IN THE GAME

Dirk Nowitzki has been a regular on the German national team roster since 2001, when he led the team to an excellent fourth place in Turkey. Much to the displeasure of the Dallas Mavericks, and undoubtedly at the expense of Dirk’s own NBA career, which has suffered under the huge number of games and lack of extensive breaks the blonde German superstar has had over the years. Considering the sacrifice he has made playing for his home country, nobody in Germany is criticising Nowitzki for skipping this year’s Eurobasket. And indeed, there’s some new fresh air in the German squad, brought in by a number of promising youngsters that the 2009 Eurobasket is coming too early for to make a lasting impact, but not too early to gain experience.

Overlook: There are no expectations for the German team. Even in a rather low-level Eurobasket group together with Russia, Latvia, and probably France, many are expecting them to lose all three games, creating a refreshing atmosphere, released from all the pressure, and even generating a bit of excitement around the emergence of the youngsters – many of them without any playing time in the domestic German BBL – who are now given the opportunity to shine in the spotlight of a European championship.

One of the new unknowns is Robin Benzing, a mobile, lanky 2.09m/6’10ft small forward born in June 1989 who averaged 18.3 points 4.5 points for TV Langen [DB Skyliners Frankfurt's farm team] in the German second division, before joining BBL playoff participant ratiopharm Ulm this offseason. Benzing promises to receive playing time in Ulm, and he’s showing a lot of confidence playing for Dirk Bauermann’s national team. Benzing possesses decent ballhandling for a man his size, as well as a smooth perimeter stroke. The young forward drove to the basket fearlessly in preparation games, and chances exist that he will even get the starting nod over Frankfurt’s Konrad Wysocki in Poland.

Joining him is Elias Harris, another 1989 born, who played for third division side Speyer last season and will join the NCAA’s Gonzaga Bulldogs in the future. The 2.01m/6’7ft swingman had been a volume scorer on the lower level for Speyer, but he already adjusted nicely to competition against much stronger opposition in the preperation games, showing a hard-nosed attitude, tough defense and above average rebounding. Harris’ athleticism is clearly on pro-level, his jumpshot however isn’t.

1988 born Tim Ohlbrecht had been listed a 2009 2nd overall NBA Draft pick in one of the more respected draft websites’ mockdraft a few years ago. A lot has changed since then. After arriving with a bang in the German Bundesliga by coming out of nowhere to play excellent 2007 BBL finals for Bamberg, Ohlbrecht fell into a big hole which he has yet to find a way out of. The young forward/center possesses all the physical tools, but at the same time he has the reputation of being a spoiled kid that lacks work ethic, a reputation that only solidified after a mediocre 3.1 point – 2.4 rebound season for Bamberg. However, while he is searching for a situation that enables kick-starting his club career, Ohlbrecht has been showing signs of promise in the Eurobasket preperation games.

Ratiopharm Ulm’s Per Günther will with high probably be decorating Germany’s roster as Bauermann’s third point guard. Günther had a solid BBL season as Ulm’s backup point guard and is clearly the purest of the three point guards. However, Günther is both too thin and too small, and it has yet to be seen how he reacts under high guard pressure. Pressure that usually doesn’t come into play in friendly games.

Another player of the 1989 generation, Tibor Pleiß, is a likely candidate to not make the final cut, but remember that name. The 2.15m/7’1ft Pleiß at this point is rail thin, but quite mobile for a man his size and blessed with a smooth shooting stroke. Pleiß has been playing minutes for the BBL’s Cologne 99ers in the last couple of years, averaging 5.0 points and 2.9 rebonds in the 09/10 campaign, but he’s currently – like many of his national team colleagues – looking for a job after his former club’s bankruptcy.

The youngsters are joined by a bunch of veterans: Steffen Hamann, Demond Greene, Sven Schultze and Patrick Femerling have been members for a long time, Jan-Hendrick Jagla has been for a couple of years. They are joined by 25-year-old playmaker Heiko Schaffartzik, 26-year-old Yassin Idbihi, and 27-year-old Konrad Wysocki, none of them having significant international club experience. However, Schaffartzik, the only player on the roster who is able to create his own shot off the dribble, and Idbihi, a widely unknown big man with some old-school center moves, who played for French ProB club Limoges last season, will be significant role players.

This roster’s weaknesses are quickly on hand: The starting backcourt combination of Hamann, a non-creative defensive point guard, and Greene, a limited off guard who doesn’t do anything else besides defending and shooting three pointers, had already been one of the keys for a miserable 07/08 Bamberg season, and playing against even better competition won’t help. This team has no creativity whatsoever. Three point shooting, solid defense, fighting spirit, good team chemistry will maybe help against weaker opposition [and Germany isn't exactly facing powerhouses in the group phase], but strong defensive units will have lots of fun locking down the German offense.

Depth Chart*

*Depth chart is only probable since the final roster has yet to be made official

Playing style: As a consequence of lacking both creativity and the ability to make shots off the dribble in halfcourt action, Bauermann is urging his team to push the ball aggressively – a complete contrary to the slow halfcourt style that had made him a double BBL champion with Bamberg. Germany will be looking to run the floor hard with five players [which is why A) Patrick Femerling likely won't play a key role on this team, and B) I would expect Sven Schultze to appear rather on the four than the three] and find their snipers early on the clock. Jagla, Greene and crew won’t hesitate to let it fly. The three pointer is Germany’s only hope.

Key play: Pass out to the 2 on the wing, usually shooter Greene. 2 gives it back and goes cross court to use the big man’s screen. If he gets open, pass and immedeate shot. If pass but no shot: Side pick and roll. If there is no pass, 2 and 3 spread to the wing and both big men create a “horns”-formation. Point guard can go either side.

Notable absentee[s]: Dirk Nowitzki [declined invitation], Chris Kaman [if returning ever was an option]

Learn more about German basketball: If you are interested in German basketball, I have three sites that should be of intrigue for you. Gruebelei.de is a superb blog by Grübler, who’s been around in German basketball for years and shares his thoughts with you. And he thinks a lot. However, it is in German. Germanhoops is relatively new blog which you probably haven’t heard about yet. I can only recommend this one for every English-speaking person that is interested in the German BBL. Currently they’re doing extremely, and I mean extremely, detailed analysis’ of all eighteen BBL rosters in very good English. Last but not least is of course the Europeanprospects.com, which has a large number of German youngsters in its database. Christophe has been writing about Robin Benzing and crew before we knew he [Benzing] even existed.

More previews: Spain