My latest german league basketball experience

[Julius]

I just want to know how much the germans (or others ) are into german basketball. Well I'm not that much interessted, following only my hometeam.
I'm wittnessing one of the greatest bb-experiences of my live.
My home team BG 74 Göttingen is having a sensational run in germans 2nd league. To this point they lost only one game and next weekend they play the 2nd placed team which lost allready 5. So they are nearly in league 1 and a win next weekend will secure their way up since there are only 5 games left thereafter.
Our homecourt will be sold out with 3000 fans going crazy, I hope for something like that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0rMe2Vyb9E
I'm really pumped up.
And the best thing is that this team is not "buyed together" .They are not a bunch of americans, lituhanians or whatever. Sure, they have 3 americans and one guy from bosnia but nearly the whole rest of the team was born in Gö or has played here in their youth. I know most of them since they were 13 years old or so. And now they are on their way up. Did I say that I'm pumped up.
Now some words about the coach and their style of play. Our coach, John Patrick from the USA, has played for us some years ago, coached one or two years thereafter, then coached in Japan(?) and won there the championship. He's married with a woman from Gö, so they decided, that he has to come back to Gö. I will be always thankfull for that!
In Japan he developed a system with often 3 guards on the court, fullcourt press the whole game, 3pts and a 9-11 player rotation. Absolutly fun to watch. No one can stand their pressure over 40 minutes.
I'm still pumped!
The rest of the season I'm going to celebrate this amazing run, but there are allready some clouds on the horizont(?). Will the managment get enough sponsors/money, will we get a bigger arena, will this team be broken up, can they compete in the first league, or will they go down again after one year?
I would love to have this team kept together with max. 3 new players stealing playing time from the homegrown. But this are problems I will worry about after the season.

Some Info links:

http://www.diejungeliga.de/linkit.ph...pmenu=inactive

http://www.diejungeliga.de/linkit.ph...pmenu=inactive

http://www.bg74.de/de/pages/Team.35.php

cheers

[capitalcity]

Kick Ass yo.

Do they serve bier at the games? Do yall tailgate (party before the games?).

[Julius]

sure there's Bier and Bratwurst and Brezeln and Kaffee und Kuchen.
I will not be in town these days but the fan comunity is getting bigger and bigger. Something special will happen, thats for sure.

newes in german: http://www.hna.de/sportgoettingenind...den_Titel.html

and the fan forum: http://www.bg74.de/forum/viewforum.php?f=1

[digit]

Late eigthies, early nineties, playing youth basketball for MTV Wolfenbüttel and being their starting point guard we always had heated encounters with BG 74, ASC and SG Braunschweig. These were some good rivalries for sure. Man, there was so much hate involved especially in playing SG Braunschweig. F 'em

What's the atmosphere during BG 74 games in the 2nd league? I expect nothing short of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNCk8wMypZU

[Julius]

Are you Prinz Eisenherz? Nah, I'm a few years older than you but that was our nickname for Wolfenbüttels PG. Maybe you know him.
Oh yeah, I remember also some tough games vs Wolfenbüttel and Braunschweig but most heated was the local rivalry with ASC. The funny thing is, I played in both clubs in my youth but mostly of the bench and the team I was on lost .
regarding the atmosphere, well stuff like this only happens if we lose
But honestly, two fan clubs has developed and they are still growing. There are some quite creativ peoble involved who like to celebrate.
Whats up with you? Do you watch the skyliners live? Do you love and know them or is it more like, well its the best in my area so lets take a look from time to time?

[MavsX]

pretty cool bro

[digit]

Originally Posted by Julius

Are you Prinz Eisenherz? Nah, I'm a few years older than you but that was our nickname for Wolfenbüttels PG. Maybe you know him.
Oh yeah, I remember also some tough games vs Wolfenbüttel and Braunschweig but most heated was the local rivalry with ASC. The funny thing is, I played in both clubs in my youth but mostly of the bench and the team I was on lost .
regarding the atmosphere, well stuff like this only happens if we lose
But honestly, two fan clubs has developed and they are still growing. There are some quite creativ peoble involved who like to celebrate.
Whats up with you? Do you watch the skyliners live? Do you love and know them or is it more like, well its the best in my area so lets take a look from time to time?

There's only one guy in WF basketball, who qualifies as a Prinz Eisenherz type of guy due to his "special" hairdoo. Skinny, about 1.90 m, brown hair, wearing a silver glasses frame. This has got to be Frank Arnold. Never played with him on one team, beacause he is two years older than me...btw back then one of my coaches was Burkhardt Prigge, who later became Alba Berlin's assistant coach.
About the Frankfurt Skyliners...well, they SUCK...I moved to Frankfurt from Hannover three years ago and never really got too emotional with the city. Went to Skyliners' games a couple of times, but mainly to see the visitors, like Berlin, Bamberg and Braunschweig...
And now, Im in the process of moving out of here again. Got a good job offer and will now be moving to Düsseldorf...concering sports, it could be better there, but it could be much worse as well...I hope that Köln will again play in the Euroleague next season and they will continue to use the Pillipps Arena in Düsseldorf as their home ground...that would be MUCH fun seeing all these Euroleague power houses live...

[Julius]

seems right ,Frank Arnold. Always hated this guy, he was good.
So is there a team in Germany that you like with a passion or is all your passion with Dirk and the Mavs?

[mqywaaah]

Good to hear that Julius! Our Philippine Bball team aint doin bad too. Fiba has lifted it's suspension on our team, thus making them eligible to qualify for the Fiba Asia tourney. If all goes well, we could again have a shot to play at the WCOB. Go team PILIPINAS!!!

[Julius]

Holly shit!!!!!!!!!! 82-70 we won!!!!!.
A 3 pointer with 4 sec left safed the deal. We won the head to head tiebreaker and are officially in league 1.
Now the Party starts, with Freibier and everything and I'm not there.

Congatulation to Babis, Phillip, Marco, Michael, Max, Robert, Kyle, Cris, Dwayne, Cris, Selim, Stefan and the coaches John and Martin
What a great season, thanks.

[Julius]

edit: the official videohttp://www.surfcut.de/meister
some sequenses from the gamehttp://sveen.de/bg74aufstieg/player.html


sorry

(GT-Artikel vom 26.04.07)
Zitat:
„Mehr Spaß für Spieler und Zuschauer“
BG-Trainer John Patrick hat Tempo-Basketball schon in der High School gespielt
19 Jahre nachdem der ASC 46 sein Team aus der 1. Basketball-Bundesliga zurückgezogen hat, steht Göttingen wieder vor dem Sprung in die Eliteklasse. Fünf Spieltage vor Saisonende – so früh wie keine Mannschaft zuvor – feierten die Zweitliga-Herren der BG 74 die Meisterschaft. Michael Geisendorf sprach mit Meistertrainer John Patrick über eine traumhafte Serie.

Als die Herren der BG 74 im Herbst 2006 durch die 2. Bundesliga stürmten und von Sieg zu Sieg eilten, rieben sich die Basketball-Experten verwundert die Augen. Die auf allen Positionen neu formierten Veilchen hatte niemand auf der Rechnung für einen Spitzenplatz gehabt. Die Millionentruppe des Mitteldeutschen BC war unumstrittener Favorit auf Meisterschaft und Erstliga-Aufstieg, Düsseldorf. Hagen, Rhöndorf oder Cuxhaven wurden als heiße Kandidaten für die Plätze dahinter gehandelt.
Aber die mit einem Mini-Etat ausgestatteten Göttinger? Mit sechs Guards, ein paar größeren Flügelspielern und nur einem ausgewiesenen Center, der zudem erst 22 Jahre jung war, den ausgebufften langen Garden der Konkurrenz ernsthaft Paroli bieten zu wollen, schien aussichtslos. Selbst innerhalb der BG wurde John Patricks Überzeugung, mit einer solchen Truppe in der Liga bestehen zu können, vielfach mit Kopfschütteln quittiert.
Der Trainer, der gerade das Tokioter Team Toyota Alvark überraschend zur japanischen Meisterschaft geführt hatte, ließ sich von den Zweiflern allerdings nicht beirren. „Als klar war, dass Dwayne Kirkley bleibt, dass es mit der Verpflichtung von Kyle Bailey und Babis Douloudis klappt und Michael Schröder zurückkommt, habe ich gesagt, dass ich eine gute Chance sehe, in dieser Saison aufzusteigen“, erzählt der Amerikaner. „Marco Grimaldis Verpflichtung war dann das Sahnehäubchen auf einem starken Team.“
Dass nach anhaltendem Erfolg das Guard-dominierte, spektakuläre Tempospiel der Veilchen, gepaart mit aggressiver Verteidigung und permanentem Druck auf den Gegner, in Deutschland als neuer Stil gefeiert wurde, entlockt Patrick ein Schmunzeln. „Morgan Wootten, mein High-School-Trainer in Washington D.C. hat ihn praktiziert, ebenso wie Mike Montgomery, mein College-Coach in Stanford (wo Patrick Jura und Geschichte studierte – d. Red.). Beide sind Mitglieder der Basketball Hall of Fame“, berichtet Patrick, der wie Wootten in Durham/ North Carolina geboren wurde – am 29. Februar 1968. „Ich trinke mein Geburtstagsbier immer um Mitternacht zwischen dem 28. Februar und 1. März“, lacht der 39-Jährige.
Urvater Rick Pitino

„Patrick Ryan, Dwayne Kirkleys und mein Trainer in Japan in den 90er Jahren, hat so gespielt. Ryan wiederum hat diese Spielweise bei Rick Pitino kennengelernt, als der Headcoach in Florida war“, erzählt Patrick. Sie werde als Pitino-Stil bezeichnet, weil dieser Trainer, der als einziger Coach mit drei verschiedenen Mannschaften ins NCAA-Final-Four eingezogen ist und auch für die New York Knicks und Boston Celtics in der NBA gearbeitet hat, sie Mitte der 70er-Jahre als 24-jähriger Trainer in Hawaii entwickelt habe. „Es ist wie ein Stammbaum, an dessen Anfang Pitino steht“, so der BG-Coach.
In den vergangenen Jahren habe der Pitino-Stil immer mehr Befürworter gefunden. Die Spitzenteams des amerikanischen College-Basketballs praktizieren ihn ebenso wie die beiden Finalisten der Euro-League im vorigen Jahr, ZSKA Moskau und Maccabi Tel Aviv, oder die spanische Nationalmannschaft. „So zu spielen, bringt nicht nur Erfolg, sondern auch mehr Spaß für die Zuschauer und die Spieler“, ist Patrick überzeugt. „Wir haben nicht Spaß, weil wir gewinnen, sondern wir gewinnen, weil wir Spaß haben.“
„Der Schlüssel sind Defense und Kondition. In der Offensive kommt es darauf an, durch ständige Bewegung freie Räume zu schaffen sowie auf die Fähigkeit, das Spiel zu lesen“, erklärt der Coach. „Jeder Spieler darf kreativ sein, hat das Recht, in der aktuellen Spielsituation eigene Entscheidungen zu treffen, und damit auch das Recht, Fehler zu machen. Was die Fitness angeht, haben wir dem Programm der Praxis Rainer Junge viel zu verdanken. Ich behaupte, dass wir eines der fittesten Teams in der 1. und 2. Bundesliga sind und dem NBA-Standard sehr nahe kommen. Wir haben fünf, sechs der schnellsten Guards der 2. Liga. Doch 90 Prozent des Erfolges basieren auf der Einstellung des Einzelnen und dem gegenseitigen Respekt der Spieler. Das Wichtigste ist die Chemie im Team“, unterstreicht Patrick.
„Müssen unsere Jungs bleiben“

Das bedeute auch, dass sich keiner als Star aufspielt, sondern sich hundertprozentig in den Dienst der Mannschaft stellt. Es sei schwierig, Spieler wie Dwayne oder Philipp Nies zu finden, die weitgehend darauf verzichten, sich als gute Werfer zu profilieren, sondern das Punkten bereitwillig anderen überlassen. „Vor allem die Amerikaner in den Bundesligen sind ja darauf erpicht, sich als Scorer hervorzutun“, weiß der Coach.
Zur guten Chemie gehöre auch, dass die BG, so Patrick, ein echtes „Hometown-Team“ ist, mit dem sich die Fans identifizieren. Entscheidend sei, dass das Gros der Mannschaft ursprünglich aus der Region kommt oder schon lange in Göttingen spielt – wie Selim Mulic, Max Rosenberg oder Dwayne Kirkley – oder sich hier schon nach kurzer Zeit heimisch fühlt wie Kyle Bailey oder Robert Dill. „Wichtig ist – und das gilt auch für die 1. Bundesliga: Es müssen unsere Jungs bleiben Es nutzt wenig, einen dicken Sponsor zu haben, mit dessen Geld man gute Einzelspieler kaufen kann, wenn die Chemie im Team dann nicht mehr stimmt“, schreibt Patrick dem Vereinsmanagement ins Stammbuch.

[MavsX]

are there any other germans in the nba? or have there been?

[Julius]

All has beens:
Uwe Blab "the burning skyscraper" (Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs)
Detlef Schrempf "Det the Threat" (Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trailblazers)
Christian Welp (Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors)
and
Shawn Bradley (Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers)

[twelli]

Are there any good German players who could make it in the NBA in the near future? How come that there are multiple players from Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, Russia, not to mention Serbia, in the NBA and there is only one Dirk? Kind of odd...

[Julius]

Peter Fehse was drafted 49 by seattle a few years but he's not really good, wont make it.
Misan Nikagbatse dreamed about, but too late
Ademola Okulaja tried a few times, now too old
Steffen Hamann cant shoot, otherwise...
Jan Jagla tried a few times, may try again. Right now he's really good in the turkish league.
Tim Ohlbrecht born 1988, he's viewed as the youngster with the most potential but he's so young, you never know. I dont think that he can make it.

But if you ask me its Michael Schröder from my hometeam.
Look what he did in 2004 Nike hoop summit, nearly as good as Dirk. There were some players who are now in the NBA.
http://www.dallas-mavs.com/vb/showth...ke+hoop+summit

[Julius]

Yersterday was the last game of the season and we won again. Today they made a motorcade (Autokorso) in the city and the team got celebrateted on the balcony of the city hall in front of atleast 200 fans. The city is ready for league one.
Now if the Mavs could win vs G.S. (bullshit I mean win it all) the world would be nearly perfect.

One more thing. I think I wouldn't trade this success against a Mavs championship which baffles me a little.
I LOVE BG!!!












go mavs

[Julius]

bump

right now we have a chance to get the first place and the best playoff position. Two of our best player are hurt but we keep on winning. GREAT SEASON!!

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/...la-Story-3203/

[GermanDunk]

Go Ttinga !

[Fidel]

They should rename the BBL into:

"US players who don´t make it in the NBA and aren´t even good enough to play in a top european league, so they come to play for a generic team in the pathetic german basketball league"

Seriously, if the whole german soccer league was crowded by 3rd class brazilians would anybody want to watch it? When will the BBL get a clue. Teams can´t pay top class foreigners (and they wouldn´t want to play here anyways) so why not give some german players a chance? Also fluctuation of players is so high that there´s no way to actually identify with them or get emotionally invested.