Basketball, football, ice hockey
German talents conquer US sport
By Florian Papenfuhs
01/22/2022, 09:47 am
Probably no other German has started in the NBA as well as Franz Wagner. A defender with a curious career path surprises in ice hockey. And the football fans are thrilled by a former youngster from the Werkself.
German talents rarely have a high status in the NBA. Detlef Schrempf is picked eighth by the Dallas Mavericks in 1985. Dirk Nowitzki, who was recently honored with a jersey under the hall ceiling, was called up by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998 with the ninth pick in the US league. In the summer of 2021, Franz Wagner from Berlin will be the third person to make it into the top 10 of the draft. The Orlando Magic put their pick in eighth position for Wagner.
Particularly advantageous for the small forward: his big brother Moritz Wagner already plays in Orlando. First Moritz plays for Alba Berlin, then Franz. From there Moritz first goes to college in Michigan, then Franz. “I would say that I was a little brother who always wanted to do what the big one did,” explains Franz at the Wagner brothers’ first joint press conference at the beginning of the season.
“Was that the dunk of the year?”
But Franz quickly makes headlines that have nothing to do with the relationship. He set his first highlight against the Minnesota Timberwolves in early November. In the fourth quarter, Wagner blows up against several defenders and hammers the ball through the ring. A show on ESPN asked shortly afterwards, “Was that the dunk of the year?” All after his eighth game.
Just before New Year’s Eve, Wagner sets off fireworks against the Milwaukee Bucks. He has 38 points, seven rebounds and three assists. He is often defended by multiple MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo or his co-star Khris Middleton. On average, he plays 34 minutes per game in December, has almost 20 points, five rebounds and three assists. Consequently, he is named rookie of the month.
In addition to the support he gets from his brother, Franz Wagner is also helped by the situation in his team. The Orlando Magic are a distant third in the Eastern Conference. This gives young players in particular the opportunity to try things out and be allowed to make mistakes.
Jump-start thanks to a sporty descent
Amon-Ra St. Brown can tell you a thing or two about that. The German-American is one of the few bright spots in a terrible season for the Detroit Lions. The football team finished the regular season as the second-worst team in the NFL. The Lions can only win three of their 17 games. Another parallel to Franz Wagner: Amon-Ra’s big brother, Equanimeous, already plays in the league, but not on the same team. Amon-Ra was also not granted a high draft pick, quite the opposite. 111 players will be chosen ahead of him, including 16 who will play at his position of receiver. During the season, St. Brown told Pro Football Focus: “I want all the coaches who didn’t pick me before to regret that decision.”
Born in Anaheim, he spends the early years of his life in the USA, but goes to a French school. A few years later the family moves to Paris. The young Amon-Ra often spends the summers in Leverkusen. He visits his mother and plays football at the Bayer 04 football school.
In his first NFL season he needs some adjustment time, in the final sprint of the season he finally explodes. In December he manages three touchdowns, St. Brown is voted rookie of the month. By the end of the season, the number had increased to six touchdowns. No German player managed more than one before him. The son of a US bodybuilder is flexible. Because not only as a pass recipient does Amon-Ra score points. On one of his touchdowns, he’s used as a ball carrier, digging through defenders instead of running free and scoring with a catch. The move shows how much his team believes in him.
Two German talents conquer Detroit
But not only the football fans in Detroit are cheering for their German rookie. Little Caesars Arena is located in the same neighborhood as the Lions’ home stadium. This is where fans of the local ice hockey team, the Detroit Red Wings, rave about Moritz Seider.
Freshly named the best defenseman in the Swedish league, Seider finally gets the opportunity to prove himself in the NHL at the start of the current season. In a wild game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Seider celebrates his debut and immediately shines with two assists. At the end of the month there are eight scorer points in nine games and the election for rookie of the month. An award with a lot of effort.
Already in 2019, the Detroit Red Wings chose the young German defender in sixth place. The only German who has been picked higher in the history of the best ice hockey league in the world is Leon Draisaitl. Seider spent his first year in the USA with the Red Wings farm team, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Then, as in many places in his life, the corona virus caused chaos.
Even Corona does not stop Seider
In the summer of 2020, the Adler Mannheim and many German ice hockey fans will be celebrating with them. Moritz Seider is back in the German Ice Hockey League, at least temporarily. “Moritz finds the perfect conditions with us to keep fit and hopefully gain match practice,” explains Adler manager Jan-Axel Alavaara of the loan deal with the Red Wings. It never comes to that match practice.
When the pandemic keeps postponing the start of a season in the DEL, the Red Wings are looking for a new club for their jewel. In the end, Seider rushes across the ice in a Rögle BK jersey for the 2020/21 season – and almost to the title. As one of the team’s most important players, he led the Swedish club to the final of the playoffs, which they lost.
In Detroit he is an important pillar of the team this season, no other player has prepared more goals than the 20-year-old. Everything is going according to plan until shortly before Christmas. “It was a huge disappointment for me, I would have liked to have flown. But you also have to understand that there are so many things that come together that at some point you can no longer take responsibility for it.” Seider recently commented on the NHL’s decision not to allow its players to fly to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Like Edmonton’s superstar Leon Draisaitl and Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer, he had already been named as part of the German Olympic squad.
So the hunt for Olympic precious metal is cancelled. For the Detroit Red Wings, the tournament for the NHL title could come at this point, the team is within striking distance of the playoff places. After the playoffs in Sweden, Moritz Seider may soon be back in the title race. And he personally is still chasing a trophy. Because of the three young aces, Seider probably has the best chance of being named Rookie of the Year. He would be the first German athlete in one of the prestigious North American professional leagues to receive this honor.
