BBL

Is This The Season Where Derrick Allen Makes A Patent On His Ballerina Moves?

Derrick Allen might secretly be dreaming of the London Olympics in 2012 as being a opponent for 100 meter record holder Usain Bolt from Jamaica as he was clocked at 10,7 on the track in Frankfurt last week, but one thing that wont be a dream to anyone will be his ballerina moves that he will discharge again in BBL arenas with the same intensity and ferocity of when Mike Tyson is beating up a life size Evander Holyfield punching bag.

Allen has used his ballerina moves to near perfection and it is something he learned through the years, that one could almost warrant a patent for the Derrick Allen ballerina move in 2009.

“All the post moves that I use, I got from watching different big men, while I was growing up. I think, I used them so much is because most of the post guys I go against are 10-20 kilo’s heavier than me. So I got to use my quickness, and fakes too keep the defenders off balance, but I hope I will be able too use those moves more this season”, stressed Allen.

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Teamcheck: Paderborn Baskets

The past three years the Paderborn Baskets have done a terrific job in working very efficient with a limited budget. While the average paderbornbudget in BBL should be something on the better side of 2.5 million €, Paderborn had to deal with the minimum budget of about 1 million €uros.

Still it did not prevent Coach Doug Spradley from forming decent rosters that never even had to fear facing relegation. In Germany’s second division Spradley’s team had a sensational 2006/2007 campaign when they remained unbeaten for the whole season and got promoted to BBL. If you count the wins of the 05/06 season and add them up with those wins of the next season, the team had an unbelievable winning streak of 50 wins in a row before playing BBL.

But no one was surprised when that winning streak could not last in Germany’s first division. Of course you can’t buy success with money, but it surely makes things a lot easier.

If your financial situation does not allow you to sign players that almost guarantee you quality you have to do some nice scouting work.

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Teamcheck: EWE Baskets Oldenburg

imagesFor some years the EWE Baskets Oldenburg had been known around the league for having a nice budget, signing big names, but still they could never win a single play-off series. No matter how promising the teams looked after the quarterfinals the season was over.

Under the guidance of American head coach Don Beck Oldenburg was like a sleeping giant. Without a doubt everyone could easily see that his teams had a lot of potential, but somehow all those big names never made a decent team and the northern german team was a disappointment in that period.

After years without making it to the semi-finals, Oldenburg decided to replace unlucky Beck in 2007.

Only one option in Doug Spradley’s contract with Paderborn made Predrag Krunic the new head coach of EWE Baskets Oldenburg. Allegedly Spradley had already signed with Oldenburg but then he had to find out that he could not leave Paderborn. So Oldenburg’s management had to find a new solution and decided to go for their plan b: Predrag Krunic.

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Teamcheck: Eisbaeren Bremerhaven

Eisbaeren Bremerhaven management tried to get the first six new Americans, Steve Esterkamp, Lou Campbell, Brandon Brooks, Jonathan 140309_1_mittel_Logo_Eisbaeren_BremerhavenMoore, Rodney Buford and Kevin Lyde on the same plane from Newark to Hamburg which could be seen as a mini geographical miracle since all players come from different spots in the States, but in the end Buford and Lyde did not make the flight, but the big question this season will be if coach Doug Spradley can get these Americans plus the other players to find a way to come together on the court. These questions seemed to have turned a total 180 degrees with the spectacular signing of Jeff Gibbs. One slowly has to ask, if manager Jan Rathjen has taken special magician courses with eccentric David Blaine, because what he has done in the short period in the off season has been incredible. He is already leading the early list for manager of the year. One could carefully say that the Bremerhaven Eisbaeren have gone from a playoff team to a title candidate in only 24 hours.

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Teamcheck: Ratiopharm Ulm

It is just like former german national player Denis Wucherer once said: “Everybody likes Ulm.”ulm

And it really is so easy to like ratiopharm Ulm as they always appear to the common german basketball fan as the typical underdogs, which still can compete with the best teams in BBL.

Even though the club has to work with a comparatively rather low budget Ulm had not to fear deregulation for the third straight season.

Last season they even finished the season ahead of established teams like Frankfurt, Bamberg or Artland Dragons Quakenbrück and made it to the play-offs for the first time in 10 years.

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Teamcheck: Düsseldorf Giants

Year two in Düsseldorf is going to be interesting for the Giants, who took over much of the former Bayer Leverkusen Giants organization. düsseldorfAfter failing to attain their goal of reaching the playoffs, coaches Achim Kuczmann and Hansi Gnad focus on continuity, keeping most of last year’s roster intact. Despite a promising start to their inaugural season in Düsseldorf, the Giants ended the season a disappointing 14th in the league, but only four games behind a playoff spot.

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Teamcheck: Phoenix Hagen

For fans it is always horrible to see their team leave the league. When a team is even doing a good job in sports terms but has to withdrawhagen from competiton due to financial terms it hurts even more.

Head coach Armin Andres had formed a nice team including Todor Gecevski, a young, uprising Bernd Kruel, playmaker Chuck Evans and Americans Adrian Autry and Chris Carrawell. But Brandt Hagen, who were on 7th place in the ranking and a serious play-off had to face bankruptcy in December 2003. Soon Chuck Evans found a new club and played some Euroleague games with Alba Berlin, Bernd Kruel joined the Opel Skyliners and won the german championship this season and Hagen? Brandt Hagen becomes BBV Hagen and played Regionalleague, while second division team BG Hagen is named Phoenix Hagen.
At least there was still pro Basketball in Hagen, but it was a long way to go until the city finaly returned on the BBL map.

Hagen had always been a big basketball city. And similar to Gießen one could have hardly imagined a Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) without Hagen. But one always gets used to things when they appear durable.

To stay durable in BBL is what Hagen wants to achieve after six years absence from germany’s elite league.

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Teamcheck: TBB Trier

When Yves Defraigne joined TBB Trier in December 2007, all he found was a roster full of players who were interested more in their egosLogo_TBB_Trier than in teamplay. Defraigne had taken over a team that was build up in a way he never would have done it.

But with no possibility to sign new players during the season he just had to deal with what he had.

Trier finished the season on 17th spot. Second last meant that the dinosaur team would have been relegated to the second division. But Cuxhaven’s decision not to make it from the second division to the BBL allowed Trier to gain a wildcard and remain in the league.

Now it was Defraigne’s turn in the summer of 2008 and he made some decent moves to create a team that will now play the second season together.

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Teamcheck: Artland Dragons

At the end of july some BBL clubs have finished their work for this off-season.Artland-Dragons

With the Artland Dragons, Giants Duesseldorf, ratiopharm Ulm, TBB Trier and newcomers Phoenix Hagen five teams already look completed.

Time to have a closer look at the teams, this time the Artland Dragons Quakenbrueck.

After failing to make it to the play-offs last season, Thorsten Leibenath and manager Marko Beens did not hesitate to build a new roster full of familiar faces. (more…)