ProA

Joe Lawson (Gotha) We Have To Stay Focused And Together When Playing On The Road And We Did That Against Kirchheim

Joe Lawson is a 201cm forward from Indianapolis, Indiana playing his rookie season in Germany with the BiG Oettinger Rockets Gotha (Germany-ProA). He played at Indiana SE (NAIA) from 2010-2012 playing a total of 56 games and then moved to Indianapolis (NCAA2) where he played from 2013-2015 playing a total of 60 games and as a senior played 31 games: 19.2ppg, 7.1rpg, 1.1apg, 1.1spg, 1.5bpg, FGP: 58.5%, 3PT: 32.8%, FT: 78.0%. He talked to German Hoops after the big 60-59 win against Kirchheim.

Joe congrats on the big 60-59 win. You witnessed and played in a defensive battle with a game winning shot in one. How often have you played in this type of game in your career?

To be honest I haven’t played in a game like that since my childhood. I was glad to be on the right side of it.

The game was tight and Kirchheim was leading by four points after three quarters. With 52 seconds to go Gotha was down 59-53. With all the energy already exerted in the first 39 minutes, what was the biggest strength of the team in the last 52 seconds?

Well being down six with a minute left we knew we had time to make one more comeback. We just needed to get stops. So we stayed tough and composed and came away with a victory.

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Alex Foster (RheinStars) Our Biggest Improvement Is How We’ve Come Together As A Team And I’ve Felt Our Trust In Each Other Growing

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 seasonin 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 3-0 start.

Congrats Alex on a double sweep this weekend beating Trier 80-76 and tonight Chemnitz on the road 73-69. Was this great start into the season something one could of anticipated coming out of the pre season into the regular season?

We had a challenging preseason and have gotten better every week, so I’m not surprised we’ve been successful early. I might not have guessed that we’d be 3-0, but I could feel our team starting to come together and expected us to have a chance to win once the regular season started.

What was the most difficult hurdle that the team had to do coming from the Trier game to the Chemnitz and only having 48 hours to recover and play again?

I think we were actually excited to get to play again so soon after Friday’s game. It’s a seven-hour trip from Cologne to Chemnitz and they had a packed house waiting for us. So it wasn’t easy, but it’s always a smoother ride home after getting a win.

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Will Chavis (I Would Like Fans To Remember Me As A Gamer, A Person Always Willing To Take And Make A Big Shot)

Will Chavis is a 34 year old 181 cm guard who comes from Philadelphia and retired in 2014 from professional basketball after playing for 11 years. He started his basketball learning at New Hampshire in 1998-1999 averaging 9.6ppg, 2.9rpg, 3.9apg before going to Texas to play at Panola Junior College averaging 25 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals per game . This gained the interest of legendary coach Bobby Knight at Texas Tech. Knight had only the best to say about the guy he coached two years at Texas Tech. ‘Will takes pride in taking good shots, and is a great shooter. He also takes very good care of the ball. He is aggressive and quick on defense, and can anticipate or put under pressure the opposite point guard’, stressed Bobby Knight. At Texas Tech, Chavis played together with ex Artland Dragon Ronald Ross and in his senior year, played 33 games averaging 7.9ppg, 2.7rpg, 2.2apg. He started his professional basketball career in 2003 going to Iceland to play for UMFN Njardvikur playing 6 games and averaging 18.3ppg; 3.1rpg; 7.8apg ( 41 assists to 11 turnovers); 2.0spg; 3pts 45.6%; FT 85.6%. The next season, he was tested by Olimpia GE Larisa (Greece-A1), but was not signed and finished the season practicing with Climamio Fortitudo Bologna (Italy-SerieA). In 2005-2006, he started to make a name playing for Mlekarna Kunin Novi Jicin (Czech Republic-NBL, starting five) playing 5 EuroCup Challenge games averaging 15.2ppg, 2.4rpg, 4.4apg, 2FGP: 50%, 3FGP: 50% and playing 44 games in the Czech Rep. League averaging 14.6ppg, 3.4rpg, Assists-4 (5.2apg), 2FGP: 53.6%, 3PT: 40.9%, FT: 85.0%. The next season, he went to top Dutch team Demon Astronauts Amsterdam continuing to show who well he could perform in FIBA EuroCup playing 6 games and averaging 11.3ppg, 3.5rpg, 2.3apg, 1.0spg, 2FGP: 55.2%, 3FGP: 15%, FT: 78.3% and playing 39 games in the Dutch League and averaging 14.0ppg, 4.1rpg, 3.5apg, 1.5spg, FGP: 40.3%, FT: 87.8%, 3Pts: 40.9%. In 2007-2008, he split time with Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus, but left after 7 games, where he averaged 10.6ppg, 2.6rpg, 1.9apg, 1.1spg, 2FGP: 36.6%, 3FGP: 27.8%, FT: 87.5%, and then moved to MBC in Jan 2008 playing 12 games and averaging 13.9ppg, 2.8rpg, 2.9apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 39.3%, 3PT: 42.9%, FT-1 ( 91.7%). In 2008-2009, he led MBC into the BBL averaging 10.9ppg, 2.3rpg, 2.7apg, 1.0spg, FGP: 37.0%, 3PT: 43.8%, FT: 86.5% in 29 games. He finished his basketball career in Nurnberg playing 141 games form 2009-2014. He will start his coaching career as an assistant to Ralph Junge with Nurnberg. He spoke to German Hoops directly after retiring in the summer of 2014 and talked about his basketball career and future.

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

Hello Miles its been a while. I am I am my hometown of Philadelphia enjoying the time with my family.

You have retired at the age of 33. What were the main reasons for retiring now. You still put up solid stats. Was it the reduced role or was it more your body that told you it was time to hang up your sneakers?

Actually I can still Go! But I just felt there was no future for me playing basketball and that the next step would be coaching. I was offered a great opportunity to stay in Nurnberg and coach under Ralph Junge and it seemed more attractive for me, instead of going out and proving I can still play because of my reduced role last season.

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Stan Brown (ETB Wohnbau Baskets) I Believe Coming From A Smaller School Just Pushed Me To Work Harder And Be Better

Stan Brown is a 24 year old 204cm forward from Chicago, Illinois that will be playing his third professional season and first in Germany with Pro A team ETB Wohnbau Baskets Essen. He played at Lamar)NCAA) from 2009-2013 playing a total of 115 NCAA games. He improved his scoring and rebounding each season and as a senior played 31 games averaging 11.6ppg, 7.6rpg, FGP: 48.2%, FT: 67.4%. In 2013 he started his professional basketball career with Abejas de Guanajuato (Mexico-LNBP). Last season he played for BK 04 AC LB Spisska Nova Ves (Slovakia-SBL, starting five): 37 games: 16.4ppg, Reb-2(9.5rpg), FGP: 51.5%, 3PT: 14.3%, FT: 71.7%. There he achieved Slovakian League All-Star Game status and Eurobasket.com All-Slovakian League Honorable Mention. He spoke to German Hoops about basketball.

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

I’m currently in Houston Texas and my summer has been going great.

After a very strong season with BK 04 AC LB Spisska Nova Ves (Slovakia-SBL), how did you experience the summer transfer time? I am sure it was easier than a year ago after your rookie season in Mexico?

It felt a lot more confident in finding a second job this summer. Definitely easier than my transfer time after Mexico.

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Max DiLeo (Gotha) The Basketball IQ Runs In The Family

Max DiLeo is a 22 year old 185cm guard from Philadelphia that will be starting his professional basketball career in Germany with Gotha and has a brother TJ who will play his third professional season in Germany with Giessen. Max Dileo started his basketball career at Cinnaminson HS, New Jersey and college career in 2011 with Monmouth (NCAA) where he played a total of 114 NCAA games. As a senior he played 32 games averaging 5.9ppg, 3.1rpg, 1.5apg, 1.4spg, FGP: 48.2%, 3PT: 25.4%, FT: 70.0%. He spoke to German Hoops after getting his first professional contract in Germany with Gotha.

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

I am currently at home in New Jersey, and summer has been great so far, it was nice to have a short break from basketball but I continued to play and work out with my brother to stay in shape.

How relieved are to have signed your first pro contract very very early in the summer transfer period? Do this take some pressure off your back in your rookie season?

Signing my first pro contract was great, it was like a dream come true! Signing it also relieved me of a lot of stress during the summer. It definitely takes a lot of pressure off of starting my rookie season, early on in the summer I knew what I was going to do and what I needed to work on to have a successful season.

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Cameron Wells Brings A Trace Of Curry Powering The Giessen 46ers to 78-65 Win Over Rent4Office And 2-0 Playoff Lead

If one is in Giessen and has the chance to choose between watching exciting basketball seeing a TJ Di Leo no look pass, Yorman Polas explosive dunk, big three from Eric Palm or a spectacular Cameron Wells penetration to the hoop where his quickness and agility is unmatched or rather sitting on the couch at home after an exhausting day at the office with a beer and chips and watching a crucial Champions League game of FC Bayern Munich where a news side note of which new shoes a Bastian Schweinsteiger might wear would be more newsworthy in Germany than a Giessen player scoring 50 points in a game. A real Giessen basketball fan would have a laugh attack with having to make a decision between his 46ers or FC Bayern Munich. FC Bayern Munich may be Germany´s team, but in Giessen the 46ers always come first. The Giessen 46ers have been perfect so far in the 2015 Pro A playoffs having swept the MLP Academics Heidelberg and displaying marvelous consistent defense in the three games averaging giving up only 62 points per game. They face Rent4Office Nurnberg who had to come back from being down 2-1 in games against the ETB Wohnbau Baskets Essen and won the last two games to advance. Giessen has had the number of Nurnberg this season sweeping the season series winning the two games by six and three points and also winning game one in Nurnberg 85-80. All games were tight as Giessen had the better nerves. Ex Giessen 46ers German Robert Ohle who has played 115 BBL games with Paderborn, Giessen and Tuebingen returned to an old stomping ground and despite FC Bayern Munich playing at home against Porto, the Osthalle was full as no one in this arena cared if Germany´s team was on the brink of elimination or advancing to the next round as for two hours Giessen 46er basketball was first on the menu. The only thing Giessen fans missed at home on the couch was goals as FC Bayern Munich creamed Porto 6-1 to advance to the semi-finals while the Giessen 46ers did what they do best playing strong hard team basketball at home outlasting Rent4Office Nurnberg 78-65 and taking a 2-0 game lead in the best of seven. “Nurnberg is a good team and number one offensive team while we are the number one defensive team. We played good defense and played together as a team. When we do that we are hard to beat”, stressed Giessen point guard Cameron Wells. For Rent4Office Nurnberg, it was their fourth straight loss to Giessen this season as they continue to struggle against the ex BBL team. Nurnberg came back at the end, but like in the previous games wilted in crunch time. “We came out lacking on defense and when they get out on transition, it is hard to stop them. They took us out of our sets and when they are hitting shots, it is hard to win. They also did a good job on Josh Young and me and didn´t let us find a rhythm. Their defense has been great all year long, but we have to execute and get better shots”, stressed Rent4Office guard Braydon Hobbs. After the game there was enough time to get perfect analytical points from team captain TJ DiLeo. “This was the ideal win for us. On defense we were physical and took them out of their comfort zone and got running as much as possible. On offense we ran our sets and shared the ball and had many assists. When we do these three things of playing tough defense, transition and executing on offense then it is the type of win where you feel very good”,added ex Temple guard TJ DiLeo.

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Will Barnes (Hamburg Towers) I Love The Character And Will Of My Teammates.

Will Barnes is a 26 year old 185cm point guard from Tuscaloosa, Alabama that is playing his second professional season and first with the Hamburg Towers. He started his basketball career in 2006 for Tennessee Tech (NCAA) where he played a total of 98 NCAA games. In 2012-2013 he played at Lee (NAIA) playing 34 games: 20.0ppg, 4.1rpg, 2.6apg, FGP: 50.3%, 3PT: 41.0%, FT: 77.7%. Last season as a rookie he played for the Finke Baskets playing 29 games: Score-3(18.8ppg), 3.5rpg, 3.4apg, FGP: 64.3%, 3PT: 37.2%, FT: 75.8%. He spoke to German Hoops before the game against Science City Jena

The Hamburg Towers have a three game winning streak at home. It seems like the club is really getting used to their own living room. How special is it playing in the Hamburg arena?

Playing in Hamburg is really special. The new arena looks is very nice. We are getting a great turnout at our games and the overall support for the club is great! As a team, we play hard and very uptempo. The fans have really seemed to enjoy it so far.

After mustering only 61 points in Wurzburg, the Hamburg Towers have found a groove on offense again having averaged 84 points in the last two games. What adjustments has the team made offensively in the last two games?

The main change we’ve made is to just slow down and really execute our offense. We’ve been sharing the ball a lot better and getting out in transition.

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The MLP Academics Heidelberg Get Sucked Up In the Giessen Yorman Polas Tornado 74-53

It may only have been a year ago that the Giessen 46ers and MLP Academics Heidelberg last met in the Osthalle in Giessen, but as is so often in the business of basketball in Germany, players come and go each season as rapidly as the daily gossip stories about Kim Kardashian. At the end of last November, the MLP Academics rolled into the Ost Halle in Giessen with a lot of confidence coming off their huge 107-69 victory against the Cuxhaven Bascats and they had no mercy for the ex Beko BBL team Giessen has they halted their four game winning streak with a bitter 66-60 win. If one looks back to that game, one observes that there were only a total of three players on the floor for both teams with TJ Dileo and Benjamin Lischka of the Giessen 46ers and Nico Adamczak was the only player that had strapped on the Heidelberg jersey that were on the floor again in Giessen a year later. Giessen came into this game with Heidelberg with a 4-2 record at home and having won the last two road games in Paderborn and Nurnberg while the guest was playing spirited basketball the last weeks having won four of the last six games including big wins against the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg and Science City Jena. For the two Giessen players DiLeo and Lischka there was definitely the revenge factor and pride issue, but as soon the game started their thoughts were only on the 40 minutes ahead and after a slow first four-five minutes, the Giessen 46ers found their rhythm, had a huge game from the tornado force Yorman Polas and the unsung hero was Besnek Bekteshi with his defense and the team got stronger in the second half powering past the MLP Academics Heidleberg 74-53. “The revenge factor was there, but I didn’t think about it. It is a new year and new players. They had won four of their last six games and we knew that we had to be ready and were. We showed real Giessen basketball tonight. We played tough defense forcing them to turnovers and got out on transition. Our big men did a great job running the floor and on offense played good pick and roll, made the extra pass and made shots”, stressed Philadelphia native TJ Dileo. The MLP Academics are a very talented and strong team, but they continued to stay in their annoying rut of having long dry spells on offense like last weekend against Nurnberg and were outscored 21-6 in the third quarter that sealed their fate. “We have had situations this season where we had long stretches of offense where we cant get anything going and that was the case again tonight in Giessen. I don´t know if it is lack of spacing, bad execution of sharing the ball, but we have to correct it. When this happens, we tend to fall into one on one situations. If we can fix this then we are a playoff team”, stressed Indiana native and Heidelberg forward John Eggleston.

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Eric Palm (Giessen46ers) It Has Been A Hard Grind Being A Professional But I Think I Still Have Years To Come

Eric Palm is a 27 year old 185cm guard form Illinois that is playing his second season in Germany and first with the Giessen 46ers. He started his basketball career at McKendree (NAIA) in 2005 where he played until 2009 and as a senior played 35 games: 20.6ppg, 2.6rpg, 2.5apg, 1.5spg, FGP: 41.6%, 3Pts: 38.3%, FT: 85.2%. He started his professional basketball career in 2010 with Thor AK (Iceland-D1) where he played until 2012 and in the 2011-2012 season played 11 games: 26.1ppg, 4.6rpg, 3.7apg, 2.2spg, FGP: 51.7%, 3PT: 25.9%, FT: 84.5%. In 2012-2013 he played for IR Reykjavik (Iceland-Dominos League) playing 22 games: Score-3(26.5ppg), 4.3rpg, 3.3apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 45.5%, 3PT: 41.0%, FT-1(93.9%).Last season he played for BV Chemnitz 99 (Germany-ProA) playing 30 games: 15.8ppg, 2.4rpg, 2.0apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 48.2%, 3PT: 39.8%, FT: 84.1%. He spoke to German Hoops about basketball.

You are playing your first season for the Giessen 46ers. Why did you move from Chemnitz to Giessen?

After seeing who stayed in Giessen and what they brought in, I felt that it would be a great situation for me. Giessen reached the final 4 last season and I want to have a taste of the playoffs so Giessen was a big draw for me.

Your ex coach Felix Schreier was let go recently. Were you surprised that he was let go and what was missing from BV Chemnitz to have more wins?

I can´t really tell you what was missing or what they needed to be more successful. It was sad that coach had to go since he was home grown from Chemnitz. It was a tough decision for Chemnitz. He is a good coach and it was fun to be around him. I wish him only the best.

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Carlos Medlock (s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg) I Came To Wurzburg To Show That I Am Not Only A Scoring Point Guard, But That I Can Run A Team

Carlos Medlock is a 27 year old 183cm point guard from Detroit, Michigan that is playing his first season for the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg. He started his basketball career at Eastern Michigan. In 2010-2011 as a rookie he played for Utah Flash (D-League): 3 games: 4.3ppg, 1.3rpg, left in Nov.’10, in Feb.’11 moved to Guildford Heat (United Kingdom-BBL, starting five): 17 games: 14.9ppg, 3.8rpg, Assists-4(4.6apg), 1.7spg, FGP: 48.0%, 3PT: 36.9%, FT: 64.1%. In 2012-2013, he got experience playing for U.M.F. Skallagrimur Borganes (Iceland-Dominos League), then moved to Club Deportes Las Animas (Chile-Liga Nacional), then signed at U.M.F. Skallagrimur Borganes (Iceland-Dominos League, starting five): 24 games: Score-2(27.2ppg), 4.4rpg, 4.8apg, Steals-5(2.3spg), FGP: 58.1%, 3PT: 36.9%, FT: 78.9%. Last season with Crailsheim, he played 37 games: 17.3ppg, 2.9rpg, 4.6apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 49.6%, 3PT: 41.3%, FT: 82.2%. He reached the 2014 Pro A final and achieved Eurobasket.com All-German 2.Bundesliga Pro A 2nd Team -14. He spoke to German Hoops about the first month of the 2014-2015 Pro A season with the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg.

Congrats on the 101-67 win against SC Rasta Vechta last week who are 0-5. When you win by 34 points, can you say after 40 minutes that it was a perfect game?

Of course not I don’t think any team can play a perfect game. It’s always something you could’ve done for an even better result. But we just came ready to play and happy we got the win.

How do you feel beating a worthy candidate like SC Rasta Vechta who have big aspirations of moving back up to the Beko BBL? Is the team farther after 5 games than you expected in terms of team chemistry and where you want to be after one month into the season?

Truthfully it felt like any other game I look at Vecha the same way as any other team in Pro A. Our team chemistry is good we at a point where we all understand what we bring to this team.

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