Giannis Antetokounmpo? Luka Doncic? Nikola Jokic? Everybody out. The superstars no longer play a role in the European Basketball Championship – others are now in the limelight.
The six best scorers of the tournament have all already been eliminated from the European Basketball Championship. Among them are the three NBA-Superstars Antetokounmpo from Greece, Doncic from Slovenia and Jokic from Serbia, the diverse All-Star-nominations, MVP-Share titles and also an NBA championship. The ultimate in the best basketball league in the world.
Only three players from the top 20 are still in the tournament
Also the Finn Lauri Markkanen, who played the second most points per game in the tournament and in the NBA for the Utah Jazz plays is out. The seventh-placed scorer list is still in the tournament – and that’s Germany’s captain Dennis Schröder.
Going down the list, even among the top 20 point earners in the tournament, there are only three who are actually still in the competition. Schroeder, Spain’s Willy Hernangomez (New Orleans Pelicans) and in 14th place Germany’s super talent Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic).
A little behind them are the two NBA Frenchmen Evan Fournier (New York Knicks) and Rudy Gobert (The Minnesota Timberwolves). Gobert, three-time NBA Best Defensive Player, may well be the “biggest” remaining star in the tournament, but still ranks a whole category below Antetokounmpo, Doncic and Jokic.
Team player Dennis Schroeder
What is of course not a great insight in a team sport like basketball at first glance, but is often suppressed a little at least in the media view: It is the collective that has dominated this tournament so far.
And that despite the fact that the three superstars were of course individually the best players at this European Championship and may even be among the best five European basketball players of all time.
Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner are the two big faces of the German team. Schröder, who has been criticized so often in recent years for his very extroverted demeanor, his sometimes a bit egotistical and then also error-prone style of play and his very self-confident statements, seems to have matured.
In almost every interview, the 29-year-old emphasizes the character of the team and praises the team and his teammates. He calls them together on the field at almost every opportunity, talks a lot, gives instructions, lets colleagues benefit from his many years of experience in the NBA.
And he still uses his individual sporting skills when things get stuck: his quick move to the basket, his almost penetrating defensive work very close to the opponent and his lightning-fast passes under the basket or out to the three-point shooter.
The fact that he occasionally takes a long-distance shot too many – and misses – and gets caught up in small skirmishes with opponents from time to time is just part of his style of play and is readily accepted by his teammates when he finds himself otherwise put so much at the service of the team as before. Also with them Assists Schröder is in the top ten per game – and all this despite the fact that he was completely rested in the DBB’s clear victory over Hungary.
The “complete” Franz Wagner
Franz Wagner is only 21 years old and has already made his mark on the DBB team. Wagner, who has just finished his first year in the NBA, is ranked 14th in the scorer list and has hit 51.5 percent of his three-point shots so far.
Nobody else among the top 30 scorers can achieve such a rate. The flexible winger also repeatedly ensures important ball wins defensively: with the blocks and Steals he is the best German.
At the DBB, the burden rests on many shoulders
Nevertheless, the list of Germans who have had to be praised in this tournament so far is longer. It actually includes the entire team.
Without Andreas Obst, who only played six minutes in the first tournament game, but was a decisive factor in the quarterfinals against Greece with 19 points, without Daniel Theis, who collected 16 rebounds against the Greeks, or without a Maodo Lo, who played in an extremely tight game took responsibility against Lithuania and got 21 points, as well as the many other players in the squad, if the tournament had not been so successful so far.
One last statistic that underlines how well the load is distributed in the German team and how important this has been for success so far: No other nation has more players among the 100 best throwers of the tournament. Schröder, Wagner, Lo, Obst, Theis and Johannes Thiemann are represented there. The Greeks, for example, only have three.
It is a tournament of the collective – this is shown very clearly by the line-up in the semi-finals with Germany, Spain, Poland and France. And in the end, perhaps that’s why it’s the individualists who make the decisions. In any case, the DBB does not (also) need to hide.
