Taevaunn Prince (I Am Excited And Obsessed With The Process Of Getting Better)

Taevaunn Prince is a 25 year old 191cm guard from Toronto, Canada that completed his rookie season in Germany with the ScanPlus Baskets Elchingen (Germany-ProB) averaging 17,1ppg, 5,4rpg and 1,9apg. He started his basketball career in 2011 with S.Dakota St. (NCAA) where he played two seasons playing 59 NCAA games. He then moved to Missouri So. (NCAA2) in 2014 and as a junior played 16 games averaging 16.1ppg, 6.8rpg, FGP: 53.4%, 3PT: 28.2%, FT: 83.8%. As a senior he played 30 games averaging 26.4ppg, 10.1rpg, 2.8apg, 1.5spg, FGP: 56.8%, 3PT: 44.9%, FT: 84.8%. He spoke to German Hoops at the end of the season.

Taevaunn thanks for talking to German Hoops. Congrats on a big season where you fell short in a do or die game in the semi-finals. How hard has it been digesting this season end since you were one win away from the Pro A?

It’s been hard to digest but overall you have to give thanks to God on how far we came and how well we did this season. But now its time to look back and see what I can improve on and look at the mistakes I made and become a better player and the offseason will be huge, I will be attacking it hard.

You played a hard fought series against Wurzburg and FC Schalke going the distance and then went the distance against PS Karlsruhe as well. Do you feel like the Wurzburg and Schalke series took a toll on the team going into the PS Karlsruhe series?

We are professional basketball players and are built for the season plus playoffs so as a team we should be ready to go all the way so that will never be an excuse. I think PSK is a well coached team and have good players with a great coach.

The 92-75 score in game three was a little deceiving as there wasn´t much that separated the two teams in many statistical categories. What do you feel decided this series?

As we know basketball is a game of runs and PSK went on a run in the second quarter that really decided the game, we were playing catch up from that point on and it was difficult to claw back.

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K K Simmons (Knowing How To Make The Correct Reads With The Pick And Rolls Can Take You A Long Way In The Game)

K.K Simmons is a 23 year old 190cm combo guard from Marietta, Georgia that completed his first professional season with German Pro B team Licher Basket Baeren averaging 20,8ppg, 2,8rpg and 3,4apg. He played at three schools with NC-Wilmington (NCAA), Kent St. (NCAA) and Pikeville (NAIA). Last season he finished his college basketball career with Pikeville (NAIA) playing 31 games and averaging 16.4ppg, 1.9rpg, 2.6apg, FGP: 46.1%, 3PT: 39.2%, FT: 78.5%. Simmons is an amazing shooter and shot 48% from outside in his junior season at Pikeville, but can also mix it up getting to the hole. In his first season with Pikeville, he played 25 games averaging 20.8ppg, 2.2rpg, 2.0apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 45.3%, 3PT: 48.9%, FT: 78.4%. He spoke to German Hoops at the end of the season.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber interviewing K.K Simmons of Lich after dropping 16 points in a 88-76 loss in Frankfurt against the Fraport Skyliners Juniors

Congrats KK on helping save the Licher Basket Baeren this season. What kind of overall experience was it for you playing with pressure having to keep the team in the Pro B?

To be honest, the overall experience was a really good one. There were a lot of moments and possessions that felt like I was in a playoff situation. Playing to stay in the Pro-B league was a lot of pressure but nothing we couldn’t accomplish as a team.

You stated in our last interview in January “I’m extremely confident that I can help Lich stay in the league. The key thing for us is sharing the ball on offense and playing team defense and everything will work out for the best. Did these things come true in the playdowns for Lich?

Yes, a lot of these things came true for us as a team during this play-down stretch. We had a lot of really good practices coming into the play-downs, and as a team we performed pretty well on both ends of the court.

The Licher Basket Baeren took care of business early winning the first 4 playdown games to stay in the league. Does this accomplishment dim your feeling a bit by the way you ended the season losing your last two games?

Winning the first four games of the play-downs was how we responded to the end of our regular season. By us accomplishing this, the last two games weren’t as important as the first couple. We are happy that we took care of business early.

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The Miles Basketball Minute: BBL Final Preview Brose Bamberg-EWE Baskets Oldenburg 3-1

With the shot clock winding down in game two and the EWE Baskets Oldenburg a wink of a blink starring at a possible 0-2 series hole and about to witness thousands of hearts gasping and coming to life bursting through each chest, it was Mr hustle and Mr “I once hit a shot at Purdue sitting down” Chris Kramer that found Rickey “Mr Oldenburg” Paulding the franchise´s money ball wrapped up in the corner with as good as no place to go, but somehow firing away a last second desperation shot that took the game into OT totally changing the series and the rest is history. Nine days later the 2009 BBL champion weaseled their way back to another final disposing the season big surprise team ratiopharm Ulm and giving that whole organiazion another long summer to thin k of excuses why they can´t win a championship and if they should bond with the Buffalo Bills for comfort who have lost 4 Super Bowls. Obviously the whole EWE Baskets Oldenburg club have to get credit for this season´s playoff success, but two guys that really stand out are the two brothers from another mother Chris Kramer and Mr all and legend Rickey Paulding who had another standout series and were instrumental in their team being able to get by the favorites ratiopharm Ulm. One can marvel all you want about Kramer as he is all over the court and his defense pressure in game two also was vital for the team turning the series around, but the Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Lebron James all in one is Paulding. Even if this comparison is majorly exaggerated, but in Oldenburg the American from Detroit is in his own basketball universe where he stands above even these players in the hearts of fans there. Paulding not only had a solid series in upsetting Bayreuth, but was masterful in the ratiopharm Ulm series as in five games he averaged 22,0ppg, 3,0rpg, and 4,0 apg while shooting an amazing 49% from the parking lot. His leadership and Larry Bird type hot shooting was seen most in game two where he sprayed 28 points in the unforgettable comeback and 107-103 OT win and when it absolutely counted most in the do or die game 5 in the unfriendly atmosphere in Ulm where he nailed 27 points and drilled home 5/6 trey´s and gave the word timely a new name as he made himself another step more immortal in Oldenburg. Paulding recently got his contract extended in Oldenburg until 2019, but before one wants to even dream about the next 2 years, fans in Oldenburg want to see Paulding and co bring a third title to Oldenburg. Those Larry Bird paralle´s aren´t so twisted in that Bird only won 3 NBA titles with the Boston Celtics and if the youth of fountain that Paulding is as his play seems to be getting better with age making that wine sweetest this season with his actions on the court, he will eclipse his 12 years in Oldenburg and hang on a 13^th season down the road and then he will be even with Bird and 13 seasons wearing the same jersey.

Most of basketball Germany except Oldenburg had ratiopharm Ulm getting into the final in a sweep or four games, but losing in five games was something that even Ulm manager Thomas Stoll would never have imagined in his wildest dreams.

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Brandon Lockhart (I Feel Like I Can And I Definitely Want To Play In The Pro A)

Brandon Lockhart is a 26 year old 185cm guard from St Louis, Missouri that completed his third professional season and first with German team ScanPlus Baskets Elchingen (Germany-ProB) averaging 12,0ppg, 3,8rpg and 6,2apg. As a rookie he played for BK Levicki Patrioti (Slovakia-Extraliga) playing 34 games: Score-5(16.7ppg), 3.8rpg, Assists-5(4.3apg), Steals-1(3.0spg), FGP: 50.2%, 3PT: 28.5%, FT: 78.9%. He played at Drury (NCAA2) from 2009-2013 and as a senior played 35 games averaging 12.5ppg, 3.9rpg, 6.1apg, 2.9spg, FGP: 50.9%, 3PT: 48.3%, FT: 77.1%. Last season he played for the Giants TSV 1861 Noerdlingen (Germany-ProB) playing 29 game averaging 16.8ppg, 4.1rpg, 5.7apg, 2.5spg, FGP: 49.6%, 3PT: 26.8%, FT: 81.1%. He spoke to German Hoops at the end of the season.

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Miles Schmidt-Scheuber interviewing ScanPlus Baskets point guard Brandon Lockhart after a loss against the Fraport Skyliners Juniors in Frankfurt

Brandon thanks for talking to German Hoops. Congrats on a big season where you fell short in a do or die game in the semi-finals. How hard has it been digesting this season end since you were one win away from the Pro A?

It’s always tough to digest a loss, even more so one that ends your season. But I’ve had some time to cope with it and will now just use it as motivation to prepare for next season.

You played a hard fought series against Wurzburg and went the distance against PS Karlsruhe as well. Do you feel like the Wurzburg series took a toll on the team going into the PS Karlsruhe series?

Wurzburg was a tough team, but I do not think that series had any effect on the PSK series because we had enough time to recover.

The 92-75 score in game three was a little deceiving as there wasn´t much that separated the two teams in many statistical categories. What do you feel decided this series?

In the final game, the second quarter really was the turning point in the game. They came out with a ton of energy to build a big lead and from that point on, we were always just trying to get back in the game. Kudos to them because they never allowed us to make the game interesting.

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Brian Butler (ScanPlus Baskets) Free Throws Are Still A Work In Progress

Brian Butler is a 25 year old 196cm German forward that completed his second season with the ScanPlus Baskets Elchingen (ProB) averaging 10,9ppg, 6,9rpg and 1,9apg. He started his basketball career with the FC Bayern Muenchen junior team (NBBL) and then moved to BG Illertal/Weissenhorn (ProB) where he played from 2010-2013 playing a total of 74 Pro B games. He then played two seasons with Erdgas Ehingen/Urspringschule (ProA) playing 65 Pro A games. He spoke to German Hoops after the conclusion of the 2016-2017 Pro B season.

Brian thanks for talking to German Hoops. Congrats on a big season where you fell short in a do or die game in the semi-finals. How hard has it been digesting this season end since you were one win away from the Pro A?

Yeah it’s tough because like you already said we were only 40 minutes away from the Pro a A, but we have to see the positive things that we accomplished and our goal was to stay in the league and to make the playoff. And we even made it to the semifinals which we didn’t make last year .

I don’t know it could be but I don’t want to look for excuses. I think PSK had a good team and we had a good team and it could’ve gone out either way. And what also was a factor in my opinion was the home court advantage. I think at home we were a different team than on the road !

The 92-75 score in game three was a little deceiving as there wasn´t much that separated the two teams in many statistical categories. What do you feel decided this series?

Like I already said I think in this series the homecourt advantage was a big factor!

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Terence Smith (I Brought A Lot To The Table Even In Games I Wasn’t Scoring)

Terence Smith is a 25 year old 191cm guard from Russellville, Alabama that completed his rookie season in Germany with the Giants Nordlingen averaging 17,6ppg, 5,2rpg and 3,8apg. He started his basketball career with Tenn-Martin (NCAA) in 2010 playing 84 NCAA games in three seasons averaging double figures in scoring each season with his junior year being his most productive where he averaged 14.8ppg, 3.6rpg, 2.8apg, FGP: 42.4%, 3PT: 44.4%, FT: 82.1%. He played his last year of school with Mississippi (NCAA) playing 33 games averaging 4.0ppg, 1.2rpg, 1.7apg. He spoke to German Ho opsat the conclusion of the 2016-2017 season.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber interviewing Terence Smith after he dropped 26 points in a 83-59 loss to the Fraport Skyliners Juniors

Terence thanks for talking to German HoopsYou have completed your rookie season with the Giants Nordlingen which ended in the team moving down to the Regionaliga. Was the last close loss to the Uni-Riesen Leipzig a game you should have won synonymous of how your season went?

We lost a lot of close games this season, but I like the way our team continued to fight till the end.

In our last interview at the end of the regular season you stated this in terms of the team wanting to stay in the league after the playdowns. “We will leave it all on the court and try our best to end the season on a good note”. Nordlingen had a 2-4 record in the playdowns. Did the team leave on the floor in the last 6 games?

Yes, I felt that we started to play better towards the end of the season and ended up splitting with the teams in the playdowns.

Nordlingen went into the playdowns playing their best basketball, but had a poor playdown record of 2-4. Did the fact that you were playing against big odds to stay in the league mentally effect the team?

A lot of it was out of our control so we were just focused on us.

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Will Sharp Shooter Kyle Kuric And FC Bayern Munich Become A Fit?

A day before game 3 between the Brose Baskets Bamberg and FC Bayern Munich, CEO Marko Pesic was displaying a friendly, but somewhat cautious smile in the Fraport arena after he witnessed the blowout win of his NBBL team against the Young Rasta Dragons as he knew that getting too confident about possibly getting that only club title of the season at the youth level was too early since the BBL team had a do or die game 24 hours later in Bamberg in hopes of saving their season. Instead the next day Pesic witnessed the third playoff loss to their archrivals in three years and second sweep in a row as he possibly was hoping for the NBBL magic of Frankfurt in the final where they destroyed IBAM would somehow have miraculously carried over to Bamberg. Or if Devin Booker who had had a solid game of 13 points, six rebounds and four assists could have inherited that major beast mode game of NBBL player Marko Pecarski who averaged 26,9ppg and 15,6rpg at the European Championships U16 in Radom (Poland) which most likely would have got FC Bayern Munich over the hump and forced a game four in Munich. But then again maybe it wasn´t so much that beast mode that was needed, but moreover that deadly sniper as the club couldn´t muster anything from downtown in game one shooting 2/16 and 3/21 in game three. Kyle Kuric could be that sniper and more that FC Bayern Munich was missing to help have gotten them by Bamberg.

No season is fully satisfying for any FC Bayern Munich club if the league title isn´t achieved. Maybe it´s something extra special that the football players are being served for meals that has made them so successful winning the last 5 Bundesliga titles, but then again one can´t deny the fact that the budgets that both have and what kind of players they can reel in just isn´t comparable, because if the basketball department had the money that the football team had, then you would have a starting five of top Euroleague players.

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Marko Pecarski Owns The Paint Leading FC Bayern Munich To 2017 NBBL Title Overpowering IBAM 94-71

The 2017 NBBL final was not even 30 minutes old and if one was roaming the catacombs in the Fraport arena, one would have observed intense sadness as IBAM players had their heads sunk low and others were feeling the sorrow even more like Johannes Klughardt as it was sinking in slowly. 19 year old Klughardt who started his career with TUS Uhrspringschule was in tears and was hugging his teammates like a 8 year old would their parents with that first overnight summer camp departure. He had made a clutch jumper and steal in the last minute to secure the IBAM win against Alba Berlin in the semi-final and the final was the last game for the German in the NBBL with this special group of guys as many will be too old to compete in the NBBL next season. Not only was Klughardt unhappy with the 94-71 NBBL final defeat at the hands of FC Bayern Munich as he also let some frustration out on an empty plastic bottle lying on the floor, but also his teammate 16 year old 186cm shooting guard and game changer Joshua Obiese who had a great semi-final game from the bench against Alba Berlin was feeling the grief of playing a last time with a very unusual group of guys and was near tears as he described playing that last game with Stanford bound Oscar Da Silva. “This last game was very emotional for me. I had a very special relationship with Oscar. We spent a lot of time together training together a lot during the afternoons. It is really hard to let go”, stressed Joshua Obiese. However for some fellows the frustration and down period after a tough loss escapes a mind quicker as others like Oscar Da Silva was already in future mode as he had an intense talk with German U-18 head coach Alan Ibrhimagic for about 10 minutes listening about how he should prepare for the summer national team time and one could of orchestrated a wet tee shirt contest next to him or had Lebron James walk by him and the 18 year old would not have flinched or lost concentration with his matter at hand. The young German is all business and already has the type of strong mentality that will carry him far at the professional level. For Da Silva, it was just another big game with many more too follow as he produced 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals and filled up the stat sheet like a Russell Westbrook. On the other side of the coin, the winners FC Bayern Munich were celebrating like no tomorrow, but one player won´t only remember the win, but also playing that last youth game against Da Silva. “It is always entertaining to play against Oscar. I never had as much fun as today as this was my first final. A guy like Oscar makes me so much better as you always have to play at a high level against him or you get eaten up”, warned FC Bayern Munich guard Nelson Weidemann.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber interviewing 2017 NBBL champion Marko Pecarski of FC Bayern Munich

The 2017 NBBL final was a tale of two halves as the fans saw a very balanced and even game in the first 20 minutes, but in the last half witnessed a fatigued IBAM team fall apart and be unable to withstand the constant FC Bayern Munich pressure on both ends of the floor. IBAM was fatigued and FC Bayern Munich knew that and used it to their full advantage.

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Karl Moore (Aguilas de Tunja) I Treat My Opponent As If They Are Taking Food From My Family Plate

Karl Moore is a 29 year old 203cm forward born in 1987 that is playing his third professional season with Aguilas de Tunja (Colombia-Liga DirecTV) after completing the season with the Crailsheim Merlins 2 team where he averaged 25,9pp. Last season he played for Telstar Hesperange (Luxembourg-N2). As a rookie, he played for TV 1872 Saarlouis (Germany-ProB) where he played 28 games averaging 16.3ppg, 6.4rpg, 1.0spg, FGP: 60.7%, FT: 73.5%. He scored in double figures in 25 of 28 games including three double doubles. He scored 20 points or more eight times. His best scoring games was 28 points against Hanau and 27 points against BG Karlsruhe. He played college ball at Schoolcraft Community College (JUCO), Rio Grande(NAIA), and Culver Stockton (NAIA). He spoke to German Hoops about his season with the Crailsheim Merlins 2 team and new basketball adventure in Columbia.

Karl thanks for talking to German Hoops. You could be home in Detroit enjoying late spring, but instead earning additional money in Columbia. How good is life at the moment?

You’re welcome Miles. It’s always a pleasure doing interviews with you. I remember one night back in the year of 2014, I spent over eight hours on eurobasket searching for agents and coaches to contact for an opportunity. Here we are three years later doing our fourth interview together. Getting back to the question that you asked, life for me at this moment is going well. I serve an awesome God, He may not have been there when I wanted him, but He was always there on time.

Before we get to your next basketball adventure in South America, let us look back to your season in Germany. You played with TSV Crailsheim Merlins 2nd team (Germany-2.Regionalliga). Were you satisfied with your season? You averaged 25,9ppg?

Yes, I was satisfied with my season in Crailsheim. I came there and did what they paid me to do, which was to lead their team to a championship. It was no surprise to me being the league leading scorer. All season long during our days off from practice, I was either in the weight room or outside running 18 miles per week. It felt good seeing the sacrifices such as those pay off.

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Ron Howard Is The Basketball Mr Everything That Gives Unknown Players Hope With His Howard Hoops Opportunity

If you’re a German basketball fan and primarily follow the easyCredit BBL, you surely will be able to easily find the arena´s in big cities like Berlin and Munich, but if your driving through the beautiful countryside of Germany and town hoping, you may not necessarily know if that place has a professional basketball team if you aren´t caught up with the lower leagues like the Regionalliga, second Regionalliga or Oberliga. You won´t find the same caliber of players in these lower leagues then you would in the easyCredit BBL where guys like Rickey Paulding, Bryce Taylor and Quantez Robertson have become the identity players of the league and why people come to watch games. Very often it is these import players in German lower leagues that have some kind of special story and have made their dream come true usually coming from a lower college league, but not necessarily giving less than the BBL players, but often having a special kind of heart that only these type of players can have, because they never had an easy journey to get to the professional level. One of these guys is Ronald Howard. Three years ago, one could of discovered him earning a living playing in the Regionaliga in Limburg in a small school gym in front of not more than 300-400 people. At first glance, one may have thought that 196cm NBA star James Harden had gotten lost or secretly been loaned out for a game, but with closer scrutiny one would of seen the 15cm difference as it really was Ron Howard even if his goatee made him a dead ringer for Harden, but only if one was at more of a distance away. The American is quick to point out what he likes and dislikes about Harden and that having a goatee has nothing to do with him. “I think James is a good offensive player but he doesn’t play defense and that is what I can’t stand about James. Best PG in the league is tough for me because I don’t watch the NBA much because I love Euroleague but I give it to Kyrie that boy knows how to win and as a PG he must know how to be a winner. I grew my goatee out because I´m Muslim”, stated Ron Howard. Even if Howard had played for some other German Pro B teams and in Romania, his professional career was never a cake walk, but one in that he witnessed what lesser known players really go through as making the professional level has many hardships and twists and turns that he somewhat tackled and conquered. Once his professional career ended in 2014, he knew right away, that it was his duty to try to make the professional route for other Americans easier.

The first meeting between Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and Ron Howard in Limburg in 2013

Currently Howard is 32 and will be turning 33 in August and had a short professional career, but at least he can always boast that he was able to live the dream of playing overseas.

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