Author: Manuel Schust

From Abdul-Hamid to Zimmerman: Americans Playing in Europe

Have you ever asked yourself how many american basketball players are currently playing in Europe?

Recently Euroleague Adventures published a list of 700 import players who play ball in Europe’s fist divisions. Of course the list lacks players from second and third division teams, but still it is interesting to read the names and see where some guys play hoops now. Players are listed in an alphabetical order but you can also list them by team, league/country and college. The list will be updated constantly. So thumbs up to Euroleague Advantures and here’s the list!

VfB Gießen Working On The Highlight Tape

ProB club VfB Gießen is just the number 2 basketball team in town and clearly in the shadow of BBL founding member Gießen 46ers. But just within two weeks the small club from Mittelhessen has set two highlight videos that were even noticed far beyond the borders of Hesse and Germany. No one less than LeBron James recommended one of the videos via twitter with the words ‘try this link’. Meanwhile almost 300.000 people have tried this link and saw import player Marcus Johnson getting his go-go-gadget-jumpsoles posterizing DeUndraeSpraggins.

No need to try this link, just click on this video:

There is another video you should have a look at:

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Vassil Evtimov Nails 75-Foot Shot At Buzzer

So far the season for Mitteldeutscher BC has been rather disappointing. With the departure of russian center Anatoly Kashirov and the injuries of Velimir Radinovic and Johnny Gilbert Björn Harmen’s team suddenly found themselves without a real big man on the team. Just before the season started the management gave veteran Vassil Evtimov a three month contract. It took a couple of games but the addition of the 33-year old bulgarian native with a french passport certainly paid off so far as he helped the team to regain stability and to slowly crawl out of the BBL cellar. He finished the last two games with double-doubles and is on the up and up now.

While his younger brother Ilian made himself a name for being a great shooter from outside, Vassil, who had been a teammate of Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and Ademola Okulaja while playing for the Tar Heels (UNC) in the last century, has been known for his old school play under the baskets. But now and then Vasco can make a three point shot as well.

Currently he is 100% this season from three-point range. Check out how his incredible 75-Foot Shot at the Buzzer against Bayreuth:

Gruebler talks: Check out the Euroleague Adventures Podcast!

As I mentioned in the about section a must-read for all basketball fans in germany is the blog gruebelei.de. Unfortunatly the texts are written in german. So if you cannot read any german or your not totally comfortable with the translators you can find on the internet you will not get too much out of it.

But if you’re sick and tired of reading anyway (whatever language it is) there is a nice way to hear a real expert talk about the german basketball scene. Henner Schlaefke aka Gruebler joined forces with Euroleague Advantures and talks for more than half an hour about german basketball in english!

Gruebler mainly talks about the early Beko BBL season. He calls Bamberg ‘the team to beat this season’ and especially reflects on Alba Berlin’s chances. Later he talks about Bayern Munich’s huge basketball project and what Germany’s league must do to elevate to the status of elite.

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Explaining the difference between ProA and ProB

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from people who contact me via mail is: ‘What exactly is the difference between the ProA and ProB league?’

It is indeed confusing that both leagues share the same logo and are part of the 2. Bundesliga (second highest division in Germany). Furthermore it was not a good idea to name the leagues Pro since their are (especially in ProB) not only pro players. The mess is perfect when you remember that the french leagues are also named ProA and ProB. But while in France the first division is called ProA and the second ProB, in Germany the BBL is the highest level league in Germany.

To make it short:

ProA = second division

ProB = third division

To explain some of the differences I (finally) wrote a small piece that can also be found in the section League Facts.

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Is the Beko BBL the second best league in Europe?

[written by german blogger Gruebler] The German Beko BBL recently stated that they want to become the second best basketball competition in Europe, right after the Spanish ACB. Nobody would question that the ACB is number one when it comes to the level of competition, success in European competitions and economic strength. But which league is the second best league in Europe at the moment?

Currently, there there is a discussion on the interbasket boards whether the NLB Adriatic League is number two in Europe. As our German league claims this honours for the future, I commented on this topic and decided to post a longer edited version here.

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Some thoughts about EWE Baskets Oldenburg

Alba Berlin and the EWE Baskets Oldenburg could not meet expectations last season and had an early summer holiday after being surprisingly knocked out in the quarterfinals. So both managements decided to go for some major changes and rebuild their rosters. While Berlin managed to keep the McElroy-Jenkins duo, Oldenburg’s only key-player left is Rickey Paulding.

I was curious enough to make my way to Berlin to see both teams compete at this early stage of the season.  The level of performance was not really that great and both teams seriously need to work on adjustments. But still one could see that both clubs should be in the mix for the BBL championship this season.

So here are my thoughts about Oldenburg’s new squad:

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Josh Wilson Makes A Name For Himself In Ehingen

On paper the ProB is just the third league in Germany. But in recent years many great players were able to leave a mark and make themselves a name in this league. The best example is probably Spot Up Medien Baskets Zack Wright. The American playmaker made it from Braunschweig’s ProB team to an All-Star in the first division in France.

This season many great point guards entered the league and their stats could serve them as a stepping stone to a great career in Europe. One of these promising players is former Northern Arizona playmaker Josh Wilson. The 22-year old point guard had a nice college career (All-time Assist leader in NA history) and started his pro career with Erdgas Ehingen this season. On a young team full of german talents Wilson had to show his leadership skills and had an impressive rookie season in Europe.

He took some time to talk to German Hoops about his first experiences in Europe.

After 4 years of NCAA basketball with Northern Arizona you turned pro last summer. Was that something you always planned to do? And how did you end up in Germany?

Becoming a professional basketball player is something that every basketball player dreams about. It’s something I strived for every day in my high school and college career. To be able to see it happen here in Germany has been a very fulfilling experience. I ended up here in Germany through my website, joshwilsonbasketball.com that has video and information about me and I sent the information out to teams. Nico Drmota saw my website and asked my former teammate Kristian Kuhn on the team about me. It ended up working out well and I got the opportunity to come to Ehingen.
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Reformation of the Reformation Or Why I do not care about the BBL Top4

On German Hoops we mainly reported in an objective way about what is going on in the German basketball scene. But usually blogs represent individual opinions and this time I have something to write about that is highly subjective and you might not agree with. It’s all about the BBL Top4 and why I am simply not interested in it since the competition has been reformed. I’m not trying to convince anybody. Guys like Goettingen’s Jason Boone really look forward to this competition as e.g. he never made it to the NCAA Final Four. But just let me explain why I refuse to watch this new Top4 tournament.

Last summer four important large-scale changes happened to German basketball. In my opinion there were two very positive changes in managerial questions and two negative ones concerning the sport itself.

Let’s start with the positive changes:

The 6-year deal with Beko as the league’s main sponsor was a great move. With the help of Murat Didin the BBL finally has a strong partner that pays a nice amount of money to the league and helps to professionalize basketball in Germany.

The other positive thing becomes more obvious for fans every week. German sports network DSF (now called Sport1) signed a 3-year deal with the league and broadcasts the game of the week on free TV (For further information check out the League Facts!). It is very important for the league to be on screen for everybody and not just for the hardcore fans on pay-TV.

So from an administrative perspective the league really made two big steps into the right direction. Unfortunately two questionable decisions in sports terms did not help.

The new ranking system was very confusing at times (check out Strange rankings and early hot-shots). Honoring the losing team with 1 and the winning team with 2 points does not work when games have to be postponed and teams have played a different number of games. This season there were some really odd moments. E.g. Bonn clinched the number 1 spot despite having lost a game or Giessen being in the play-off race without winning a single game! So sometimes the rankings looked as informative as if it was grouped in an alphabetical order.

Luckily the BBL decided to return to the old table-system for the upcoming season. That means the losing team will get 0:2 points and the winning one 2:0.

And then there is the new BBL Cup… Even though it is played in my hometown Frankfurt next week-end (10th and 11th of April) I decided not to attend the Top4. I am not even sure if I will watch it on television, because I don’t quite understand what this is all about and why it is still called a ‘Cup’.

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Bamberg Is In Play-Off Shape Now

With 9-10 games left to play in the regular season it becomes more and more obvious which teams should end up in the top 8 and qualify for the 2010 BBL Play-Offs.

It looks like a safe bet that we should see 8-time champion Alba Berlin (19-5), reigning champion EWE Baskets Oldenburg (17-6), surprise team BG Goettingen (17-6) and vice-champion Telekom Baskets Bonn (17-8) in the post season.

But from position 5 to 12 teams are still battling hard to see some play-off action in May. It is like playing musical chairs with just four seats left for 8 teams: Bamberg (15-10), Frankfurt (15-10), Bremerhaven (15-10), Braunschweig (14-11), Artland Dragons (13-12), Mitteldeutscher BC (13-12), EnBW Ludwigsburg (12-12) and the Walter Tigers Tübingen (12-13) eye the post-season, but just four of those teams will be able to compete in May and June.

A team that has stood out in the last few weeks is Bamberg.

Similar to the last few years the Brose Baskets Bamberg had a difficult start into the season. Starting Point Guard John Goldsberry had to miss 6 games due to an injury and it took some time for new players like Casey Jacobson, Brian Roberts and Tibor Pleiss to adept to their new roles. A four game losing streak in November really made some fans question whether Chris Fleming should be replaced. But it seems like the same old story every year: After the usual false start Bamberg’s team is getting better and better from game to game.

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