alba Berlin play attractive basketball on both ends of the court. His biggest challenge will be getting the egos on the same page, but at the same time his biggest weapon is making his players better no matter the conditions. Wouldn´t the start of a new Alba Berlin dynasty only seem logical with a Herbert and Wood? There isn´t a better dynamic duo in the league and besides Derrick Allen might even retire from his ballerina steps just to win that first Beko BBL title. Allen is one of the hardest workers in the Beko BBL and might even sneak into the arena to practice extra just to be able to do what he can to help his team reach this goal. Alba Berlin has the character to win it all this season and with Herbert the perfect coach to help mesh everything together on the court.