BBL

Isaac Bonga Starts Basketball Cinderella Story Signing With The Los Angeles Lakers

Where the private thoughts of Isaac Bonga were in the last days concerning his future with the Los Angeles Lakers must have been very intense, because if he hasn’t noticed yet that he is living the ultimate Cinderella basketball story then at least his famiy and closest friends and agency Wasserman must have reminded him just how lucky he was. Working out for the Los Angeles Lakers and getting advice from the legend and possibily one of the best point guards to ever play Magic Johnson would get any basketball player on earth jealous, but finding out he could be practicing with the best player on earth and maybe being NBA teammates in the future with Lebron James and learning from Mr triple double Rajon Rondo is something he never would have imagined only a little bit of a month ago. There he was horsing around and having fun with his teammates of the Fraport Skyliners like Quantez Robertson and Mike Morrsion and posing with fans at the official Fraport Skyliners farewell party. In only a short time he has gone from boy to seemingly man as now his ultimate basketball experience is starting with the Los Angeles Lakers. This reality was confirmed yesterday as all this was not a dream as the German 18 year old wonder boy was given a three year deal according to numerous media reports.

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The Fraport Skyliners Players 2018 NBA Summer League Watch Volume 2

After an off day on Wednesday at the NBA Summer League, play resumed on thursday with four games. One Fraport Skyliner was in action again with Tai Webster with the Miami Heat. Webster who had played his first game this summer on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers played 21 minutes in the 89-74 victory. He scored three points, hauled down 2 rebounds and dished out 4 assists and had a steal. The only negative stat was his 1/12 shooting day from the field. However in his third game in Sacramento against the Sacramento Kings, he only mustered four minutes in a 86-76 victory. The native New Zealander who had a solid rookie season with the Fraport Skyliners did as much as he only could in four minutes of play. In a style in the NBA Summer League where each player is playing for his own stats trying to impress the swarm of NBA general managers and coaches, Webster got up a shot and made a big play on the defensive end coming up with a steal.

Webster´s big competition Derrick Walton Jr out of Michigan who played sparingly last season with Miami seeing action in only 16 games and played most of the season with the Sioux Falls Skyforce (NBA G League) playing 27 games and averaging 16.1ppg, 4.0rpg, 7.0apg, 1.4spg, FGP: 49.5%, 3PT: 37.7%, FT: 90.2% saw increased action in this game as he logged 27 minutes. He put up 10 points on 3/7 shooting, grabbed two rebounds and dished out seven assists and made a steal on the defensive end. He gave a pretty solid performance as he is trying to become more of a role player in the Miami Heat organization this season. Webster has stiff competition and has to fight for minutes and just do the best he can in the minutes he gets and be as efficient as possible.The Miami Heat didn´t get any huge games from one player, but shared the ball nicely showcasing five players in double figures led by Derrick Jones Jr with 19 points. Bam Adebayo followed with 14 points while Duncan Robinson of Michigan(NCAA) contributed 12 points and big man Yante Maten of Georgia(NCAA) was efficient in 13 minutes contributing 10 points and eight boards. Today should see the 2018 NBA Summer League debut of ex Charleton(CIS) stand out Philip Scrubb with the Washington Wizards as they face off against the Cleveland Cavaliars as well as another German Isaiah Hartenstein who suits up in his first game this summer with the Houston Rockets against the Indiana Pacers. Hartenstein is still unsigned and will be looking to impress in Las Vegas to earn that NBA contract.

Dennis Mavin Feels Like He Isn´t Far Away From Being Able To Match Up Against The Best In The easyCredit BBL

Dennis Mavin is a 26 year old 190cm guard form Gainsville, Florida that recently completed his third professional season with the Giessen 46ers where he played two BBL games and also 9 games for their farm team in the Pro B averaging 18,4ppg,3,6rpg and 2,6apg while shooting 36% from outside. He played his first two professional seasons in Morocco winning 2 titles. He played a total of 123 NCAA games for two schools with Florida Atlantic (NCAA) and FIU (NCAA). In his senior year at FIU (NCAA) he played 33 games averaging 17.2ppg, 5.3rpg, 3.1apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 47.2%, 3PT: 31.3%, FT: 64.3%. He spoke to German Hoops at the end of his third professional season in Germany.

Dennis thanks for talking to German Hoops. Where are you at the moment and what was the first eatery that you scoped out when you returned home?

At the moment I’m in the Bahamas on vacation enjoying myself before the summer grind. The first restaurant I went to was “Yamato” a Japanese restaurant.

After playing two seasons in Morocco, how did you experience playing your first season in Europe? Is this a territory where you want too remain for good in the next years?

My first season in Germany was amazing. I was blessed to be a part of such a great organization with so much history like the 46ers. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. Europe is definitely a spot I want to remain at.

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The Fraport Skyliners Players 2018 NBA Summer League Watch Volume 1

It is no surprise that one has seen easyCredit BBL teams feature players at the NBA Summer League over the years. In 2014, the Fraport Skyliners had current FC Bayern Munich forward Danilo Barthel suit up for the Miami Hear and he held his own being teammates with NBA players like 2014 NCAA champion Shabaaz Napier with Uconn and Justin Hamilton. However it is rare when a easyCredit BBL team is able to showcase more than one as this summer the Fraport Skyliners will be able to observe three players displaying their abilities with Tai Webster Philip Scrubb and Isaac Bonga.

Basketball BL / Playoff-Viertelfinale Spiel 4 / FRAPORT SKYLINERS - FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN BASKETBALL

15.05.2018 / Basketball BBL / Playoff-Viertelfinale / -0- Tai Webster / FRAPORT SKYLINERS

Ex Carleton sniper and all around great player Philip Scrubb helped Canada at the 2019 world cup qualifying games last weejned with wins against the Dominican Republic where he contributed six points and four assists in 22 minutes and stroked home 14 points in 17 minutes in a crushing 30 point victory against the Virgin Islands. Scrubb will suit up for the Washington Wizards in Las Vegas this weekend and will be teammates with some well known players like Thomas Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Aaron Harrison of the Dallas Mavericks and Devin Robinson of the Washington Wizards. He also will be teammates with Phil Goss who is one of those players that has had a solid career in Europe and looking to turn some heads of the many NBA Gm’s on hand. Sam Cassell Jr will also be on the roster a guy who stands out just with his well known name. Isaac Bonga is slated to play for the Los Angeles Lakers with the official announcement still not having been made.

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Isaac Bonga Gets His First Real Taste Of The NBA Getting Selected By The Los Angeles Lakers

Recently Isaac Bonga was horsing around with his teammates Quantez Robertson, Mike Morrison and Niklas Kiel during fan photo sessions at the Fraport Skyliners farewell party only a few days after losing a tough 5 game series against FC Bayern Munich. A month later the 2018 NBA Draft was held in the 19,000 arena Barclays center in Brooklyn, New York only a 5 minute drive away from New York city and he would have had a few more camera´s to deal with than what he had experienced in the Fraport arena as some fans were possibly getting their last photos with the future NBA player. Not only were there many more fans in the huge state of the art arena than Bonga would have had ever seen before in his life, but also guys like 2018 Euroleague champion Luka Doncic or future NBA stars like Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley or Trae Young that were strutting around and getting a feel for their own NBA swagger. These are all things that he will have to deal with down the road. In the last two seasons, Isaac Bonga who´s biggest role model is Greek phenom Giannis Antetokounmpo had been present in the various NBA Mock drafts, but fallen in the last season, but his presence was still there even if it wasn´t as great as the season before. Some had speculated that he might drop out and wait another year to polish his skills a bit more in Germany with the Fraport Skyliners in the competitive easyCredit BBL, but instead he stayed in with the likely guarantee from a team that they would select him. Perhaps he also kept his coach Gordon Herbert´s wise words of “teams look at a player´s potential before his stats” in the back of his mind after contemplating if his world championships performance last summer of 6.6ppg, 3.4rpg, 3.3apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 41.5%, 3PT: 8.3%, FT: 69.2% might scare off NBA teams, but really he was never off team´s radars. At the end of his second season there were at times as many as 8 officials from different NBA teams watching him live in Germany. The gamble to forgo another season in Europe and enter now instead of 2019 paid off as the huge German talent was the youngest player in the 2018 NBA draft and wasdrafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round at #39 and then handed to the Los Angeles Lakers joining fellow German Moritz Wagner who was drafted also by the Lakers in the first round at #25. A few months ago Los Angeles Lakers GM Rob Pelinka was in Frankfurt observing Bonga and must have been convinced of his abilities, but still needed that second opinion and I was glad to give my two cents of praise about the German. All of basketball Germany is thrilled about Bonga being drafted. ““I am delighted to see Isaac drafted. He is an excellent competitor and has worked diligently to achieve this latest success. This is also a huge credit to Frankfurt Basketball and the German National teams. Isaac is a versatile player two-way player with great size and length for his position. The most impressive aspect for me when it comes to Isaac is that he has added to his game every year and continues to do so”, stressed ex Nordlingen head coach Danny Nelson.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber interviewing Isaac Bonga after the NBBL playoff lost against IBAM in 2017

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Jarelle Reischel (Telekom Baskets Bonn) Is Back In The Gym Fine Tuning His Game For The easyCredit BBL

GES/ Basketball/ PSK Lions - Portrait, Fototermin, 02.10.2017 Jarelle Reischel is a 26 year old 199cm forward that recently completed his second professional season with PS Karlsruhe Lions (ProA) averaging 13,9ppg, 5,9rpg, 3,0apg and 1,8spg. Last season as a rookie he played with Vechta (BBL) and the Westchester Knicks (D-League). He was born in South Carolina and grew up in Frankfurt, Germany. He headed back to the states in 2008 and returned in 2016. He played at Pleasant Beach HS an dthen played for three NCAA schools with Rice, Rhode Island and E Kentucky playing a total of 125 games. He had his break out season as a senior at E.Kentucky (NCAA) playing 30 games averaging 17.9ppg, 6.8rpg, 3.2apg, 1.7spg, FGP: 53.4%, 3PT: 38.1%, FT: 78.4%. He signed with the Telekom Baskets Bonn today and actually had sat down with German Hoops in May after his season had ended with PS Karlsrruhe.

Jarelle thanks for talking to German Hoops. Where are you at the moment and what have you been mainly doing days after your season ended?

At the moment I am still in karlsruhe and since the season ended I been mainly hanging out with my teammates we are such a close group

Congrats on an amazing season with PS Karlsruhe. Two years ago they were still in the Regionalliga and this season was one of the four best teams in the Pro A. Just comparing the talent on this team with so many of the other dep Pro A teams would you ever have expected last September that the team would go so far?

We all expected that we would go this far.Everyone in the program knew what kind of talent we had. Our expectations were high amongst us and the outside just didn’t know that because we have so many names that were just question marks

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Bayern Munich dominates Alba Berlin in game 5 to win the BBL 2018 championship

Soccer fans will never know how amazing it is to witness a do-or-die game in a playoff series. After a long season the EuroCup teams FC Bayern Munich and Alba Berlin faced each other in this year’s BBL Playoff finals and demonstrated in five tough games how beautiful basketball and playoff competition is. After Berlin managed to steal game 1 in an overtime game, Bayern could win a one-sided game two and take a 2-1 lead with a 72-66 win. But Alba Berlin striked back and defeated Bayern in their last home game 72-68. So both teams would meet one final time in Munich’s Audi Dome to crown a new BBL champion. The odds were clearly against Berlin: Since 1998 there had been six decisive game 5 battles in the BBL finals and it was always the team with homecourt advantage that was victorious. Another interesting point is that Bayern Munich could win every playoff series against Alba Berlin in the past. But Berlin fans could also come up with some numbers that kept their hopes alive. Luke Sikma could win the spanish ACB finals on June 16th last year. That is the exact date of game 5 this year. If one looked at the record of all Bayern vs. Alba games this season, it became obvious, that every team had back-to-back victories. If this streak would continue Alba Berlin should win game 5 after winning game 4. And since the second half of game 3 Alba Berlin’s head coach Alejandro Garcia Reneses found a way to limit Bayern’s offensive flow. Still Bayern Munich always played their best basketball when they were with their back to the wall. And game 5 of the 2018 BBL finals should be no exception. Bayern was again able to step up defensively and steam rolled over Alba Berlin to take win the 2018 BBL championship with a 106-85 victory.

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Isaac Bonga Keeps NBA Dream Alive Keeping Name In 2018 NBA Draft

The night of June 21 will be a big night for Isaac Bonga as well as for Fraport Skyliner fans who might take a holiday day, sick day or go to work with only a few hours of sleep not wanting to miss exactly where the German basketball talent will be drafted. He could be the third player drafted in the Skyliners club history after Croatian Mario Kasun in 2002 and Senegal center Malick Badiane was in 2003. The 18 year old Bonga who is a 205cm guard could be the youngest player drafted this season and belongs to the top German talents at the moment and has decided to stay in the draft. He had declared for the 2018 NBA Draft recently, but had the option to withdraw his name until June 11^th in order to wait another year, but instead he will try his luck this season. Bonga recently completed his second professional season with the Fraport Skyliners playing 34 BBL games averaging 6,0ppg, 3,1rpg,2,2apg and 1,0spg while shooting 33% from outside. There was speculation that the German would withdraw as his name had disappeared from many of the early mock drafts and return to the Fraport Skyliners for another season of grooming to improve his chances of becoming a first round pick in 2019. It looks like Bonga will go in the second round this year and that is something he can live with if that guaranteed contract is in the package. Keeping his name on the NBA draft ballot only becomes risky if he isn´t sure that he will be drafted. Chances are that he has received a promise from an NBA team.

Basketball BL, FRAPORT SKYLINERS - MBC M ITTELDEUTSCHER BASKETBALL CLUB WEISSENFELS

The German who started his career with the Post SV Luetzel Baskets Koblenz junior team was already in Frankfurt in the 2016-2017 season playing for the Fraport Skyliners youth team while also getting experience with the Koblenz Regionalliga team. He made his BBL debut as a 16 year old and was the fifth youngest player to ever play a BBL game against Brose Bamberg. In the 2016-2017 season he was already high on many of the NBA mock drafts behind the Real Madrid wonder boy Luka Doncic and was seen as a top 10 first round pick. After a solid, but not explosive 2017 World Cup U19 in Cairo (Egypt) where he averaged 6.6ppg, 3.4rpg, 3.3apg, 1.6spg, his stock started to fall a bit in the mock drafts in the 2017-2018 season.

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It Wasn´t Steph Curry In Disguise But The Real Scottie Wilbekin Who Has The Basketball World In His Hands

It was 10 to midnight on March 23^rd only two hours after a star was born and some may have been thinking the Cinderella like performance that Scottie Wilbekin had just thrown at FC Bayern Munich would end at midnight and his team would proclaim in a press release that that amazing and dominant 41 point shooting night had really come from Steph Curry who had secretly been signed to a one game contract by Eurocup team Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul (Turkey-BSL). Somehow he had masterfully got the perfect makeup before the game that would even had made Uncle Drew aka Kyrie Irving cringe at the authentic presentation of a Scottie Wilbekin. However that press release never came and at 10 minutes after midnight on Saturday March 24^th, the American that is called the Turkish Steph Curry was really him while the real Steph Curry was at home in Oakland preparing for a game against the Atlanta Hawks where he would drop 29 points. The interesting thing about Scottie Wilbekin is that he looks similar to Steph Curry, plays and shoots like the NBA champion and to top it off is just as friendly as the Golden State all star. “When he gets the green light, he will shoot from anywhere”, smiled FC Bayern Munich guard Braydon Hobbs. It is no secret that Steph Curry belongs to the nicest players in the NBA. He supports his Nothing But Nets campaign which is a charitable endeavor which helps battle malaria by giving nets to protect families in Africa from the deadly disease. He also hosts annual golf tournaments to help raise money for scholarships to help out military families. In the past he was a great autograph catch as fans could line up 90 minutes before a home game at the Oracle arena and his warm smile would entice many new fans, but as of November 2017 he signed a autograph contract with Steiner Sports that is worth millions so getting a Curry autograph isn´t that easy anymore, but that friendly smile is always present. Still Curry belongs to the nicest NBA players and Wilbekin also gave proof that he isn´t some stuck up player, but is genuinely friendly. Of course after a tough loss, it could be different, but after the big 87-83 win in Munich propelling the Turkish team to the 2018 Eurocup final, he had time for this journalist.

45 minutes to be exact and even cut off the phone call he was having with his girlfriend to talk to me not only about possibly the greatest single game performance in Eurocup history, but also his illustrious young career. It is always easier to talk about basketball after a win and he had no problems talking about the Steph Curry similartites. It was a fact that Steph Curry wasn´t in disguise in Munich on that memorable March 23^rd night, but it was really Scottie Wilbekin who had the basketball world in his hands at that moment and does now.

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Spencer Butterfield (ALBA Berlin) Coach Aito Corrects You In A Way That Makes Sense And Is Nonthreatening

Spencer Butterfield is a 25 year old 190cm guard from Loomis, California playing his third professional season and first with JSF Nanterre (France-ProA) averaging 12.1ppg, 4.3rpg, 2.3apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 50.0%, 3PT: 40.7%, FT: 79.7% and in the France Pro A while in the FIBA Europe cup averaged 12.1ppg, 4.3rpg, 2.3apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 50.0%, 3PT: 40.7%, FT: 79.7%. He played at Utah St. (NCAA) and as a senior played 32 games averaging 13.0ppg, 6.2rpg, 2.5apg, FGP: 47.1%, 3PT: 46.0%, FT: 82.9%. He started his professional basketball career in 2014 with Melilla Baloncesto (Spain-LEB Gold) playing 25 games averaging 10.0ppg, 3.9rpg, FGP: 55.8%, 3PT: 43.8%, FT: 87.9%. In the 2015-2016 season he played with Juventus-LKSK Utenos (Lithuania-LKL) playing 40 games: Score-3(14.5ppg), 6.2rpg, 1.9apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 47.2%, 3PT: 42.4%, FT: 81.3%; In the FIBA Europe Cup he played 14 games averaging 15.0ppg, 5.9rpg, 1.9apg, FGP: 51.6%, 3PT: 42.0%, FT: 78.4%. He had a very short chat with German Hoops before game 2 of the 2018 easyCredit BBL finals against FC Bayern Munich.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber interviewing Spencer Butterfied after a Fiba Europe Cup win wit Nanterre over the Telekom Baskets Bonn in Bonn in 2017

Spencer, thanks for talking to German Hoops. It has been a little more than a year since we last talked. You have won two professional titles a cup in France and the Fiba Europe Cup as well last season with Nanterre. Now your two games away from winning the BBL title. How good is life at the moment for you?

Ya pretty excited about the opportunity to have a chance to win a title with Alba.

Before that you disposed of the EWE Baskets. How important was it going the distance and getting some early difficult competition. Do you feel like this strengthened the team mentality a bit more for the playoff stretch run?

Ya I think Oldenburg was a great test for us and we really had to dig deep to find a way to win that series. It definitely helped prepare us.

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