Pete Strobl (agency: Octagon Europe ) has been around the European basketball scene for over 20 years having had a stellar professional basketball career and was an assistant coach for German easyCredit BBL team ratiopharm Ulm in 2018-2019. He then was head coach of the Basketball Lowen Braunschweig from 2019-2021. Currently he is the head coach of the Jobstairs Giessen 46ers. He played at Niagara (NCAA) from 1997-2000 and then had a 9 year professional playing career that took him to countries like Germany, Austria, France, Ireland, Iceland and Switzerland. He founded The Scoring Factory in Pittsburgh and wrote a must read book called Backspin. He is a very interesting basketball mind that doesn’t shy away from speaking his mind especially on Twitter. germanhoops.com and Pete Strobl (agency: Octagon Europe ) team up so often talking basketball with the title ‘Current basketball affairs with Pete Strobl (agency: Octagon Europe ). You can follow Pete Strobl (agency: Octagon Europe ) (agency: Octagon Europe ) (agency: Octagon Europe ) on twitter @petestrobl

What are your first impressions of Giessen?

My family and I really like Giessen. A lot of people told us beforehand that perhaps it wasn’t the prettiest city, but I’m not sure those people have ever actually been here. The downtown area is great and the people are friendly. Giessen is a city with a huge basketball tradition and the fans here are amazing. People stop me in the streets to talk about the team, tell me stories about their past glory and to generally welcome me to the club. I honestly feel that we have some very good people in place, but to take the next step as a club there needs to be a push to improve the physical infrastructure. We need our own practice facility for us as well as our youth teams in order to really take the next step. We have a lot of work to do in every area, but I’m excited to be here and to help write our own chapter in this special basketball legacy.

Will Player Development be a focus with your new team?

The main focus for us is to develop a ‘defense-first’ mentality here. Our GM and I have made this our priority since Day 1 and we specifically recruited high character players that have the right mindset to work hard and to work together. Developing the right defensive mindset along with the right approach is the first step for us here in Giessen. Player Development is also a very big part of my coaching philosophy and this is also an area in which our coaching staff (Steve Wriedt, Patti Unger, Rauly Leino as well as Athletic Coach Guillermo Martin) take a lot of pride. It’s a two-way street though and we need players who care about improving just as much as we care about teaching. Last season I coached a number of talented young players who were able to take huge steps and I fully expect that many players in Giessen will be ready to do the same.

What are the team goals for this season?

We need to firmly establish an identity as a team with a defense first mentality. We’re on the right track, but we still have a lot of work to do in order to firmly cement this into our collective basketball DNA. Giessen is a special city and has arguably the loudest fans in the BBL. I want them to see and feel that our passion on the court is equal to their enthusiasm in the stands. I know you’re asking more for some type of prediction of wins, but we literally are in the midst of developing a culture. Once this identity is firmly established and we can measure ourselves against other BBL teams, we’ll have a better idea of where we fit and how we compare to the rest of the league. In the meantime we’re going step by step and making sure that we improve every practice.