General

Professional Basketball Players Overseas And The Super Bowl Have A Special Bond

The Super Bowl is a day that is part of American culture and a day where surely every American that is in some way football interested can give a memorable story to. It is a day where after 6.30 at night in the states, you can roam the streets in some towns and really see nobody and is the night where retail workers could literally take the night off as there is very little customers venturing into the store except for maybe at half-time to reload on Coke and chips, but then again who wants to really miss the usually interesting half-time show and all the new innovative commercials. Obviously any Super Bowl that my favorite home team New England Patriots won was special to me, but if I had to look back in my life at a Super Bowl, then it would be Super Bowl 20. It was rather uneventful as I had to see a feisty Chicago Bears team led by slick coach Mike Ditka and the offensive duo of Jim Mcmahon and legendary running back Walter Payton destroy my team as their defense led by Mike Singletary stifled our offense. I will also never forget the tank William the refrigerator Perry who was called biscuit as he was one biscuit shy of 350 pounds barrel into the end zone for a touchdown and later his infamous commercials. I was attending prep school and of course could of watched it at school, but me and a couple of friends decided to sneak off campus and catch the blow out loss at a girls house who was having a party. The whole thrill of watching the game off campus and doing something naughty made the whole experience worthwhile. The score and loss though didn´t sweeten the few hours off campus though. We didn´t get caught and got back on campus without incident.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and New England Patriots Super Bowl champion Sebastian Vollmer at training camp in 2010

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Ron Howard Continues To Expand Creating The Howard Hoops Academy

Ron Howard is an ex player that spent many years overseas and since retiring has focused his energy on helping unknown players get exposure by organizing games and in many cases helping them find professional jobs. He founded Howard Hoops in 2013 where he brought numerous players overseas to help them find jobs and since 2018 has started the Howard Hoops academy where he helps train unknown players and help find basketball jobs. German Hoops has been covering his work since years and have interviewed him again about his current work.

Ron Howard CEO of HowardHoops and journalist Miles Schmidt-Scheuber have had a special bond since 2012. Howard has been organizing games for hungry and lesser known players to get that chance to showcase their skills while Schmidt-Scheuber gives the players media exposure

Ron thanks for talking to germanhoops.com Where are you at the moment and how is basketball life treating you at the moment?

Hey Miles it’s always a pleasure to talk to germanhoops.com. Thanks for having me. Currently I am in Santiago, Dominican Republic. For me Basketball right now is Amazing!!!

Tell us how Howard Hoops has grown and expanded in the last year? After your success with Howard Hoops in Europe, you now have gone forward with a new idea and started an academy. Tell me how you came up with this idea?

Howard Hoops has grown tremendously in the last year. We have now expanded to developing a Basketball Academy in Santiago, Dominican Republic . I wanted to start the Academy because I was tired of seeing players in America pay trainers who never been to the level these players want to get to. I felt I have the tools and the mind set to guide them in the right direction and the Dominican Republic was the place to be. It takes my players completely out of what their comfortable with in America and makes them fall in love with the process of knowing what it takes to be a Pro.

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Justin Bibbs (Boston Celtics) Lives From His Artistic Precision

After a hard day of work outs at the Red Auerbach center in Boston, Boston Celtic rookie and Ohio native Justin Bibbs slouches back to his hotel like a tattered famished dog looking to shut off the basketball radar for a little time, but doesn´t do the typical free time activities that many guys might perform like breaking out the play station or walking the one block down the street to the sports bar to get the daily dose of sports, but sits down at a table with a piece pf paper and drawing utensils. The rookie looks like and plays like a very good basketball player, but he doesn´t only have precision artistic shooting on his resume, but also has artistic precision as he is a very talented drawer and has been doing it since he was a kid. When you ask the ex Virginia Tech guard about his zeal for drawing, his big eyes light up like the John Hancock building does when the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots win a world championship. “When I was growing up, I was always watching cartoons and after watching the matrix movie, I started to draw trial and error. It was self-taught and I still do it today. I did a Dwayne Wade drawing when I was in high school. It is weird when I was a kid, I drew a Lebron James, but now that I am of age and have the possibility to play against him, I would never draw him now. Now I like to draw entertainers and musicians. I like to take random pictures and draw away”, stressed Justin Bibbs. Every day the American could have serious aches and pains just from turning his head back and forth seeing the amazing basketball excellence of guys like Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown or a Jaysun Tatum and just get total inspiration for new drawings, but instead would rather draw Celtic legends instead of his current teammates. “I wouldn´t want to draw a current teammate, but rather Paul Pierce. I always looked up to him growing up. He wasn´t just a shooter, but an all-around great scorer”, smiled Justin Bibbs. His favorite own drawing is a Kobe Bryant when he had the afro. He gave it to his grad assistant at Virginia Tech who was a big Kobe Bryant fan. Not only did his artistic precision begin at a young age, but so did his basketball precision.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber interviewing Justin Bibbs in Boston after a Boston Celtiics practice

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Tyler Wells Won´t Stop Chasing The Dream Of Playing Professionally

Tyler Wells is an American basketball player dreaming of playing professionally. He played at Silver Lake in the states and recently has been coaching kids in France. He recently played at the Howardhoops tour in Hilden, Germany looking to get noticed and live the dream as a professional basketball player. He spoke to Germanhoops.com about basketball.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and Ron Howard of HowardHoops in 2017 who have had a special bond since 2013. Both help young unknown players like Tyler Wells with getting a chance to showcase their game in europe and getting media attention

Tyler thanks for talking to Germanhoops.com. Where are you at the moment and is the heat wave in Germany still minor compared to what you know in Las Vegas?

Right now I am doing pretty fine with the heat. Because in Las Vegas we do not have any humidity and it is a dry heat. I will take humidity over dry heat any day!

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Michael Orris Learned The Hard Way In College That Often Players Are Put Into A Box Of What You Can And Can’t Do

Michael Orris is a 23 year old 190cm guard from Crete, Illinios that recently finished his professional rookie season with Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (NBA G League) playing 15 games averaging 2.0ppg, 1.8rpg, 3.3apg, in Mar.’18 signed at Fort Wayne Mad Ants (NBA G League) playing 5 games averaging 1.8ppg, 1.4rpg, 1.6apg. He got NCAA experience at three schools at Kansas State (NCAA) playing 15 games and Northern Illinois (NCAA) playing 63 games and as a senior played at South Dakota State (NCAA) playing 24 games averaging 8.1ppg, 1.9rpg, 4.0apg, FGP: 50.4%, 3PT: 35.3%, FT: 67.6%. He spoke to German Hoops about basketball.

Michael thanks for talking to German Hoops. Where are you at the moment and how have you been enjoying your summer so far?

No, thank you! I am currently living in Indianapolis, IN and recently engaged! So I would have to say my summer is going great so far!

After getting your feet wet in the G-League for two teams you now want to continue your professional career. Are your sights now to Europe more?

Honestly, I am weighing every option and just waiting to see what the next best position is for me. Whether that is overseas or back in the G League, I don’t know. But I am open to where ever God places me next.

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Eurobasket Lifetime Achievement for Miles Schmidt-Scheuber

If you want the latest player signings, imformative interview, in depth player portrait or in detail post game report in German basketball, then you will almost always find something from Miles Schmidt-Scheuber daily on our website. He joined Eurobasket in 2008 and is now going into his 11th season reporting about German basketball for eurobasket.com

The American/German who grew up in Boston following the Boston Celtics as a kid and hanging around 2 time NBA champion Dave Cowens who was his neighbor did his first basketball reports in 2003 for American Forces Network in english in Frankfurt Germany covering the Opel Skyliners. Soon he started doing play by play of the Skyliners on webradio. He also was the first person to have a weekly basketball show on German radio in 2006 at a time where social media was nonexistent. He also called 7 BBL allstar games and did games of the German national team. He has been doing live stream of basketball games from various leagues since 2012 covering youth games up to the professional level

His 15 year basketball reporting career has resulted in 500 plus games called and 1000 plus interviews conducted. Some of his interviews over the years were with players like Chris Williams, Shammond Williams, Casey Jacobson, Jon Leuer and Tyler Honeycutt to name just a few. He also is the first multi-lingual basketball commentator in Germany as he did play by play for the Fraport Skyliners Eurochallenge season and 2015-2016 Fiba Europe Cup season where they won the title. He also did play by play of the 2017 and 2018 German youth U-16 and U-19 championships in German and english. Currently besides his daily Eurobasket reports he is working on putting the finishing touches on his first book describing his life in the German basketball world.

We are extremely happy to have Miles in our team. Ten years past, the best is yet to come!

Courtesy of Eurobasket.com

Ron Howard (HowardHoops) I’m Bringing Players To The Best Country In Europe To Possibly Start Their Pro Career

Ron Howard is the CEO of HowardHoops who has been organizing professional games for years for unknown, but hungry professional players seeking that opportunity overseas to make a living playing the game that they love. He had a solid professional career in Europe mainly playing in Germany for teams like Stahnsdorf, Leitershofen, Achersleben and Limburg. He also played in Romania and Bulgaria and played at Cuesta JC (CJCAA), San Bernardino Valley JC (CJCAA) and Mayville State (NAIA). He is preparing two new Howard Hoops tours in Germany on July 28^th and in Tunisia in September. He spoke to German Hoops about Howard Hoops.

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Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and Ron Howard have a special basketball relationship helping players get signed to pro teams through HowardHoops

Ron thanks for talking to German Hoops. Where are you at the moment and how has your summer been going?

At the moment I’m in Minnesota!

We last saw each other last a little more than a year ago during the HowardHoops international tour. How have you kept busy in the last year?

Well since I last saw you I’ve transitioned back home to the states. Living in California training and coaching some of the top athletes around California.

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Alba Berlin Is At Close Range Of Reaching The Peak In German Basketball Again

When trying to fit these three terms At Close Range, Sean Penn and Alba Berlin together, the average observer born after 1990 most likely will be unable to piece together the similarities that they do have, but the older generation that follow movies and German basketball might just be so shrewd and be able to link it all together. Close Range was an 80´s movie and for many the only thing that will be remembered will be the theme song by Madonna “Live to tell” and that it featured up and coming actor Sean Penn. At that time in 1985, the American who was an up and coming actor was reeling off the critically acclaimed flick the Falcon and the snowman and followed that up with the next masterpiece “At Close Range”. The only problem, nobody noticed except for the critics as the movie theaters weren´t overflowing as it grossed only $2,347,000 at the North American box office during its theatrical run in 83 theaters, earning less than its production budget of $6.5 million which was a major disappointment. Ok so these three terms might not directly have too much in common with the famous German team Alba Berlin, but there is always a way how certain things can be linked. In the case of acclaimed actor Sean Penn, Close Range and Alba Berlin, it has to do more with success. At that time, Sean Penn was a big acting talent, but just hadn´t really had that big success at the box office, but they would occur later in his career. It isn´t much different for Alba Berlin either. The German basketball powerhouse have had a lot of talent over the last 10 years, but not had as much success as a Marco Baldi would have liked. Winning cup´s are nice, but not the same as going through the playoffs and standing at the top of the peak at the end of the successful run. Winning a cup translates in a successful weekend where you win two games and was able to play your best basketball in a short period of time. The fact of the matter is that Alba Berlin hasn´t won a league title in 10 years and the Alba Berlin drought has been as annoying for the traditional organization as it has been for the Boston Celtics who also won their last NBA title in 2008. Penn was looking for that box office success in 1985 while Alba Berlin is seeking that league title success after a long delay, but they are at close range. But not only is the Professional team Alba Berlin that is at close range this season of reaching the basketball peak, but also the two youth teams the JBBL(Under 16) team and NBBL(under 19) team that are battling this weekend in Quakenbruck for two titles. Alba Berlin is battling the MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg for the ticket to the easyCredit BBL final as well. In a few days the German basketball world will know if the Alba Berlin organization will celebrate two youth titles and in a few weeks if Alba Berlin can finally win a league title again.

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Listen to German Hoops!

Sick and tired of reading long, detailed reports about german basketball? We got something for you! Soon you will be able to just sit down, relax and listen to the German Hoops Talk. Manuel Schust and Miles Schmidt-Scheuber decided to start one of the first podcasts that covers german basketball in english. Later this week episode #1 will be released. We will talk about the upcoming BBL Play-Offs. In the meantime, BBL topscorer Phil Scrubb says Hi!

Tyler Kalinoski (Antwerp Giants) My Family Roots In Sports Taught Me The Importance Of Work Ethic

Tyler Kalinoski is a 24 yer old 193cm guard that was born in Cincinnati and is playing his third professional season and first in Belgium with the Antwerpen Giants. Last season he played with AS Apollon Patras (Greece-A1) playing 25 games averaging 10.8ppg, 4.9rpg, 1.6apg, FGP: 56.1%, 3PT: 33.6%, FT: 78.7%. As a rookie he played with ES Chalon-Sur-Saone (France-ProA) playing 36 games averaging 6.9ppg, 3.2rpg, 1.4apg, FGP: 38.9%, 3PT: 38.6%, FT: 82.8%;In the FIBA Europe Cup he played 19 games averaging 10.1ppg, 3.8rpg, 2.3apg, FGP: 55.0%, 3PT: 51.1%, FT: 50.0%. He played at Davidson from 2011-2015 playing a total of 129 NCAA games and as a senior played 32 games averaging 16.7ppg, 5.7rpg, 4.1apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 51.3%, 3PT: 42.3%, FT: 78.9%. He spoke to German Hoops while playing a tournament in Frankfurt Germany against the Fraport Skyliners and Telekom Baskets Bonn.

Tyler thanks for talking to German Hoops. Welcome to Germany. You’re in Frankfurt playing exhibition games against Frankfurt and Bonn. You didn´t play against German teams in France or Greece. Have you ever been in Germany before or played here?

I have been in Germany before. We traveled through Frankfurt a number of times in my rookie season with Chalon. I also visited last season as my friend Brian Sullivan who was my teammate at Davidson was playing with the Hebeisen White Wings.

You won a thriller against the Fraport Skyliners 86-85 on Paris Lee free throws. That was a wild end. What was the wildest game that you ever played in at the college or professional level?

The most wild game that I played in college was when we beat La Salle in a conference game where we were down by 18 and won on a buzzer beater. As a professional my most wild game was when we were playing Le Mans at home with Chalon and won on a buzzer beater alley-op from out of bounds from Illian Evtimov to Devin Booker.

As a rookie two seasons ago you played with Chalon that lost a heart breaker at home to Varese. You then watched Frankfurt win the 2016 Fiba Europe Cup final. What memories did you have of Frankfurt then and what was your impression of them today?

I don´t have too much memories of Frankfurt at the 2016 Fiba Europe Cup final 4 in Chalon except that they were well coached and executed well. I saw a bit of the same in Frankfurt this weekend. They executed very well and were never out of the game and came back and almost won. They were a very good team that was well coached.

Your playing your third professional season and first in Belgium with the Antwerpen Giants. After two solid seasons in France and Greece, what are your goals as a player besides winning in your third professional season?

After not winning a title as a rookie and not making the playoffs in Greece, my main goal is to win a championship. Personally I just want to get better and continue to grow as a player. I want to take little steps and never become stagnant.

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