David Kramer is a 19 year 193cm guard that has the German/Austrian citizenship and is playing his second season with German pro B team Weissenhorn. He also has a double license to play for Beko BBL team rtaiopharm Ulm. This season he ha splayed 7 BBL games and 3 Eurocup games. Last season he played for the Weissenhorn Youngstars (Germany-ProB): 24 games: 8.9ppg, 1.8rpg, 1.0apg, FGP: 46.6%, 3PT: 30.7%, FT: 82.5%, played also at ratiopharm Basketballakademie Ulm (Germany-2.Regionalliga): 6 games: 12.2ppg, played also at U19 team (NBBL). The German U-20 national player started his basketball career in Austria with the Oberwart Gunners in 2011. He spoke to German Hoops after winning a do or die game against Wolfenbuettel.

 

 

 

David thanks for talking to German Hoops. Was this the best weekend of the season for you? You helped Weissenhorn win a do or die game in Wolfenbuettel while 531 kilometers away, ratiopharm Ulm beat Alba Berlin. Does a basketball weekend get any better than this?

 No Problem you’re welcome! It was definitely one of the best weekends this season both teams did a great job and picked up a very important win, also to get good self-confidence for the next game. Pro B team Frankfurt and BBL team Bamberg are very good !

Congrats on the big 78-75 win against Wolfenbuettel. How proud are you of the team that came back being down 1-0 in games and winning two games in a row against the second best Pro B team in the north?

Thanks, I’m very proud of my team and we did a great job and we knew that Wolfenbuettel is a strong opponent but we worked hard ! After the first loss we didn’t put our heads down but keep fighting and won this round.

You won two do or die games in a row. Have you ever done that before in your career?

 Yes I did back in the days when I played in Austria but both these games were something special for the team and myself.

Before the playoffs came you ended the season with a three game winning streak. Then you lost game one and now have a two game winning streak. Is Weissenhorn playing it´s best basketball now?

 It’s kind of hard to say if it’s the best basketball that were playing right now, because we still have to work this following week on some things. Of course through the last couple games we got better. Especially this Game 3 against Wolfenbuettel there was a special chemistry that I haven’t seen the whole year. No matter what happened in the game we stayed calm and stuck to our basics.

Weissenhorn led 62-51 after three quarters, but in the fourth quarter, Wolfenbuettel made a big comeback to make the game exciting. Wolfenbuettel went on a crucial 12-3 run to cut the Weissenhorn lead to 65-64. Did the team panic and what was key for the opponent coming back?

Basketball is a game of runs and that’s also the beauty of the Playoffs. At that point the game was tied but we stayed calm. I didn’t feel any panic at all, but I enjoyed it! The reason why they came back was that they had defensive Stops and fast-breaks and they made the tempo of the game but we handled it very well and stopped their run and changed it so that we made the tempo and they ran our game the way we wanted to.

Sid Marlon Thesis and Robin Amaize scored 10 points combined in the big 12-3 Wolfenbuettel run. These guys have had a strong season and also making progress with the Beko BBL team Braunschweig, but how important is a run like this for the self confidence of the young Germans to keep growing as well as their game just progressing?

 Yes they did. I like the game of both of the players. They are very talented and experienced and it’s very important for the self confidence because you feel the game and the momentum is on their side and you’ll build a big trust and take the next shot with more confidence. I think their game will increase. They are both young and through that that they get solid playing time in BBL their game will automatically increase.

You connected on two huge three pointers in the last minutes to help seal the win. You have been an important player for Weissenhorn this season, but did you have some extra confidence for actually taking this big shots in moments that could have decided the season?

In this moment I was in my zone and I was very confident. Both shots I took I practiced all year and all I saw in this moment was that I had space and took the shot. Of course they could decide it but my job is to make plays and I’m not scared of taking these shots.

Do you feel like that when a Joschka Ferner isn´t present because of playing a game for ratiopharm Ulm that you have to do even more offensively?

Kind of, Of course having Joschka in our games helps us a lot because he is a very good talented and experienced player and a very good offensive player, but in our team everyone has his own role and with or without him we do the our thing.

This is your second season in the ratiopharm Ulm organization. Your stats have risen in the last two seasons. How has your leadership grown and changed from last season?

My leadership increased a lot this season. Last year I was new in the country and the first time away from home and on and tried to get here comfortable in Ulm and in Germany and see how it works here in the country and also tried to learn a lot from the BBL players. This year I’m a bigger part of the Pro Team  and I get a couple minutes in the BBL and Eurocup. I still have to learn a lot and build the leadership up, but I just want to help my teammates and be a kind of a role model because I’m the one who is playing at a very professional level.

When Chris Anderson is in the zone with his playmaking can Weissenhorn beat anybody in the Pro B?

Chris Anderson is a great point guard when he is in the zone and he’s not easy to handle especially because he is so little and fast and I can’t really say if we could win against every Pro B team because it depends how the other 11 players are.

When looking at the stats of both teams, they were pretty similar, but what would you say was the biggest strength of the team in game 3? Possibly staying together in crunch time?

As I already mentioned what helped us to win the game is that we stuck together and didn’t give up and stuck to the basics and in the crunch time we got more defensive stops. And defense wins games as we know.

Now Weissenhorn will battle the Fraport Skyliners Juniors in the next round. How excited are you for this series?

Yes we do. We are very excited for the next round! Again it’s starts from zero zero and we will prepare for Frankfurt and fight.

The season series was 1-1. I guess you still have that 87-83 loss in Frankfurt in your mind where Weissenhorn made a big comeback 26-9, but Johannes Richter sealed the win with a underhand lay in. Is there some revenge in your minds?

 It don’t really matter how the season went. It’s the  Playoffs and it’s basically a new season. Of course we got some revenge in our minds that’s normal when you lost that last game against them.

What kind of a series can we await? What will be key to getting past the Fraport Skyliners Juniors?

The series will not be easy at all but I think it will be very exciting.

Will being able to contain the German baby twin towers Johannes Richter and Niklas Kiel somehow be half the rent for the win?

I’m not concerned about baby twin towers. I’m confident that we have the guys to handle them. But right now we don’t focus on them but on us.

How big was it for German basketball winning the Albert Schweitzer tournament? Just how talented is the German U-18 team?

Congratulations a lot to the Team and Kostja winning the MVP. It was very Big to win the tournament and they made history with this. The Team is very talented esspecially with the “Big3” (Kostja, Richard and Isiaha) I think they have good chances to win the European Championship! I wish the best luck to them.  

What was the last movie that you saw?

 The Blind Side.

 

Thanks David for the chat.