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On a farewell tour: Oldenburg’s Rickey Paulding visits the BG Göttingen

When looking at the past ten duels between these two teams, there was only one outlier: Between October 9, 2016 and May 12, 2021, the Veilchen could only win one game against Oldenburg – the home game on November 10, 2019 was decided by the Roijakkers team back then with 104: 87 for himself. In front of full stands in the Sparkassen-Arena, with a loud fan base behind them.

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This season, head coach Mladen Drijencic’s team seems to have lost its recipe for success. The approach of EWE Baskets Oldenburg has so far stood like no other in the league for personal continuity. The radical cut this summer was unusual. The team that celebrated an incredibly efficient offensive last season should become a younger, more athletic and defensive team. Scouted accordingly.

You can find the current game booklet for the game against Oldenburg HERE

With Braydon Hobbs, Karsten Tadda, Philipp Schwethelm, Nathan Boothe and Rasid Mahalbasic, five cornerstones that stood in and for the game philosophy for several years are no longer included. With the exception of the 27-year-old Boothe, all of these players are older than 30. The newcomers who joined the team in the summer are on average 25 years old. Among them are two players with a Göttingen past: Bennet Hundt followed his coach Johan Roijakkers to Bamberg in 2020 and moved to Oldenburg after just one year with the Franconians. However, he gets little playing time with his new club. The American Tai Odiase fought for the violets as the center under the baskets last season and is now part of the new EWE Baskets. As in Göttingen, he is the player with the strongest rebound in Oldenburg to date.

The 39-year-old Rickey Paulding, the veteran in the team who has never played for any other club in the Bundesliga basketball than for Oldenburg, stands for continuity. At the end of the season, the father of three, who has been playing for Donnervögel since 2007, announced his end of career, so it will be his last appearance as a player in Göttingen. Paulding only has two players around him in Point Guard Phil Pressey and the newly signed Cameron Clark who have already turned 30. With the loaned American Max Heidegger (24 years) and league top scorer of the 2021/22 season, Michal Michalak (27), players have been committed to the outer positions who can decide games. Heidegger, who comes on loan from Euroleague participant Maccabi Tel Aviv, cannot manage these decisions on his own, even if he is second in the list of league top scorers behind BG guard Kamar Baldwin.

There are other factors that make the difference. In the rebound statistics, the Oldenburg bottom (31.4), Göttingen mixes in front (38.3 / 3rd), the difference in ball losses is similarly serious – but in the other direction. Here BG averages 17.5 per game (only Frankfurt and Braunschweig are even weaker), the EWE Baskets are the second best team in this ranking (12.2).

Oldenburg is also playing internationally this season, so it is challenged twice. There was a win against Rytas Vilnius (76:72) and a narrow defeat against Besiktas Istanbul (81:83) in the two home games of the Champions League. Two days after the game in Göttingen, the “thunderbirds” then have to compete with the defending champion Burgos in Spain. For the long-time Baskets head coach Dijencic, it is a Herculean task to turn the new team into a successful one under these circumstances.

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