The joy of Nick Weiler-Babb’s late arrival did not last long among the German basketball players.
Because while the Bayern Munich professional, who has just been naturalized, is supposed to celebrate his debut in the national jersey at the Supercup in Hamburg this weekend, national coach Gordon Herbert is missing two other important players. According to the German Basketball Federation, NBA professional Daniel Theis is not there for reasons of load control. Niels Giffey is absent for personal reasons.
And so Herbert is faced with the first real endurance test in preparation for the European Championship with a preliminary round in Cologne and the final round in Berlin (September 1st to 18th) before a difficult personal puzzle. Actually, the national coach wanted to use the traditional tournament to finally bring his team up to speed. “I want to see how the boys find their roles,” Herbert had said.
But now two important players are missing in Theis and Giffey. Herbert nominated two more players in Leon Kratz and Gavin Schilling. But around two weeks before the start of the European Championship, time is slowly running out for the German team. It is still not really clear how the hosts at the European Championships will achieve the medal that Herbert has set for themselves.
Because Weiler-Babb, who finally joined the team on Thursday, will very likely only be used in the second game on Saturday against Italy or Serbia. On Friday against the Czech Republic (8.30 p.m. / Magentasport), the Munich player will only watch because he has not yet been able to train properly with the team.
