Brendan Lane is a 26 year old 206cm center from Rocklin, California playing his third professional season and second in Germany in the EasyCredit BBL with the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg. As a rookie he played with Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins (Japan-NBL): 52 games: 12.8ppg, 7.9rpg, 1.1bpg, FGP: 53.0%, 3PT: 35.4%, FT: 73.4%. He started his basketball career in 2009 with UCLA(NCAA) where he played until 2012 playing a total of 79 NCAA games. He finished his college basketball career at : Pepperdine (NCAA, starting five) playing 29 games averaging 13.2ppg, 7.4rpg, 1.2apg, 2.4bpg, FGP: 56.6%, 3PT: 38.5%, FT: 62.4%. Last season with Wurzburg he played 37 games averaging 13.7ppg, 5.2rpg, 1.2apg, FGP: 59.6%, 3PT: 14.8%, FT: 73.6%. He belonged to the top centers in the Beko BBL He spoke to German Hoops before the game against the Fraport Skyliners.

Brendan thanks for talking to German Hoops! 2017 is here and were almost into March, but did you make any new years resolutions this year or are you more a guy that concern himself with that?

No I’m not really one to make specific new years resolutions like that.

A tough 101-84 loss on the road to the Telekom Baskets Bonn. Bonn pretty much already had the game sealed at halftime leading 54-32. I wouldn´t have wanted to be a fly in the locker room since head coach Dirk Bauermann prides defense. What went wrong on the defensive side in the first 20 minutes?

We started the game off letting them get some easy lay ups in the half court and in transition. That gave them their confidence early and that led to them knocking down open 3’s and we dug ourselves into a deep hole.

Wurzburg found better consistency on offense in the second half, but couldn´t get consistent stops. Was this just one of those nights where no matter what adjustments were made nothing really worked?

We just started to try being more aggressive too late and our defensive effort wasn’t there the whole time. By the second half they already had so much confidence it was difficult to get stops.

The Telekom Baskets Bonn are having a solid season and are a favorite to win the Fiba Europe Cup title despite having a change at the coaching position due to sickness have kept the team chemistry. What do you believe is the team´s biggest strength?

They have a lot of offensive firepower and play an up tempo pace that puts a lot of pressure on the opposing teams defense. They seem to play at another level at home too. They’ve had some really good games there this year.

The s.oliver Wurzburg made a coaching change at the start of 2017 bringing in legendary German coach Dirk Bauermann. The team is 0-6 with him something that is hard to believe. You played Bamberg and Munich tough and close, but lost to teams like BG Goettingen and Tuebingen that were beatable opponents. Is getting on the same page between team and coach a longer work in progress?

Yes it’s always a work in progress when you have a new coach. We’ve spent the past 2 months really drilling and working on his strategies and we seem to show it in spurts during some of the games, but we haven’t been able to put it together yet for a full game.

You defended well against Bamberg giving up 68 points, but have given up 94 points on average in the last three games. These results must really be difficult for Bauermann to swallow. How confident are you that the team will be able to show their defensive potential coupled with Bauermann´s tactics soon?

I am very confident. I think everyone on this team is angry at themselves for the defensive effort we had in those games and I am confident we’ll turn it around.

Jake Odum isn´t playing for a winning team so people aren´t talking as much about him. A bad and typical knock would be saying he isn´t a good point guard because his team isn´t winning, but what makes him a good point guard in your eyes?

He’s a competitor. Our team has been struggling but he’s never given up and he’s always the one out there every game playing as hard as he can for the team.

Vincent Sanford has been refreshing. He has stepped up from the Pro B and scored 13 points in 17 minutes in the Bonn loss. Is this another example of how much talent there is in lower leagues?

Yes I believe so. The difference between a BBL player and Pro B player is so small and a lot of the times the only difference really is opportunity. Vincent is showing now what giving a player like that an opportunity can do for himself.

In our last interview you stated that your goal this season is to be consistent. Have you been content with your season so far?

No I am not content at all. I’ve felt that there have been many games this year where I have not made the impact on the game that I wanted or felt the team needed and I need to work on that for the remaining games this year.

You’re averaging only 22 minutes per game averaging 12,0ppg, 4,6rpg and 1,4apg. Do you feel like you will be able to grow with Dirk Bauermann? How has he helped you so far with your game?

Yes I believe I will. He’s been transitioning me to play more at the 4 position which will help me develop more as a player and could provide more opportunities for me in the future.

The next game is against the Fraport Skyliners on the road. You beat Frankfurt at home in the first game in a strange second half as you went on a 16-2 run to decide the game. Frankfurt has become a very strong team now. What will be key to getting the win?

Our biggest key right now is defense regardless of who we play. We’ve shown all season we can score but we’ve been unable to get stops. I think the key for us this game is to focus every possession on getting stops and create offense from our defense.

Where do you rank Kevin Garnett with the best power forwards that ever played the game?

He will go down as one of the greatest I believe. More than just statistically, but in terms of competitiveness he was one of the greatest in my lifetime.

Klay Thompson recently hit 60 points in 29 minutes touching the ball for only 90 seconds. Where does this performance rank with you?

It’s definitely one of the most impressive performances I’ve seen and will probably be very under appreciated just because of the team he plays on and the other star players on his team.

One always talks about Lebron and Curry, but one has to mention Russell Westbrook. He is averaging triple double stats at the moment. Is he stat wise the best player in the world right now?

I don’t know if I would say the best but he’s got to be in the conversation with maybe one or 2 other guys. It’s hard to compare stats now when you have teams with 2 or 3 guys who could average 30 plus ppg in a season on the same team.

Draymond Greene recently had a triple double without scoring 10 points or more. Why do you believe has it taken long for someone to do this?

Most players aren’t going into the game worried about getting those stats. Usually a player focuses on scoring and the rest of his game falls into place. Draymond is the type of player who knows he doesn’t have to score and he focuses strictly on the defensive end.

What was the last movie that you saw?

The last movie I saw was War Dogs.

Thanks Brendan for the chat.