Author: Manuel Schust

Teamcheck: Brose Baskets Bamberg

[updated October 7] After losing 1-3 in the 2007/08 play-off quarterfinals against EWE Baskets Oldenburg the era of Dirk Bauermann had come to an end in Brose Baskets BambergBamberg.

Bauermann’s record with Bamberg looked absolutely impressive. He took over a financially almost ruined and in sports terms struggling team and with manager Wolfgang Heyder helped to turn this squad in a commanding force in Germany’s elite division.

In his second year with Bamberg in 2003 he managed to not only reach the post season but also make it to the finals. But Alba Berlin did not show any mercy with Bamberg and finished them off with a 3-0 sweep.

But the core of this team stayed with Bamberg and with guys like Chris Ensminger, Mike Nahar, Uvis Helmanis, Rick Stafford and young Steffen Hamann established a reputation of being something like the Detroit Pistons Bad Boys of the BBL. For sure their style was not the most aesthetic and at times they their style was really rough, but this squad turned out to be very successful under the guidance of Dirk Bauermann. Certainly they lacked talent compared to other top teams, but with heart and fighting spirit these guys personified the typical outsider who does not give up and battles hard for every possession.

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Jerome’s diary entry #12: Rough on the road!

We had another shootaround on Saturday before the game. I did not feel too good. My Jumper is just horrible at the moment. Mike took Jerome Bridgewaterme to his side after practice and gave me some new Coaching points I have to work on. I think my Jumpshot looks ugly as hell. It is just how it is with Leftys. We had a big gap in between the game started at 7pm. So we had like 6 hours to rest.
I started a small warmup with Coleman one hour before the game. He is a good role model, too. We were playing a little bit one-on-one. He helped me with what i could do better in offense and defense.
Wels was playing strong and aggressive this time. they started of very well.

Rocky had a strong game. He was leeading us in every category. Unfortunately, Lee landed on Conleys foot after a deep three in the 2nd quarter and twisted his ankle badly. He was really laying on the floor with pain for a long while and would not return. Mike got a little bit furious with the refs. In this case, the ref does also have to protect the players sometimes. We did really get hacked by the welser squad. But that was why we were here for. Compete on the road against unfair circumstances. They called almost everything on us. Kevin and Basti fouled out in regulation.

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Jerome’s diary entry # 11: Basti the Bavarian

Meeting point 10am at Ulm. Austria we are coming. The road trip to Austria should compare us for the away games of the upcoming Jerome Bridgewaterseason. We would face Wels and Gmunden again.
The travelling was very nice. We were using two small buses. We got there (Wels) within 5 hours.

Our hotel was very nice. To be honest it was the best hotel I have had every been. Our room was so big. And we really had everything. LCD-TV Screen, Internet, nice bathroom, toilet etc. This is life.

I was sharing my room with Darko.It was really fun with him. We do really get along. We had a light practice at 8pm. We had a shootaround and were running through some offensive plays.

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Jerome’s diary entry #10: You play like you practice

We had a nice day off on Monday. The Americans could relax. I had to head back to school. It was alright though. My school seems very Jerome Bridgewaternice. I got lunch with my teachers. I did not introduce myself as a ratiopharm Ulm player. I don`t know. I got some strange looks though. Seemed like some kids did recognize me or know that I am playing basketball for Ulm.

I had a horrible practice week. I don`t know what is going on. I am getting killed at the defensive end at the moment. Not talking about getting crossed or something. That never happened. But defensive Rebounding against Rocky Trice. It is hard. It is probably harder to box him out then Robert Maras for example or Aleksandar Nadjfeji. He is so quick and fast. And it is hard to put your body on him, because he is so small. He will outjump you all the time. You got to put your body on him.

We were having another pre season game against BG Leitershofen, a 1.Regionalliga team. I do not really want to talk about this game. They have not lost a pre seaosn game yet and were ready to play. The first quarter was an up and down. But they couldn`t keep up with us for the whole game. They were hustling though. We were heading with an 20-point lead to the locker rooms.

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Teamcheck: Deutsche Bank Skyliners

Frankfurt’s basketball project has got all it takes to be successful: a nice training ground called BCM (Basketball City Mainhatten), very big Skylinersnames as major sponsors (first Opel then Deutsche Bank) and regular appearances in european competitions.

The first era with Opel had been quite successful as the club won the national championship in 2004 and established itself as one of the big names in german basketball. Canadian coach Gordon Herbert had formed a nice team back then and even when keyplayers like Mario Kasun and Robert Garrett had left the team Murat Didin got the best out of the fundament of the championship team and young talents and led the team to another BBL finals appearance.

But the summer of 2005 had been a turning point in the club’s successful history. Deutsche Bank took over as main sponsor and was giving the club even more money to spend, but false decisions in recruiting players and coaches made Frankfurt’s basketball project lose two years. With the return of Murat Didin Frankfurt success came back to the Skyliners. In 2007 they surpringly made it to the semi-finals and were only two points shy of another finals appearance. While the club was overachieving two years ago, last season was a bit of a disappointment. The club made it to the post season, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Oldenburg.

It has been a difficult summer for Frankfurt’s management. Maybe like no other team Frankfurt’s basketball project relies mainly on main sponsor Deutsche Bank. The 5-year contract with Germany’s biggest bank company expires in 2010 and with no guarantee about an extension or an alternative the team was forced to act very careful on the market for most of the summer.

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Jerome’s diary entry #8: Rivalry, but also friends!

Rivalry! It couldn`t be better than having a home game at 7:30pm on a Saturday night. You got to love it, that is what our assistant coach bridgewaterteampicAdemola Olatunde told us. I met up with my fomrer team-, classmate and friend Andi Kronhardt. We had a nice pregame talk. Also a lot of trash talking was going on like basketball players always do. I’m gonna dunk on you. Three pointer in your face, Block the s§§t outta you etc.
Well, we both headed t o the locker room at the same time. I could feel a little bit nerovsity today. The gym was much more crowded than yesterday. I guess a thousand people. Well, it was the first test for us and me against a 1.Bundesliga team. Former Ulmer player Romeo Travis got booed very badly at the players presentation.

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Jerome’s diary entry #7: First Home Game

bridgewaterteampicGame day! We would face the Austrian Champ Wels today. We have had a good shoot around this morning. Mike put at the end of practice a 10 Euro bill at the halfcourt line. And said first who is going to make a half court shot gets the 10 euros. We are shooting in an order. I was seventh though. Everybody in front of me was very close. Now it was my turn. Can you imagine, I just swooshed it in, did not even touch the rim at all. History in the making. I made the first half court shot of this new and young ratiopharm Ulm team. I felt honoured.

I have had a lot of time between practice and the game. We had to be in the gym at 6pm.

Wels wouldn`t be an easy test. Their Point Guard Moore used to play with Rip Hamilton at UConn and everybody knows that UConn won a championship with Rip Hamilton. They also had Jason Conley on the wing, and some guy who was playing at Illinois.

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Jerome’s diary entry #3: Gametime!

Today I was ready to get tested. We have had our first pre season game in Nördlingen. Fortunately it was a very close trip and we were bridgewaterteampicdriving with a couple cars to the game. I was still studying our playbook while we were travelling. We arrived almost two hours before the game, which was very nice, so everybody had enough time for himself to get dressed and get some shots or own drills off. Then we got, about 45 minutes before the game, back to the locker room.
Mike Taylor was introducing us the keys to success for today’s game and what we have to do and what we have to be good at to win our first game.
Then we did something what really surprised me for a second. Mike told us to come together for a prayer. So we huddled up and we or Mike started praying. The last time I was doing that was more than two years ago, while I was playing High School basketball in the states. I was really missing it. It is very hard to describe and to explain. What it is able to do with an individual and team. I do not know the right words now. It is just great to come together as a team and do things like that. It increases the team chemistry. I felt very warm and comfortable while we were praying. Surrounded by giants, which will protect me and help me up, when I am falling down.
After the prayer, we went out and did run our pre game warm-up. I felt very comfortable with my Jumpshot and everybody else did. I didn’t know that Lee Humphrey is able to dunk. It didn’t even seem hard for him.

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Introducing: The German National Team 2009

After 10 years of constantly playing for Germany Dirk Nowitzki won’t be a part of the national team this summer.DBB-Logo_0

No one in Germany is complaining about that because Dirk was always willing to spend his summers playing with old friends instead of just lying on the beach and be lazy during the off-season. If one just thinks about the long, exhausting NBA season with 80-100 games Dirk has to play between November and May/June and you see that hardly any other NBA player is playing for his national team each and every summer on can’t praise Dirk’s effort high enough.

Nowitzki even turned 31 this summer and you don’t need to be a medical scientist to realise that his body needs the summers now to regenerate more than ever.

The Dallas Maverick also had planned to marry his fiancé this summer, but as we all know thanks to the gossip press this issue has sorted itself out.

So Dirk really intended to play the European championship this summer, but Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban refused to let him play. Cuban allowed Dirk to follow his big dream of playing the Olympics for many years. Now that he has been there last year, Cuban reminded Nowitzki of a promise he gave to sit out the next summer – and Dirk accepted that.

No one knows if Nowitzki will come back next summer or if he has already played his last game for the national team.

Many people saw in Germany a one-man-team. “If Nowitzki would not play for them, they would not even deserve to be in the tournament”, thought many fans and observers during the last few years.

This summer we will see how competitive the german national team can be without Dirk.

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Jerome Bridgewater’s diary entry #2

This practice week was very rough. Going two-a-days is not that easy like I thought it would. My legs got so tired on Tuesday already. bridgewaterteampicEverything was sore. I was even too tired to fix myself something to eat at the evening. I was just lying in my bed resting.

Probably because we were also going out to the track to do some running Tuesday afternoon. It didn’t seem too hard and I won the first 400 metre run. I felt comfortable and in such a great shape. So I got a little bit too loud and I asked Coleman Collins for a race for the next 200metre sprint. Winner gets a free Burger king menu. Well he just took off. It wasn’t even close. He was probably at the finish line while I still had to run 20 metres. He is so fast for a Big Man. All he said afterwards is that he wants a large cup of Apple Cider and some extra bacon on his burger.

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