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Frankfurt Skyliners before relegation from the basketball Bundesliga

Ka Frankfurt first division basketball professional fell to the ground in the first reaction of disappointment or horror in the Heidelberg Arena. The Skyliners players did not seek to talk to each other on Tuesday evening in the hour of the serious setback. With the final siren, they turned around on the pitch as if on command and, as a group from the bottom of the Bundesliga table, moved wordlessly and emotionlessly towards the team dressing room.

But then Frankfurt came back and, as is customary, congratulated their opponents on the 71:65 victory in passing. “It’s a great day for Heidelberg basketball,” said Branislav Ignjatovic, the promoted coach, at the press conference. “The fact that we have four more wins than the Skyliners eight games before the end of the season and also won the head-to-head comparison can make everyone in Heidelberg proud.” , know “what an organization the Skyliners are. What successes they have had in the more than 20 years and what they do for basketball in the Rhine-Main region.

But that doesn’t count now. Now the 2004 champion is at a turning point, Tuesday was a black day for Frankfurt basketball. Because the whereabouts of the Skyliners is only theory. Anyone who has only won six of 26 games this season is unlikely to be able to suddenly win at least seven of the remaining eight matches under the greatest possible pressure. Mainly because Frankfurt, which is six points behind non-relegation place 16, is not strong enough as a team for the requirements of the top division.

In addition, the Skyliners do not have an outstanding individual who can make up for the deficits of the team. The leaders, the individual talent, the interaction and especially the offensive power are missing. In short: The necessary further development of the squad has not materialized. The first sporting relegation to the second-class Pro A will therefore hardly be avoidable. He was the last one “to give up hope,” said Sport Manager Marco Völler in Heidelberg. “But if it even exists, it’s a fine line between extremely difficult and impossible.”

end of an era

Those responsible for the Skyliners are aware that with the forthcoming downgrading one class lower, one era in Frankfurt will come to an end. That economically the strong foundation is likely to break away. That’s why there will be hard cuts. They just don’t want to communicate it with this clarity yet. Above all, the new head coach Luca Dalmonte, who also remained without a win with his team in the second game, talked big about the small remaining chance of remaining in the class.

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The 58-year-old Italian didn’t want to talk about a “mission impossible” at all. “Nothing is over, we won’t give up,” he said bravely. But Dalmonte is also clear, “that we can’t let any chances lie. Our situation is very clear.” “As long as the season isn’t over, why should we give up?” Center Jamel McLean (12 points) asked this question on television afterwards. “We just have to play good basketball for 40 minutes,” said the American. Nobody stopped the Skyliners from doing that. They stood in their own way with their shortcomings.

In the past seven games, the Frankfurters only scored just under 63 points per game. The season average of the weakest attacking team is currently 72.3 points. The second worst club in this statistic is Heidelberg with 78 points. Of 19 three-point shots by the Skyliners against the newly promoted team, only three landed in the opponent’s basket. They didn’t find a real scorer with their additional signings either. Playmaker Will Cherry is unable to get going after his back injury. The Frankfurt attacking game is often planless and therefore too ineffective. No player, not even the experienced McLean, is capable of consistently good performances.

“We never had a real rhythm,” said national player Lukas Wank after the recent home defeat against Ulm and recalled the many injuries and game cancellations caused by the corona pandemic. Nevertheless, from the point of view of the managing directors Gunnar Wöbke and Yannick Binas, it should never have happened that their club was on the brink of relegation. Both kept the team good enough for a mid-table spot. That has now turned out to be a fatal misjudgment.

At the moment it doesn’t look like a wildcard will be awarded for a sporting relegation. “We would start from scratch,” said Völler in the event of future affiliation with Pro A. Only young players from the current squad have a contract. As things stand today, the immediate resurgence would be the goal, “we don’t want to remain a permanent second division team”. Völler would like to continue his work in Frankfurt. “I’m not going to leave the sinking ship,” he said.

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