The German national basketball team suffers acutely from the fact that the best players are tied to their clubs in the Euroleague. It takes no account of national interests – a model that can also lead to problems in football.
Ingo Weiss’ mood should have improved late on Sunday evening. The President of the German Basketball Federation (DBB) had let it be known before the start of the World Cup qualification how much the personal situation in the national team “pissed off” him. The following 63:66 home defeat at the debut of the new national coach Gordon Herbert has probably further depressed the presidential disposition, so the 72:69 away win in Poland was just the right thing to lift the mood. The DBB selection is back on track on the way to the 2023 World Cup: The first three of the group of four reach the second round, with the opponents Estonia, Poland and Israel this is feasible. Are you all right, President pacified? Not at all.
Because the way to the World Cup in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines is long, the opponents in the second round are much better, the ticket is difficult to get without the best professionals. But they are missing, of the team that made it back to an Olympic quarter-finals in Tokyo for the first time since 1992, only Robin Benzing was on the floor. He plays for Fortitudo Bologna, the Italians are not involved internationally.
But the absent colleagues certainly did: not a single national player from a Euroleague club was there against Estonia or Poland. On Thursday there was a game day in the Euroleague, on Sunday regeneration was the order of the day before the next hardships in the Euroleague and Bundesliga. The seven professionals from the North American elite league NBA were not even up for discussion, the overcrowded schedule and the long distance have always prevented appearances in the national team during the season.
The players who are now pulling the coals out of the fire for Germany are no longer taken into account in the major tournaments
Imagine that for football: qualifying for the World Cup is pending and the best players are tied to their clubs. Unthinkable? Yet.
Because the basketball Euroleague works according to exactly the system that European football wanted to install with a Superleague. An economically oriented company that organizes a top-class and highly profitable international competition with the best players. It is obvious that at some point the players will reach their limits and willingly do without. The efforts of the clubs to motivate their best for national missions and risk injuries will remain manageable. That harms the national team, that harms basketball. So this World Cup qualification is downgraded to a competition for the second best, and the fact that this lot hits all nations doesn’t make things any better.
The next games are at the end of February, when the Euroleague is in the hot phase. For national coach Herbert that means sending another Bundesliga selection to the start. The fact that these players, who are now pulling the coals out of the fire, know their trade, they have proven with their victory against Poland – so the prospects for a victory against Israel are not bad. The prospects of participating in the World Cup, on the other hand, are very good, because then the colleagues from the NBA and the Euroleague will have time again.
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