Et is almost two months ago that the German national basketball team won the small final against Poland at the European Championships in Berlin and secured the bronze medal. With some inspiring performances, the basket hunters managed to significantly increase media and public attention for their sport.
The focus of interest was on Captain Dennis Schröder and the versatile young star Franz Wagner, who earn their money in the North American professional league NBA. Now the selection of national coach Gordon Herbert occurs again for the first time. The program includes the World Cup qualifiers against Finland this Friday (7 p.m. on MagentaSport) in Bamberg and on Monday (6 p.m. on MagentaSport) in Slovenia.
But the German team, which didn’t have the best line-up when they won the bronze medal, is badly plucked. The NBA professionals are generally not available during the season. The players from the Euroleague teams are also missing, because the European premier class does not pause during the national team window.
New Bayer: Niels Giffey
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Image: dpa
For the professionals from Alba Berlin and Bayern Munich, the focus is not on the World Cup qualifiers, but on their direct duel in the Euroleague. Therefore, with Justus Hollatz, Christian Sengfelder and Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann, who was subsequently nominated, there are only three EM participants in the squad.
The original roster, announced on October 26, included another bronze medalist, Niels Giffey. But this week, the winger from Murcia, Spain, joined Bayern Munich, making him unavailable for the national team. This is of course an uncomfortable situation for the national coach, but there is no pressure to result given the starting situation in the table.
The team have been unbeaten since the surprise opening defeat by Estonia and are likely to qualify for next year’s World Championships without another win. Should all other results really run against the German team, a success would have to come. The aim is to eliminate the last mathematical doubts now.
Not even the complete second suit is available for this, because Gordon Herbert had to accept some cancellations due to illness and injury. So far, the Canadian has fielded 28 players in qualifying matches. That number could grow to more than 30 in the next two games. The recalled Lukas Meisner (Hamburg) and Joshua Obiesie (Frankfurt) have yet to play, and Jacob Patrick from Ludwigsburg, who is only 18, has no international experience at all.
Nevertheless, there is much to suggest that the German team will get the victory that is still theoretically necessary. The national coach, whose work was rightly recognized after winning the European Championship medal, is also doing a good job in the World Cup qualifiers, which generate significantly less attention due to the lack of stars.
Gordon Herbert accepts the often difficult personnel situation and usually makes the best of it. In addition, the positive results underline the potential in German basketball. The top, with six NBA players, is perched on a strong pyramid capable of compensating for the absence of the top two tiers.
signs of relaxation
Optimists have hope that at least the Euroleague players will be back in the future. There are first signs of a relaxation between FIBA, which is responsible for the national teams as the association of the national federations, and the ULEB, which organizes the best continental club competition as the representative of the leagues.
For the first time, the Euroleague was willing to postpone a game in consideration of the FIBA calendar. The Italian derby between Milan and Bologna was canceled from 11.11. to 9.11. brought forward. This eliminated the overlap with Italy’s World Cup qualifier against Spain.
Although communication between the two camps has intensified considerably over the past two years, there could be concrete economic interests in the accommodation. The television rights in Italy are held by the same provider for both competitions, and in addition to the Euroleague derby, the national team’s qualifier is also of immense interest, because the Spaniards are European champions and are coached by the Italian Sergio Scariolo, who also acts as coach of Virtus Bologna . So it remains to be seen whether this gesture is the beginning of a new understanding or will remain just a special case.
The author was coach of the year twice in Germany.
