ProA

Bryan Smithson (I Was Able To Be A Little More Creative In My Approach To Scoring Which Made Me A Better Player)

Bryan Smithson is a 30 year old 185cm point guard from Kennesaw,Georgia that just completed his thrid season in Germany and first with the MPL Academics Heidelberg. He started his basketball career at Middle Tennessee St. (NCAA) in 2003 where he played two seasons. He then moved to NC-Asheville (NCAA) where he finished his college career and as a senior played  29 games: 16.4ppg, 4.0rpg, 4.1apg, 1.9spg, FGP: 45.1%, 3Pts: 41.1%, FT: 83.5%. He played two seasons for the Kirchheim Knights in the German Pro A where he was top 5 in assists in the league the last two seasons. Last season for Kichheim he played 28 games: 12.0ppg, 3.4rpg, Assists-5(5.0apg), FGP: 46.3%, 3PT: 40.2%, FT: 88.2%. He spoke to German Hoops after the season ended.

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

Hi Miles, great to hear from you again. I am currently at home in Atlanta, Georgia enjoying the sunny weather. My summer is going very well.

Your season ended at the end of March. Has the time from then until now felt like an eternity or has the time away from games flown by?

The early end to the season has been difficult for me. I enjoy being home with family and friends, but I would much rather be competing for a championship somewhere in the world. I feel like it has been an eternity since our last game.

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Donald Lawson (The SC Rasta Vechta Team Was A Band Of Brothers Whom I Will Forever Remember)

Donald Lawson is a 27 year old 208cm center from Chicago that completed his sixth professional season in Germany and second with SC Rasta Vechta. He played with BV Chemnitz from 2010-2014 playing a total of 118 Pro A games and two seasons ago played 30 games: 9.7ppg, Reb-2(9.4rpg), 1.4apg, 1.3spg, Blocks-5(1.3bpg), FGP: 47.0%, FT: 56.5%. Last season for SC Rasta Vechta he played 35 games averaging 2.6ppg, 4.4rpgHe started his basketball career at W.Michigan (NCAA) from 2006-2010 playing a total of 115 NCAA games. He spoke to German Hoops after the season ended.

Thanks Donald for talking to German Hoops. Congrats on moving up to the Beko BBL. Does the fact that the team move up lessen the hurt a bit of not winning the title?

Our goal was to win the title. We had a great season, but we want to finish on top. I’m sure it will be a dog fight between us and Jena.

SC Rasta Vechta and Science City Jena split the regular season series 1-1 and no game was decided by more than five points. However in game one SC Rasta Vechta was creamed 80-54. How could a devastating loss like that happen in a playoff final game?

 Jena executed their game plan perfectly. They moved the ball well and buried us early. It was hard to slow them down once they got going.

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Jordan Riewer (Gotha) Coaches Ensminger And Esterkamp Just Told Us To Keep Believing

Jordan Riewer is a 24 year old 188cm guard from Staples, Minnesota that is playing his first professional season in Germany for Gotha. He played at MSU Moorhead (NCAA2) from 2010-2015 and as a senior played 25 games averaging 15.9ppg, 4.8rpg, 5.8apg, FGP: 48.3%, 3PT: 49.6%, FT: 94.6%. Currently he is averaging 8,9ppg, 1,3rpg and 1,8apg. He spoke to German Hoops after the amazing five game come from behind victory against the Hamburg Towers.

Jordan congrats on reaching the semifinals in the Pro A playoffs. If someone had told you before the series started that Gotha would have to win three do or die games and the game would be so close what would you have thought?

Well unfortunately we dug ourselves into that hole falling behind 2-0. But this team just kept believing and in the playoffs anything can happen.

If you had to find the right title for this series how would you have called it?

That’s tough, I just think overall it was a grind. Which it’s the playoffs, so I wouldn’t expect anything else.

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Lakeem Jackson (RheinStars) We Still Want To Make The Playoffs But We Have To Take These Games One At A Time

Lakeem Jackson is a 24 year old 196cm forward from Charlotte, North Carolina that is playing his professional season and first in Germany with German Pro A team RheinStars. He played his first two professional seasons with BK Iskra Svit (Slovakia-SBL). He started his basketball career in 2009 with South Carolina(NCAA) where he played a total of 120 NCAA games and as a senior played 32 games averaging 7.5ppg, 5.9rpg, 1.8apg, FGP: 56.0%, 3PT: 40.0%, FT: 33.9%. He spoke to German Hoops after the 74-69 loss against the Hebeisen White Wings Hanau.

Lakeem thanks for talking to German Hoops A tough 74-69 loss to the Hebeisen Baskets Hanau. After an offensive second and third quarter, where did both teams find the energy to buckle down and give that extra on the defensive end in the fourth quarter?

I think it just came from both teams wanting to win.

The Hebeisen White Wings Hanau had an annoying 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter. Was that the ultimate dagger that cut into the heart of the RhieinStars?

I don’t think that was the case. Down the stretch of the 4th we had some free throws that didn’t fall and also some rebounds we didn’t come up with.

The RheinStars got crushed on the boards 53-28. Do you ever remember getting hit for 22 offensive rebounds in your career?

Yeah that was definitely the part of the game that hurt us the most. But we still had a chance to tie the game with 8 seconds left. Which is really rare.

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Jordan Riewer (Gotha) We Want To Be Playing Our Best Basketball Going Into The Playoffs

Jordan Riewer is a 24 year old 188cm guard from Staples, Minnesota that is playing his first professional season in Germany for Gotha. He played at MSU Moorhead (NCAA2) from 2010-2015 and as a senior played 25 games averaging 15.9ppg, 4.8rpg, 5.8apg, FGP: 48.3%, 3PT: 49.6%, FT: 94.6%. Currently he is averaging 8,9ppg, 1,3rpg and 1,8apg. He spoke to German Hoops after the huge 93-47 victory against the Dragons Rhondorf.

Jordan thanks for talking to German Hoops. Congrats on the 93-47 victory against Rhondorf. Was getting this win as easy as the result shows?

No win is easy especially in the competitive Pro A. This was another great win for us.

Gotha has let up 48 points to Nurnberg and 53 points to Cologne. Giving up 47 points to Rhondorf was the least amount of points the club has given up this season to one team. Does the point total also equal the best defensive performance of the season?

I think it’s something we are slowly getting better at and doing a better job at following our rules and just playing team defense.

You won every quarter as a team, but had a super balance of great defense and offense for 40minutes. Was this one of those nights where nothing could go wrong for Gotha?

We actually started out a little slow but after about 5 minutes we got going and we got good shots and kept sharing the basketball which made it another fun team win.

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Devin Gibson (SC Rasta Vechta) I Feel Like I Am A Smarter Defender But That Comes With More Experience

Devin Gibson is a 26 year old 180cm point guard from Austin, Texas that currently is playing for SC Rasta Vechta (Germany-ProA) and last season played for the Kangoeroes Basket Willebroek (Belgium-Scooore League) playing 26 games averaging 11.7ppg, 3.3rpg, 3.2apg, Steals-4(1.8spg), FGP: 53.1%, 3PT: 36.7%, FT: 79.0%. The American started his basketball career in 2007 at UTSA (NCAA) playing a total of 119 NCAA games and as a senior played 34 games averaging 17.0ppg, 5.2rpg, 5.4apg, 2.7spg, FGP: 42.3%, 3PT: 30.3%, FT: 78.1%. He started his professional basketball career in 2011 with the San Antonio Spurs (NBA), only pre-season, in Dec.’11 moved to Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt (Germany-BBL) playing 18 games averaging 8.4ppg, 2.7rpg, 2.7apg, Steals-5(1.4spg), FGP: 42.4%, 3PT: 25.0%, FT: 72.8%. In the 2012-2013 season he remained with the Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt (Germany-BBL) playing 29 games averaging 6.1ppg, 2.3rpg, 3.2apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 45.5%, 3PT: 25.0%, FT: 62.0%. In the 2013-2014 season he played for BC Kalev/Cramo Tallinn (Estonia-KML): Eurocup: 10 games: 7.0ppg, 3.4rpg, 3.1apg, 1.7spg, 2FGP: 51.5%, 3FGP: 33.3%, FT: 72.0%; VTB United League: 16 games: 5.8ppg, 2.9rpg, 2.4apg, 1.3spg, 2FGP: 34.6%, 3FGP: 42.1%, FT: 78.6%; Estonian League: 23 games: 7.7ppg, 3.4rpg, 3.3apg, Steals-1(2.4spg), FGP: 53.7%, 3PT: 40.5%, FT: 62.7%. He spoke to German Hoops after the big SC Rasta Vechta win against the Hamburg Towers.

Devin congrats on the big 70-52 win against the Hamburg Towers. How good does it feel to have won 10 games in a row?

Feels really good but can’t get too high or too low.

Can you remember what your highest winning streak was in college and as a professional?

No I can’t remember but I definitely would like to keep this one going to the end of the season.

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Jordan Riewer (Gotha) I Want To Be More Consistent Here In The Second Half And Just Help The Team Win Anyway Possible

Jordan Riewer is a 24 year old 188cm guard from Staples, Minnesota that is playing his first professional season in Germany for Gotha. He played at MSU Moorhead (NCAA2) from 2010-2015 and as a senior played 25 games averaging 15.9ppg, 4.8rpg, 5.8apg, FGP: 48.3%, 3PT: 49.6%, FT: 94.6%. Currently he is averaging 8,9ppg, 1,3rpg and 1,8apg. He spoke to German Hoops after the 84-75 victory against the Finke Baskets Paderborn.

Jordan  thanks for talking to German Hoops. You are playing your first season in Germany and what have you liked most about the recent holiday season?

As for the holiday’s, the scenery in Germany is beautiful and my first time at a Christmas market was a cool experience.

Congrats on the big 84-75 win against the Finke Baskets Paderborn. How hungry was the team to make amends for the bitter 25 point loss to Vechta last weekend?

Very hungry! We had arguably one of our best weeks of practice and got after it all week.  We just wanted to bounce back, as we know we are better than how we played at Vechta.

Gotha had the 34-28 advantage at the break as the Finke Baskets were able to hang around. What words of wisdom did head coach Chris Ensminger give the team going into the third quarter?

Just don’t let up and keep fighting. It’s a 40 minute game and in this league anything can happen.

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Luke Loucks (Hebeisen White Wings) I Want To Be As Efficient As Possible Every Time I’m On The Court

Luke Loucks is a 25 year old 196cm guard from Clearwater, Florida playing his fourth professional season and first in Germany with the Hebeisen White Wings Hanau (Germany-ProA). He started his basketball career with Florida St. (NCAA) in 2008 where he played until 2012 playing a total of 136 NCAA games. He reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2011 and as a senior played 35 games averaging 7.1ppg, 3.3rpg, 4.3apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 44.2%, 3PT: 34.4%, FT: 70.8%. In 2012 he started his professional season with VEF Riga (Latvia-LBL): VTB League: 6 games: 1.5ppg; VTB United League: 6 games: 1.5ppg; Latvian LBL: 4 games: 1.8ppg, 3.3rpg, 5.3apg, in Jan.’13 moved to Forex Time Apollon (Cyprus-Division A) playing 11 games: 10.4ppg, 3.3rpg, 6.4apg, FGP: 54.1%, 3PT: 40.0%, FT: 76.5%. In the 2013-2014 season he played with the Kangoeroes Basket Willebroek (Belgium-Ethias League): 26 games: 10.3ppg, 3.3rpg, Assists-2(4.7apg), FGP: 43.2%, 3PT: 30.3%, FT: 77.9%. Last season he played with the t Erie Bay Hawks (D-League): 10 games: 4.0ppg, 2.3rpg, 3.4apg, in Feb.’15 moved back to Maine Red Claws (D-League): 9 games: 2.4ppg, 1.2rpg, 2.2apg. He spoke to German Hoops about basketball.

Luke thanks for talking to German Hoops Congrats about signing with the Hebeisen White Wings Hanau. What do you know about the country Germany and its basketball?

I have followed German basketball for a very long time. When I was 16 I came over with my high school to play in a tournament in Tübingen for 10 days and I had a great time. I have also had many friends and former teammates play in Germany so I have always kept tabs on the league. I am very excited to be here.

You joined a very ambitious team that is playing its first season in the competitive pro A. Do you feel a lot of pressure of leading this club since you have a lot of experience and are a point guard?

I enjoy being in a situation where the coaches and the management are as ambitious as the players. The White Wings as an organization have very high goals for the coming years and I believe that our team this season will help take the next step toward those goals. I’ve played in a lot of leagues and different levels, so I am looking forward to embracing my role as a veteran on this young team.

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Alex Foster (RheinStars) It’s Never As Good As It Seems And It’s Never As Bad As It Seems Mindset Gets Me Through My Struggles And Will Keep Me Grounded As I Find Success

Alex Foster is a 23 year old 203cm forward that grew up in Portland, Oregon and also has the German citizenship and is playing his professional rookie season in Germany with the RheinStars(Germany-ProA). He played at Emory (NCAA3) from 2011-2015 playing a total of 108 NCAA3 games and as a senior played 20.1ppg, 7.9rpg, 1.0apg, FGP: 44.6%, 3PT: 39.9%, FT: 79.8%. He was able to improve his scoring and rebounding average each season. He spoke to German Hoops after the RheinStars 84-83 victory against Rhondorf

Alex congrats on the 84-83 win against Rhondorf. Do you think that there will be another Christmas gift that will top this Christmas gift game winning shot?

Well my parents and little sister are visiting from the US and we’re all driving down to Stuttgart to celebrate Christmas with my mom’s family. So us all being together as a family is the best gift I could ask for, but the feeling of winning is pretty great too.

It was a wild game as the RheinStars had the comfortable lead at halftime, but Rhondorf never gave up coming back in the fourth down 9 points and taking the lead. Why wasn´t the team able to close the door earlier on them?

They deserve credit for fighting their way back into the game. I thought they were able to make us uncomfortable by switching defense and then they were making lots of plays on offense. We were out of sorts and they took advantage.

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Braydon Hobbs (Giessen 46ers) We Have To Bring It As A Team Each Week And If We Don’t Then Teams Make Us Pay

Braydon Hobbs is a 26 year old 196cm point guard playing in the Beko BBL for the Giessen 46ers and last season played for rent4office Nuernberg (Germany-ProA) where he averaged 11,9ppg, 4.1rpg, Assists-4(5.9apg), Steals-2(1.9spg), FGP: 55.8%, 3PT: 40.8%, FT: 82.4% . He started his basketball career in 2008 with Bellarmine (NCAA2) playing a total of 133 games. He turned professional in 2012 and played for Caceres Basket (Spain-LEB Gold, starting five): 35 games: 7.1ppg, 2.8rpg, 1.9apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 41.9%, 3PT: 34.7%, FT: 87.9%. In 2013-2014 he played for Alba Fehervar (Hungary-A Division, starting five): Eurocup: 10 games: 11.9ppg, 3.1rpg, 3.6apg, 1.7spg, FGP: 40.4%, 3PT: 52.3%; Hungarian League: 32 games: 9.1ppg, 4.2rpg, 3.4apg, Steals-2(2.3spg), FGP: 52.8%, 3PT: 32.7%, FT: 72.7%. He also played three summers professionally in Australia. He spoke to German Hoops before the Hessen derby against the Fraport Skyliners.

Braydon thanks for talking to German Hoops. Last week Giessen suffered a tough 87-61 loss against FC Bayern Munich. After having tasted how good it feels beating a Bamberg at home was the team self-confidence going in at a different level than it is for lesser known teams in the Beko BBL?

We usually try to have the same confidence going into every game. We prepare the same way every week so hopefully by the time the games come around we are ready and prepared for any team.

There have been days where the Giessen defense didn´t perform the way it should have as it has given up 100 points or more two times, but what do you feel was most difficult to adjust to in their offense?

They executed the way a euroleague team does. They found the open guys when we made mistakes. Giving up 87 points to any team in this league makes it extremely difficult to win. They got a lot of easy looks and they knocked them down.

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