BBL

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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Kyle Bailey Reflects About EnBW Ludwigsburg

Kyle Bailey is a 27 year old 188 cm guard from Fairbanks Alaska that is a very smart player who handles the ball well, performs well under pressure and regularly is the first player at practice and the last to leave. He played at Santa Clara with Macabbi Tel Aviv guard Doron Perkins from 2000-2005. In his senior year, he played 31 games averaging 14.8ppg, 4.7rpg, 4.2apg, 1.5spg, FGP: 37.2%, 3Pts: 31.3%. In his first professional season in 2005-2006, he split time between the Florida Flame(NBDL) and BK Riga of the Latvian league.

In 2006-2007, he went to Germany to play for BG Goettingen playing 29 games and averaging 20.8ppg, 5.7rpg, 3.0apg, 2.8spg, 2FGP: 48.1%, 3FGP: 35.9%, FT: 77.0%. He led the team into the BBL winning the second league north. In 2007-2008, he played for Ratiopharm Ulm playing 18 games averaging 12.6ppg, 3.0rpg, 3.4apg, 1.1spg, 2FGP: 47.3%, 3PT: 31.0%, FT: 64.5%. Last season, he helped lead MEG Goettingen into the playoffs playing 23 games and averaging 14.4ppg, 4.3rpg, 3.3apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 43.5%, 3PT: 32.1%, FT: 74.2%. He sat down with German Hoops after leaving EnBW Ludwigsburg.

Kyle, your season ended a little early with EnBW Ludwigsburg. How disappointed are you with the termination of your contract?

I am pretty disappointed.

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Ade Dagunduro(MBC) Ready To Unleash Another Weapon In The Second Half Of The Season

Ade Dagunduro is a 23 year old 196cm guard from Inglewood, California that is playing his first season in the BEKO BBL fort he MBC Wolves. He grew up a few steps from the legendary Forum which was home to NBA legends like Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jaabar and James Worthy. He started his career at Antelope Valley junior college before transfering to Nebraska. In the 2007-2008 season, he played 33 games averaging 8.9ppg, 3.6rpg, 1.7apg, FGP: 49.1%, 3Pts: 36.4%, FT: 60.6%. In his senior year, he played 31 games averaging 12.8ppg, 4.4rpg, 1.4apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 52.0%, 3Pts: 34.4%, FT: 69.7%. He took some time to talk to German Hoops about his rookie season with MBC recently

What kind of experience was it for you to take place at the 2010 BEKO BBL Allstar game slam dunk contest? What was your feeling going into the event? Did you think that you could win?

It was great experience to participate in the Beko dunk contest that was my first dunk contest ever and I had a lot of fun. I just didn’t want to embarass myself particpating. I felt that if I made it to the final round then I would be able to win it.

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Despite The Current 13th place Of Ratiopharm Ulm, The Team And Robin Benzing Are Fun To Watch

At this time last season, Ratiopharm Ulm with Jeff Gibbs, Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce and co were gleaming in the playoff range while 12 months later and on the eve of Superbowl 44, the club is toiling in 13th place, but coach Mike Taylor and the team can put their feet up and enjoy the game with a smile and be relatively happy with the current fortune of the team. The team was unable to keep key players from last season and got a facelift that totally left the club unrecognizable just like actress Melanie Griffith except for the friendly wide smile of coach Mike Taylor and a few players as he had to build a new winner in Ulm. Nobody was really expecting the team to reach the playoffs and seemed more concerned and interested about the season that Robin Benzing would have.

“I am happy with how Ratiopharm Ulm has played. We had some tough loses against Phoenix Hagen and The Giessen 46ers. I think if we would have won those games, most people would have said that we are playing well and we would have 10 wins and be pretty close to being saved for next season. We need two more wins and then we will be ok for next season”, stressed ratiopharm Ulm manager Thomas Stoll.

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Will The Walter Tigers Tuebingen Reach The Playoffs Before The Stroke Of Midnight?

If one had dared to combine the word Walter Tigers Tuebingen and playoffs before the 2009-2010 BEKO BBL season, it may have received the same response as Dieter Bohlen does as juror of Germanys version of Super idol when he puts money into his piggy bank after hearing a horrible musical performance, but with the season half way done, Tuebingen is one of the big surprises currently as they are on playoff course riding a six game winning streak and proving all critics wrong as they are playing solid basketball.

The Walter Tigers Tuebingen won their sixth game in a row against The Deutsche Bank Skyliners 91-70 and are slowly starting to raise eye brows in the BEKO BBL as a team that could annoy the more established playoff teams. The slow start and very humbling 98-66 loss in Frankfurt in October seemed about as far away as Pluto is to earth.

“This win and winning streak feels very good right now. Our team is playing very good basketball at the moment and our main goal are the playoffs. Everybody contributed to this win. We hit our shots on a consistent level in the second half and our offense was running very well. Branislav Rathkovica did a great job with his passing. All in all, we almost played a complete game. We had some lapses, but it was very close to a perfect game”, stressed ex Paderborn basket Steven Wright.

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Jerome´s Diary Entry #17: Dedication For A Run

Ulm had a very nice trip to China and a break during the All Star Weekend. Everybody had some days off. But most of the players stayed educated. And we bounced back strong against Hagen (87:72). We won two in a row now. Unfortunately this is our longest winning streak for this season. Our main goal should be to perform strong on the road. The team stays very hungry, because nobody is really satisfied with the first half of the season.

I did hit the weight room and the gym with Darko and Austen to do some extra strong. Darko and me are also are very focused on the second team of Ulm. We are at the first place at the moment, but do have some important games coming up against 2nd and the 3rd seed teams. If we win those games we are through and moving up to the next level. We would reach our goal and complete one of our missions.

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Champion vs. Cup Winner and The 8 Free Throws Story

When the reigning champion meets the reigning cup winner it is always a special game.

Last week EWE Baskets Oldenburg were facing Alba Berlin in a game that many experts expect to be a possible finals constellation in June.

While Oldenburg could only win one game in this year’s Euroleague competition Alba Berlin is doing a great job in the EuroCup. Luka Pavicevic’s team had to play in Le Mans during the week, but that did not prevent Berlin from a very good start into the game. After just six minutes in the first quarter Alba Berlin managed to establish an impressive 2:16 lead. This was a result of Alba playing their typical pick and roll offense combined with some tough defense. At this early stage of the game Oldenburg looked pretty helpless on offense. It really is a pleasure to see a team like Alba Berlin move the ball fluently on offense. They have got mobile big man on offense with a very good feeling about how to set a block and then move away from the defender. Usually Adam Chubb is probably their best tool for this kind of offense. But the 28-year old American, who received a contract extension, is out for several weeks. Blagota Sekulic and Jurica Golemac, who was signed as a replacement for disappointing Kenan Bajramovic, know how to play their part as well. Both are very active and very good passers.

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2010 BEKO BBL Allstar Game A Big Success

After the BEKO BBL had showcased the Allstar game in big 10,000 plus arenas in Cologne and Mannheim the last years, they decided to display the leagues best players in a smaller venue in Bonn in 2010. This turned out to be a big success as the Telekom dome was sold out and the atmosphere was as breathtaking as taking in a Boston Redsox-New York Yankees game at the legendary Fenway Park.

Why should the BEKO BBL continue to have the Allstar game in a huge complex like the SAP arena in Mannheim where one feels overwhelmed when looking around and seeing the magnitude of the arena and where 6,000-7,000 people make the arena look as lifeless as the Pontiac Dome in Detriot as Detroit Lions Football fans had to encounter a miserable 0-16 season in 2008. The Telekom Dome only had 6,000 spectators, but every inch was filled and the arena was about as loud as any as I have ever seen in the BEKO BBL.

“It was a good decision to move it to a smaller venue. It has been sold out for two weeks and I think that it is simply better for the players to play in front of a sold out crowd”, stressed German National coach Dirk Bauermann.

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Struggle Against Relegation In The BBL

With half of this year’s BBL season played it is worth to take a look at the bottom of the rankings and analyse which teams have to fear relegation.

In our off-season Teamchecks German Hoops previewed all teams. Like many other experts we predicted Mitteldeutsche BC and Walter Tigers Tuebingen to face trouble to stay in the league. Surprisingly both teams are currently in the race for a play-off spot. While MBC had a great start into the season, Tuebingen is currently on 5 game winning streak – and that’s a new club record in their BBL history.

A team that really looked a lot stronger on the paper, but could not fulfill expectations so far is the Düsseldorf Giants. Our author Mario predicted Düsseldorf to be a force to be reckoned with in the BBL race.

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Will Key Injuries Severely Hurt The Playoff Chances Of Braunschweig?

The New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig are seeking to reach the playoffs again after their last appearance was in 2003 with former Bamberg guard Demond Mallet who was just starting to make a name for himself in European basketball. Since then the team has sunk in the middle of The BEKO BBL standings and in the last six seasons averaging a 12th place placing in that time. In the last few years, the club had ex BBL champion with Alba Berlin coach Emir Mutapcic at the helm, but he was unable to lead the team into the playoffs despite having good rosters. He was unable to develop any German players into getting sufficient playing time in Braunschweig. The Germans usually went elsewhere and earned playing time there.

“Braunschweig is doing well. I hope that the team can keep it up. They have a great fan base and the fans deserve the playoffs”, added ex Paderborn guard Steven Wright.

Braunschweig management didn´t see anything really changing for the future and decided to make a giant house cleaning: The first order of business was finding a new coach. Braunschweig sports director Oliver Braun looked east to Poland and found an old friend with German Sebastian Machowski. Both Machowski and Braun won the Korac Cup with 8 time BBL champion Alba Berlin in 1995. The contact never ceased between the two and after a successful rookie coaching season in Poland with Kolobrzeg, it was time to fetch the 37 time German National player Machowski to Germany.

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