EWE Baskets Oldenburg

Casper Ware (EWE Baskets Oldenburg) You Always Have To Be Ready For Anything In The NBA

Casper Ware is a 24 year old 178cm point guard that is playing his third professional season and first with the EWE Baskets Oldenburg. He started his basketball career at Long Beach St. in 2008 where he played until 2012 playing a total of 131 NCAA games and as a senior played (NCAA) 34 games averaging 17.4ppg, 2.4rpg, 3.4apg, 1.4spg, FGP: 45.9%, 3PT: 35.6%, FT: 79.3%. In 2012-2013 he started his professional basketball career with Novipiu Casale Monferrato (Italy-Lega2, starting five): 36 games: Score-2(20.4ppg), 3.9rpg, 4.2apg, 1.9spg, FGP: 44.8%, 3PT: 36.6%, FT: 87.3%. Last season he played for Granarolo Bologna (Italy-SerieA, starting five): 22 games: 11.7ppg, 2.7rpg, 2.2apg, 1.0spg, 2FGP: 43.2%, 3FGP: 26.4%, FT: 65.4%, left in Mar.’14, later that month moved to Philadelphia 76ers (NBA): 9 games: 5.3ppg, 1.0rpg, 1.1apg, FGP: 52.4%, 3PT: 33.3%, FT: 83.3%. This past summer he played NBA Pro Summer League in Orlando (Philadelphia 76ers) Champion: 5 games: 19.0ppg, 3.2rpg, 5.2apg, 1.4spg, FGP: 42.9%, 3PT: 36.8%, FT: 88.2% and NBA Pro Summer League in Las Vegas (Philadelphia 76ers): 2 games: 7.0ppg, 3.0rpg, 2.0apg, FGP: 29.4%, 3PT: 20%. He spoke to German Hoops before the game against the Fraport Skyliners.

Casper thanks for talking to German Hoops. When seeing the skyline in Frankfurt, does it remind you of home around Los Angeles? How do you like Germany?

My first impression of Germany is good. The people are very nice here. Frankfurt reminds me of the big cities in California. Seeing Frankfurt is like having a taste of home.

After playing your first two professional seasons in Europe in Italy you are playing your first season in Germany. What has been your impression of the Beko BBL so far?

My first impression of the BBL is good. It is a very good league. You cant take a day off here as anybody can beat you. The level is about the same as what I experienced in Italy.

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The General Justin Cobbs Leads The Fraport Skyliners And A Crushing Seven Man Double Figure Stampede Over Oldenburg 93-74

It isn’t that often that very good friends battle year after year against each other in the Beko BBL, but from 2007-2014 each season Detroit native Rickey Paulding and St Louis native Jimmy Mckinney battled each other at least twice a year for off season bragging rights. Especially in Frankfurt, both guys always had big duels with both guys shining on the court, but this meeting between the two excellent athletes has been absent the last two seasons as Mckinney played for the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg. This season Paulding was all alone in the Beko BBL without his friend Mckinney as the St Louis native was home waiting for the phone to ring and catching more college football games as well as from his alma mater Vashon high school where he won titles as a kid something he was unable to do the last years as he was in Germany the last 8 years playing. Recently it was made public that Mckinney had signed with the Walter Tigers Tuebingen to help out in the scoring department as American Jonathan Wallace was recovering from an injury. Paulding help lead the EWE Baskets Oldenburg to a 98-89 win at home against Tuebingen before the arrival of Mckinney where he steered 13 points. Paulding will have to wait until March 14 where he will meet his old friend again for the ninth straight season in a game in the Beko BBL. Until then Paulding has much time to rekindle the old memories from their battles on the court and might even had a blur memory of their combat on the court. Since their last battle in Frankfurt in 2011 where Oldenburg won 72-53 only two Skyliners were on the floor then are still with Frankfurt now with Quantez Robertson and Danilo Barthel, but even two Mckinneys most likely wouldn´t have helped Oldenburg on this afternoon in Frankfurt as the 2004 Beko BBL champion Frankfurt Skyliners defeated Paulding and co 93-74 giving Oldenburg their fourth loss in their last five games and after the loss the St louis native was sentimental about the game and his friend Mckinney returning back to Germany. “It is always good to have Jimmy around especially in Germany in the Beko BBL. I am happy that he has caught on with Tuebingen. We had some strong battles here but that was some years ago. I didn’t have that too much on my mid. I was concentrated more on this game. I hope to talk to Jimmy sometime before March when we play against each other. Frankfurt played harder than us, were more aggressive, ran on us, made shots when they had to and were just the more aggressive team”, stressed 2009 Beko BBL champion Rickey Paulding. “I am also happy that Jimmy is back in Germany. I was a bit surprised that it took him so long to get a new team. I am always motivated to play and will be extra motivated when we play Tuebingen because Jimmy is one of my closest friend”, expressed Quantez Robertson. The Fraport Skyliners keep rolling winning their sixth win in a row and it was a tale of two halves where the first was even, but in the second Frankfurt made adjustments on defense and Oldenburg had problems hurting Frankfurt inside like they did in the first 20 minutes. “The first half was close and both teams were scoring. In the second half we improved our pick and role defense. Coach had got on me and Johannes Voigtmann to get up higher on pick and role to get more dribbles and let our guards get over and we were able to clog the middle and force them to tough shots. This led to more turnovers and easy transition buckets for us”, added Fraport Skyliner center Mike Morrison.

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The EWE Baskets Oldenburg Title Aspirations Seem To Get Bigger Each Season Even If No One Notices

The last time the EWE Baskets Oldenburg sipped and enjoyed the taste of sweet champagne winning their first and only Beko BBl title, FC Bayern Munich hulk John Bryant was a house hold name at Santa Clara registering 18 and 14 stats in his senior year, Fraport Skyliner Lorenzo Gordon was active in his first tour of duty in the Beko BBL and it wasn´t always easy to see who could smile wider him or his cousin Jimmy Mckinney and Chris Fleming had just completed his rookie campaign in Bamberg with no titles and was at the start of building that four peat. Oldenburg did have some severe lady luck and basketball god looking over their shoulder beating the Telekom Baskets Bonn in a series that seemed almost lost in 2009. However basketball can be a weird sport at times and in the end all that matters is how the ball rolls. It took Predrag Krunic two years to build a champion after coming on board in 2007 for the departed Don Beck. In those two years, Krunic was able to bring continuity into the club rapidly by holding important players and practicing that great mix of American and Baltic basketball. After the title followed three less than satisfactory seasons where Oldenburg got worse each season. They were the best team in the 2009-2010 season finishing the regular season in first place, but couldn´t achieve anything in the playoffs losing unexpectedly to the future new Oldenburg head coach Sebastian Machowski and the New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig. In 2010-2011, they finished in fifth place after the regular season, but lost early again in the playoffs and in 2012 didn´t even reach the playoffs. It seemed like the air in the Oldenburg balloon had left as quickly as do German national players under Joachim Low who don´t perform well and never return. It seemed like that last team under Krunic had been put together wrong, as team chemistry was never built and the fire in the thunderbird had been doused by a north sea rain fall that had fallen upon the city. After two season under Sebastian Machowski, it seems like Oldenburg CEO Herman Schuller has done everything correct. The success came a lot quicker than most might have thought as the team reached the Beko BBL final in the first season of the Sebastian Machowski era being swept by Bamberg, but in three hard fought games where a few possessions here and there could have given Oldenburg a win or two and then who knows what could of happened. One never wants to get too confident, but the team performance by Oldenburg two seasons was no fluke. Even if Machowski couldn’t follow Krunic in his second season and win the title as they bowed out against FC Bayern Munich, the club has a competitive roster each season and can annoy any team in the league. The Beko BBL gets more competitive each season, but why can´t Oldenburg get revenge this season in the playoffs against FC Bayern Munich? Machowski has done something that usually gives winning teams the edge in the playoffs by a majority of its players and keeping the team chemistry intact. Bamberg did it for years and the formula for titles kept giving additional hardware for Chris Fleming. Oldenburg have the talent on paper, experience and heart to win it all this season, but of course could use a little luck from other teams in the playoffs as VC Bayern Munich and Alba Berlin are still at another level, but the strangest things have happened in the world of basketball. Alba Berlin or FC Bayern Munich don’t have two players with the Beko BBL experience and heart that Oldenburg has with Detroit native Ricky Paulding and Julius Jenkins. Paulding may have the biggest basketball heart in the league and Jenkins the work ethic that many players strive to have. It will be interesting to see how the season develops for the club if they be will be able pull out some wins against Bamberg, Alba Berlin and FC Munich. So far they are 1-2 against these three teams as they bear Bamberg already. If many things do come together and the club is still playing basketball in June then anything is possible and they could possibly be the first team ever to win titles in two different buildings standing side by side.

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It’s Slowly Becoming A Curse As The Fraport Skyliners lose Another Crunch Time Game In Oldenburg 68-66

Waiting, waiting and waiting can be the easiest thing for some people who have patience, while for others who are as impatient as blond bombshell Marilyn Monroe was in the day, it can be the most difficult thing like when your waiting in front of the Apple store for it too open to snatch the newest gadgets, trying to focus on something positive when your at an overcrowded airport during a snow storm in Topeka, Nebraska waiting for your flight to be rescheduled, or when your trying to solve some important problem on the phone concerning some incorrect bill and have to be on hold for minutes and minutes and start humming the boring and annoying elevator music that is disturbing one´s ears. The back injury of new Fraport Skyliner Dane Watts may not have taken as long as four years to get heeled as did the long injury of NBA player Greg Oden who recently made his comeback with the Miami Heat or been as horrific and nasty as the Allan Ray injury back in college at Villanova when Pitt guard and ex Oldenburg player Carl Krauser accidently popped out his eye ball or been as annoying as it has been for NBA player Shaun Livingston to have damaged his knee as he tore both the anterior and posterior cruciate ligament, as well as the lateral meniscus, sprained the medial collateral ligament, and dislocated his patella and tibia-femoral joint. But for the Missouri native the waiting has been tough as he has been out of action for more than a year as his last game was on January 12th, 2013 in a 95-91 road win in Oldenburg where the American steered six points, five rebounds and two assists while logging 26 minutes. After this came a long road back to recovery as he had back surgery and now finallyhad the possibility to get back on the floor again and do damage for his new team the Fraport Skyliners. Watts already was scheduled to play in Quackenbruck against the Artland Dragons more than two weeks ago, but then didn´t get the green light as the 2000 cup winner Skyliners still wanted to check his basketball fitness before letting him play, because the team had to make a wise choice to let him play or not, because the club only had one more license to give this season. Watts had to wait 393 days until touching the basketball floor again in an official game and also made his debut in the new EWE Baskets arena and despite 22 points was unable to celebrate his first game in a Skyliners jersey with a win as the Ewe Baskets Oldenburg won another squeaker against Frankfurt in their own living room 68-66. Watts looked as good as new on the court, but one could sense a bit of sadness and dam we let it get away feeling after the game. “I felt good on the court and my legs are getting stronger each game. I was happy for the most part with my game and my fitness is getting better. I feel that I am adjusting well to the system and coach gives us trust in making plays and we made plays tonight. I think that I fit well into this system as the club has guards that can make plays and bigs that like to pass the ball. I think that I can show my leadership qualities well”, stressed Missouri native Dane Watts. Watts hit four three pointers, grabbed eight rebounds including four offensive rebounds and at times was like a ghost coming out of nowhere to pounch on the ball like a cat does on a helpless mouse had three steals and one block. Rickey Paulding had a big smile on his face after the game when he heard the name Watts. “Watts looked great. I am really happy that he is back. It is always a shame when a guy is injured. It is amazing that he came back and could play so well in his first game”, added 2004 Detroit Pistons Draft Pick Rickey Paulding. Many see Watts as only a scorer and rebounder, but Skyliner young gun Johannes Voigtmann sees unending qualities in Watts. “Watts was super tonight. He brings so many things to the court not only scoring and rebounding. His experience is so important and he is communicative on and off the court. He does so much on the court and you feel so comfortable with him on and off the court. He also has a great character”, expressed Eisenach native Johannes Voigtmann.

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Every Team Craves For A Player Like Chris Kramer (EWE Baskets Oldenburg)

Early in his second professional season and first in the Beko BBL with the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg, Chris Kramer was part of the infamous Justin Gray buzzer beater loss in Frankfurt quietly led his team in scoring with 16 points and showed his versatility in so many other aspects of the game as he retrieved 5 rebounds and dished out two assists as well. If it hadn´t been for his strong play in the fourth quarter where he led the s.Oliver Basekts back on a furious come back on a 10-2 run where he scored in the penetration three times looking like a second Dashaun Wood who was returning to haunt Frankfurt in a new uniform, it may never have come to the last possession play where Frankfurt was able to win the game. In many ways, he was the best Wurzburg player on the court in this loss. In basketball language, that game seems like a very long time ago, but since then Kramer has achieved very much like helping Wurzburg kick out 8 time Beko BBL champion Alba Berlin in 2012 in the playoffs and last season his first with the EWE Baskets Oldenburg help them reach the 2013 Beko BBL final losing a hard fought three game series by not more than seven points combined to Bamberg. In a way, Kramer is like a John Goldsberry of Bamberg, a floor general that knows how to run the offense, but doesn´t need to score to make the team win. It doesn´t matter wherever the Indiana native has been, he has always been a winner. At Purdue, Kramer played a total of 133 games and never averaged more than 7,2ppg which he did his freshman year, but he was the quintessential quarterback that got the offense going and just was able to help all over on the court. At Purdue, Kramer led the Boilermakers to the NCAA tournament all four years and was always good for making something memorable happen on the court like hitting a shot from his knees against Arizona at March Madness in 2007, or his vibrant dunk over a Penn State player sparking Purdue to their first ever Big Ten Tournament win. Just like Justin Gray did against Kramer and Wurzburg in 2011, the American took matters into his own hands not dishing the ball to Jujuan Johnson on a 2-1 break, but heading to the hoop alone and sending the 14,000 plus fans into ecstasy with a thunderous dunk. “Kramer is my boy. He was a tough player. He played injured as a freshman. He was an incredible defender. He was tough and ferocious like a bull dog. He was responsible for a lot of the success that Purdue had which got them back on the map”, stressed ex Purdue teammate and 2010 Beko BBL top scorer David Teague who is the cousin of Atlanta hawk Jeff Tague. Since coming to Oldenburg, he has matured very well and been an important player and has shown despite many stars like Rickey Paulding or Julius Jenkins, he has no problem adapt playing with big name players something he was used to at Purdue where he had teammates like current NBA players like Carl Landry, Robbie Hummel, or Etwaun Moore. Last season for Oldenburg he played 37 BBL games averaging 10.0ppg, 4.3rpg, 3.1apg, Steals-4(1.7spg), FGP: 50.7%, 3PT: 22.6%, FT: 77.6%; EuroChallenge: 16 games: 8.3ppg, 3.9rpg, 4.7apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 50.0%, 3PT: 30.0%, FT: 72.5%. This season, he averaged 19,5ppg in two Eurochallenge games and currently is averaging 9,8ppg, fourth on the team, top rebounder at 4,5rpg, second in team assists at 2,7 and first in steals at 1,4. Especially on defense, is where he prides his game on where he is a pest. His never die attitude on defense has been irritating opponents in the Beko BBL since his arrival in 2011. Many see him as the best point guard duo in the Beko BBL with Lebron James friend Dru Joyce. Most little kids crave ice cream after getting their tonsils out or for desert and all beko BBL teams crave a player like Chris Kramer for their team.

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An Early Rickey Paulding Shooting Clinic And Big Third Quarter Spark The EWE Baskets Oldenburg Past the Fraport Skyliners 72-63

If there are two things that Beko BBL fans and opponents can remember most about Florida native Julius Jenkins who is starting his eighth season in the Beko BBL and second with the EWE Baskets Oldenburg is his explosiveness and unlimited range of shooting which has dominated the league since years and can be compared to the shooting of Kyle Korver in the last years in the NBA. The other is his extremely noticeable rasta braids which was like an institution since he entered the league with Alba Berlin in 2006. The only thing missing at times on the court after hitting a three to win a game was that slick Milli Vanilli dance which would have fit perfectly to his extra ordinary appearance on the court. For some it may have been a shock this preseason when the EWE Baskets Oldenburg released first photos of Julius Jenkins with shaven hair where one could actually notice his ears which really stood out. Some may have wondered if Oldenburg had picked up a new player. Jenkins now was making competition with Mr Oldenburg Rickey Paulding who has been sporting that type of look for years after having more hair at the start of his Oldenburg tenure. After winning titles in Berlin and Bamberg and getting so close with Oldenburg last season reaching the final, the 2008 finals MVP might have wanted to make a change as some kind of good luck charm. It definitely took some getting used to watching Jenkins run up and down the court with less hair, but he was still his old self dropping shots as if there was no tomorrow. His teammate Ricky Paulding stole him the limelight with his crazy shooting clinic in the first half helping 2009 Beko BBl champion EWE Baskets Oldenburg to the comfortable 72-63 win against the Fraport Skyliners. Jenkins might not have had a 20 point game, but came from the bench with five points support and help under the boards with five rebounds and two assists. His new look is something to still get used to even if he is still the same player on the court. “He had told me last summer that he would cut his hair. I didn´t believe it until he sent me a picture. It was weird at first with his new look and change, but no matter what he looks like, you know what you get from him. When he gets hot, he is hard to stop”, commented Ex Purdue guard Chris Kramer. His teammate Italian Andrea Crosariol saw fotos of him before and had the perfect comparisons For Jenkins. “He looked like Bob Marley before, but now looks like the brother of Paulding”, smiled Crosariol. “We are used to his look now. He is always Julius. We are used to it”, stated 2004 Detroit Pistons draft pick. One guy who can always tell it like it is Fraport Skyliner Jacob Burtschi who sees advantages to the new Jenkins. “He looks younger and more clean cut. He is just a stud”,a dded Jacob Burtschi.

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They Aren´t Saying It, But The EWE Baskets Oldenburg Have Title Aspirations Plastered In Their Minds

The last time the EWE Baskets Oldenburg sipped and enjoyed the taste of sweet champagne winning their first and only Beko BBl title, FC Bayern Munich hulk John Bryant was a house hold name at Santa Clara registering 18 and 14 stats in his senior year, ex Fraport Skyliner Lorenzo Gordon was active in his first tour of duty in the Beko BBL and it wasn´t always easy to see who could smile wider him or his cousin Jimmy Mckinney and Chris Fleming had just completed his rookie campaign in Bamberg with no titles and was at the start of building that four peat. Oldenburg did have some severe lady luck and basketball god looking over their shoulder beating the Telekom Baskets Bonn in a series that seemed almost lost in 2009. However basketball can be a weird sport at times and in the end all that matters is how the ball rolls. It took Predrag Krunic two years to build a champion after coming on board in 2007 for the departed Don Beck. In those two years, Krunic was able to bring continuity into the club rapidly by holding important players and practicing that great mix of American and Baltic basketball. After the title followed three less than satisfactory seasons where Oldenburg got worse each season. They were the best team in the 2009-2010 season finishing the regular season in first place, but couldn´t achieve anything in the playoffs losing unexpectedly to the future new Oldenburg head coach Sebastian Machowski and the New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig. In 2010-2011, they finished in fifth place after the regular season, but lost early again in the playoffs and in 2012 didn´t even reach the playoffs. It seemed like the air in the Oldenburg balloon had left as quickly as do German national players under Joachim Low who don´t perform well and never return. It seemed like that last team under Krunic had been put together wrong, as team chemistry was never built and the fire in the thunderbird had been doused by a north sea rain fall that had fallen upon the city. After one season under Sebastian Machowski, it seems like Oldenburg CEO Herman Schuller has done everything correct. The success came a lot quicker than most might have thought as the team reached the Beko BBL final last season being swept by Bamberg, but in three hard fought games where a few possessions here and there could have given Oldenburg a win or two and then who knows what could of happened. One never wants to get too confident, but the team performance by Oldenburg last season was no fluke. The Beko BBL gets more competitive each season, but why can´t Oldenburg stop the four peat of Bamberg this season. It is the second season of Machowski and it was the second season where Krunic took Oldenburg to the winners circle. Machowski has done something that usually gives winning teams the edge in the playoffs by keeping most of its players and keeping the team chemistry intact. Bamberg has been doing it for years and the formula for titles keeps giving additional hardware for Chris Fleming. Oldenburg have the talent on paper, experience and heart to win it all this season. There possibly are not two more experienced American Beko BBL players on the same team than Detroit native Ricky Paulding and Julius Jenkins. Paulding may have the biggest basketball heart in the league and Jenkins the work ethic that many players strive to have. It will be interesting to see how the season develops for the club as they will pull out some wins against Bamberg, Alba Berlin and FC Munich. If many things do come together and the club is still playing basketball in June then anything is possible and they could possibly be the first team ever to win titles in two different buildings standing side by side.

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The EWE Baskets Oldenburg Ruin The Giessen Beko BBL Farewell With 90-59 Victory

46 years ago, baseball history wrote the impossible dream of the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series, the birth of Dirty Harry aka Clint Eastwood as a police officer taking justice into his own hands was only three years away, the rock group Beatles were in their prime releasing hit record after hit record, Bobby Orr was just starting to becoming the best ice hockey player on the planet and the now LTi Giessen 46ers then known as MTV Giessen started their life in the Beko BBL. Three Beko BBL titles and years and years of top basketball in the Ost halle finally came to an end on April 23^rd, 2013 as the club played their last game in the top German basketball ending the season in 18^th place and moving down to the second division. In their last home game in the always boisterous Osthalle, the troops of Mathias Fischer met 2009 Beko BBL champion EWE Baskets Oldenburg that had two ex Giessen players on their roister with American Adam Chubb who played in the Hessen city in the 2005-2006 season and German Jannik Freese who played there from 2008-2011. The fans saw two completely different halves as both teams were eye to eye in the first half, but as so often has been the case in the last months, the LTi Giessen 46ers fell apart in the second half as Oldenburg easily won their last game of the season 90-59 and now can travel with self confidence to Turkey for the 2013 Eurochallenge Final 4 this weekend. For Giessen, it was a sad farwell from the Beko BBL, but they had little firepower in the second half. “We played like always. We were very strong in the first half, but lost energy in the second half. At times we were playing with four young German youth players. We let up in the second half”, stressed LTi Giessen 46er Andreas Buchert. For Oldenburg, it was more a practice game as head coach Sebastian Machowski was able to experiment much and gave Germans Jannik Freese and Kevin Smit extended minutes. “We knew coming in that they would fight. WE took them a little lightly in the first half, but we put more defensive pressure on them, brought the ball more to the basket and capitalized on their mistakes”, stressed 2004 NBA draft pick Ricey Paulding.

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The EWE Baskets Oldenburg Posses Basketball Lady Luck Twice In Season Sweep Of Fraport Skyliners 65-63

The Fraport Skyliners have played amazing basketball the last six weeks getting big wins at home against Alba Berlin and Bamberg freeing themselves from the lower standings and from risk of going down, but one thing that remains this season is their inability to win in crunch time against the EWE Baskets Oldenburg as they were swept in the season series losing in Frankfurt 65-63. Back in December it was a botched inbounds pass between Quantez Robertson and Devin Gibson that led to a Chris Kramer layup and win and yesterday the Fraport Skyliners were seeking revenge, but lost at the end as Robertson missed two free throws to push the ball into overtime. Basketball lady luck seemed to secretly be wearing the yellow and white of Oldenburg and not the blue and white of Frankfurt this season. “Both games were battles. In Oldenburg, I got that steal and we got the win. Today we were up in the fourth and they made a run. It came down to one possession. I am very happy we got the win. On the road the air is so small, they played very hard and made us work for everything, but we had a little more luck at the end. “We had basketball lady luck on our side. Experience helped us win this game on the road. I am surprised Tez missed those two free throws”, stated ex Telekom Baskets Bonn forward Ronald Burrell. Skyliner guard Ryan Brooks missed the first game in Oldenburg, because he was still a member of the Giessen 46ers, but he knew how painful it was losing these two games like that. “These two games could change a season. If we would have had these two wins, we would be sitting somewhere else now”, expressed Ryan Brooks.

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Can The EWE Baskets Oldenburg Annoy A Top Team In The Playoffs?

Who could forget the stunning upset of Oldenburg against Bonn in game 5 of the 2009 Beko BBL final where Bonn looked like the sure winner, but lost thanks to a Jason Gardner shot, free throw and Je Kel Foster free throw. The Oldenburg title was as refreshing for a league that was already beginning to grow as rapidly as North Dakota is in 2013 and the title really seemed as unlikely as how Tim Ohlbrecht has been blessed with making the jump to the NBA this season. That title seems like ages ago as in the seasons since, the EWE Baskets Oldenburg have stayed glued in their tracks as the further climb to a top team in the Beko BBL has been halted. The club continues to have a good budget and potent players, but forming that second title team to a winning chemistry has been denied. In 2009-2010, the team had most of its title team back, but surprisingly were upset by Braunschweig in the quarterfinals, in 2010-2011, the team was even more talented, but was already suffering the here one season gone the next season players as well as a lack of chemistry losing a tough 5 game playoff series to Alba Berlin and last season missed the playoffs as they were led by mr ego ex NBA player Bobby Brown who at times looked like he was playing one on five against the opponent. Coach Predrag Krunich was let go who seemed a bit burned out. With new coach Sebastian Machowski and the right players, the team could annoy a top favorite in the playoffs. On top of their consistent season in the Beko BBL, the team is on a smooth way of possibly winning their first international title in the Eurochallenge as they have reached the final four. Ex Skyliner Miro Todic explains why Oldenburg is so strong this season. “They are a real good team with very good Americans and Germans. They are very strong at all positions. I remember playing against Adam Chubb and Ronald Burrell. They also have very good guards with Julius Jenkins and Rickey Paulding and the kid Chris Kramer is a very good player. Each player always gives the maximum. Oldenburg likes to use every player so some games one player will play more than other players. Their coach uses the whole team”, stressed ex Frankfurt Skyliner Miro Todic. “Oldenburg have a lot of quality players, but it depends how well they can survive a long playoff series. They play a lot more aggressive defense than last season. They are deep at all positions and I think they can reach the semi finals of the playoffs. I think they can win the Eurochallenge when it comes down to a one game series”, expressed basketball expert Steven Clauss.

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