Stanley Whittaker (183-G-94, college: Keiser) is a 26 year old 183cm point guard from Philadelphia playing his third professional season and first in Germany with PS Karlsruhe. He played his rookie season in Lithuania and last season had his break through with UBSC Raiffeisen Graz (Austria-BSL) playing 24 games: Score-2 (21.5ppg), 6.3rpg, Assists-2 (8.0apg), Steals-1 (2.6spg), FGP: 49.3%, 3PT: 40.5%, FT: 78.4%. He played his college ball at Frank Phillips (JUCO) and Keiser (NAIA). He will team up every week with Miles Schmidt-Scheuber to talk basketball

Stanley thanks for talking to germanhoops.com. You finally opened up the season and played your first German Pro A game. Despite the blow out loss in Leverkusen how did it feel to play your first game in Germany?

Honestly it wasn’t the best first experience playing and losing that bad. A very tough defeat. But I think we can build from this game for sure and try to only look forward to the next game and prepare accordingly!

PS Karlsruhe had traffic problems getting to Leverkusen. Then you arrived and got spanked 109-71. How tough is it in general to come off the bus after a 3 hour bus drive and preform very well?

Man it’s tough. You can’t really put words for it. We were on the bus for actually 5 hours and had to get off and play. It was whispers that we would have to forfeit the match, however we played, the odds and circumstances was against us and we tried to compete just wasn’t our best game.

PS Karlsruhe was only down 27-20 after one quarter, but still giving up 27 points is way too much. The turning point came in the second quarter as Leverkusen outscored you 34-13 to lead 61-33. Why did PS Karlsruhe have such big problems defending?

Firstly our turnovers led to easy offense for Leverkusen, we can’t turn the ball over against a such high power offenses, because they’ll make us pay every time. We weren’t focused defensively and didn’t really put up a strong enough battle. From my perspective, Leverkusen had easy clean looks the for the majority of the game. So we just have to be better and I’m confident we will.

PS Karlsruhe came out reborn winning the third quarter, but then stunk up the building losing the fourth quarter 31-15. Where do you see the causes of this inconsistency?

Third quarter we wanted to come out and show some pride & grit. I think we did that, cut the lead to 16, 67-51 at one point in the third, then we had some bad turnovers that led to them making a run. We have to be more composed as a group.

Could the club take any positives from the game? You did secure 12 offensive rebounds as a team?

I think we can take some positives from the game, which were how we started the game as well as the third quarter. We give ourselves a fair chance when we are focused and not beating ourselves, especially with turnovers and not getting any 50/50 balls.

It seems like PS Karlsruhe will have to get another import player. You have many young talented Germans, but in the competitive Pro A league not having depth is going to hurt you.

I’m not sure what’s the process with that, however all we can do is focus on what we have in our locker room right now. And with that, we have to focus at a higher level, stay together and produce.

You had a solid game with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. How much blame do you personally take after a blow out loss like that?

I take a lot of responsibility for this loss, I wasn’t anywhere close to actually being myself tonight. Way too many turnovers and bad decisions. I didn’t lead well tonight at all but I’ll be better for sure!

How much film do you watch after a loss like that? What did you analyze most about your play via video?

I usually watch film as soon as I can from the game, I’ll watch it 2-3 times to see all things. Our defense, our offensive execution, different reads and looks we may or may not had. So things of that nature, I surely do my studying!

What was it like battling Quenton Goodin? How enriching is it being able to present your game to these talented American point guards?

Man it’s always good going up against another American guard, and Americans in general. Although I’m a relentless competitor, it’s great to see other American guys playing the game abroad and being able to further their playing careers after college. Everyone isn’t blessed with that opportunity, so it’s a great thing in my opinion!

The NFL has started again. Do you follow the league and possibly the Philadelphia Eagles on Sundays in Germany?

Yes, I follow the Eagles, I also keep up with the other teams as well. Football was my first sport, so I still love to watch it!

Thanks Stanley for the chat.