It took the Dragons Rhondorf 5 seasons to finally reach the playoffs again as between 2018-2022, they were idle as well as having to miss a season on account of Covid. Last season the club got back on track reaching the playoffs, but for many the season was left with a sour taste with the sad death of Mubarek Salami as well as the early playoff departure losing to the Basketball Lowen. This season the club went through a massive house cleaning as a new coach arrived with Stephan Blode and no player remained except Janne Muller. The ambitions of the organization have always been great and that didn’t change this season either. Two seasons ago, they went with an influx of young Germans, while last season they had more age and experience and this season are back to the young, but the difference between 2 seasons ago is that the young Germans have more experience and are more talented. Those of course are super conditions for success. Every team has goals, but not every coach likes pinpointing a position in the standings. ‘I see our path as our goal. If we can play the way we want to during the season then we should be happy at the end of the season. Then you can say that we did all we could during the season. If that means it was 8th place or 4th place then we’ll be ok with it’, stressed Stephan Blode .

Stephan Blode is an up and coming head coach and already delivered good work with Pro B team Wedel and has a clear path and basketball philosophy and what he exactly wants to do with the Dragons Rhondorf. ‘It is important to have a good foundation with the players, good communication and be able to work well together. Practices will always be intense and competitive. We want to decide defensively what the opponent does on offense. We put this team together not by position but by profiles. We will have a versatile offense. The ego’s will remain at home. We will play as a team’, warned Stephan Blode . When looking at the new roster, it isn’t all guards as you have some quality bigs with Leon Bulic who has BBL experience with Bamberg, Jekabs Becks who has Pro A experience with Tuebingen and versatile power forward from Texas Avery Sullivan who averaged 16/11 last season in Cyprus, and undersized Antonio Pilipovic who will be another reliable scorer and rebounder. But the style will be tailored more towards the guards. ‘We all can run and will play quick. All our guards can score’, said Stephan Blode . The new guards have a huge upside and hungry to keep developing and make the next step. The club hauled in Tyrese Blunt who has played 7 BBL games and belonged to the top German guards in Coburg last season. Badu Buck is another top guard for the Pro B with 79 pro A games on his resume. A very interesting pick up was Kelvin Omojola who had a big pro B season with the Ahorn Baskets 2 seasons ago, but last season didn’t get much minutes with Pro A team PS Karlsruhe. Like Kameron Taylor 6 years ago, he took a step back to maybe take 2 steps ahead. Marko Rosic is a highly talented 17 year old kid who developed nicely in the ratiopharm Ulm organization and will only prosper competing with the skilled guards. Another interesting new player is Matej Silic who played last season with Pro A team Art Giants Duesseldorf. He has a very good feel to scoring at age 20. ‘We will have 6 guards and often play with many on the court at the same time’, stated Stephan Blode .
The Dragons Rhondorf will be a versatile team and not only live from their guard play. ‘Our post up play will be very important. We will play the pick and roll, but also use the drives and fast break. Like I said, we will be versatile’, warned Stephan Blode . A big problem the last 2 seasons was creating a defensive identity and getting beat too often with 1-1 play. The success of the defense will hopefully be different this season. ‘I truly feel we can be a top defensive team. It always depends on how many possessions you have. I will await that defense first mentality. Key will be keeping the shooting percentages down from our opponents’, stated Stephan Blode . Usually in the Pro B you will find 1 or 2 big time scorers and the rest roles players. That could look different this season as there might not be that one dominant scorer for the Dragons Rhondorf the way Devon Goodman was last season. Could this be a team where there isn’t 1 star? ‘Yes that could be. We will have that team first mentality. Guys are excited for the season and the chemistry is great already in pre-season. It could be that we have many scorers each game’, warned Stephan Blode . So where will the journey of the Dragons Rhondorf go this season? The management definitely did their home work getting talented and hungry new players. This is a team that will make the playoffs without problems. The question is how far can they go? They are talented and have top experience at the Pro B level with a roster that has palyed combined 207 pro A games. The import Avery Sullivan could be the next Aaron Nelson in terms of scoring and rebounding. Scoring won’t be a problem with this club. I will expect at least 80 points per game. The question is how well will they defend and how potent will their transition game be. The chemistry was already intact early. It will be interesting how well the team continues to develop during the season. Stephan Blode is hungry and so are his players. Guys like Badu Buck, Leon Bulic and Tyrese Blunt have massive chips on their shoulders. The team will win many games this season and go far in the playoffs. There should be a lot of joy again the Dragon dome this season.