After the Olympics: What’s the future of Germany?
September 14, 2008 by Christophe · 4 Comments
The oldest European team in Beijing showed during the tournament that it has come to the end of a cycle. Several German players will end their career in the national team after this tournament, and coach Dirk Bauermann has now four years to rebuild a team to remain competitive.
Olympics: Team USA vs. Germany LIVE
This might be one of the most sad games in Germany’s basketball history. Pascal Roller, Germany’s starting point guard announced that he will stop playing after the Olympics. Another German seems to follow him now: Dirk Nowitzki. Of course Nowitzki will keep playing for the Dallas Mavericks, but this might be his last appearance with the German national team ever, meaning somebody else will leave too: Chris Kaman. No Nowitzki, No Kaman - that easy.
After the terrible loss against China, Team USA - a team that even convinced or suprised the biggest “haters” - is waiting in the last game of group play. Sportingbet’s odds for a win of Germany is 15.00 - a US win equals to … 1.00 - meaning you will not make a dime on betting on Team USA.
At least Germany is not the only team with bad odds like that - another team is Angola .. way to go Germany!
Stiil, here is the live blog of Pascal Roller, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman’s last game wearing the German “Adler”.
European review: Olympics day 1
August 11, 2008 by Tobias · 12 Comments
Beijing Basketball 2008 Olympics
Last chance for Dirk Nowitzki
July 20, 2008 by Christophe · 1 Comment
Today at 18h30 Central European time, Dirk Nowitzki and his German national team will play their qualifying game for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. And this will be the last chance for a whole German generation of basketball players to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Live from the Olympic Qualifying Tournament
July 15, 2008 by Tobias · Leave a Comment
Kris Santiago, a FIBA.com blogger, is in Athens right now, following every game of the pre-Olympic tournament. Here are his notes from today:
- Slovenia is getting better from game to game and could be facing Puerto Rico or Croatia (but I would go with Puerto Rico, as they are looking quite good on the perimeter) in the quarters. Lakovic is solid while Nesterovic feels comfortable attacking the boards. Slokar showed a good all-around game, hitting shots and doing the little things right (Finally some positive news about Uros). Becirovic completes the team that received some help from Miha Zupan in the first game.
- Canada played weaker than expected. Former Skyliner Dave Thomas stepped up during the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as Carl English and Samuel Dalembert could not repeat their performances from the test games against Germany. Veteran Rowan Barrett is a steady scorer, but the team looked bad on the defensive end.
- Cape Verde is the first team to fly home. The “Trindade” got pounded again, this time by Germany. Young talent Jeff Xavier certainly has some upside (a solid shot and good ball-handling) but is a shoot-first point guard and had some problems adjusting to the game. If his dreams of playing in the NBA don’t come true, he may play in Europe. In order to be effective, Xavier really needs to work on his passing game.
The same goes for most of the players that never played at such a high level in FIBA-organised competitions and struggled against bigger guys like Femerling or Kaman.
- Germany used the game as another test, and had no trouble finishing from the three-point line or under the boards. Kaman is not looking fluid in his actions, as he is still trying to find his niche in the German game. Demond Greene hit some 3s in the beginning, making it crystal clear which team was supposed to win. Young gun Philip Zwiener was the surprise of the day, as he made the starting five and showed off a solid performance, which could lead to a permanent starting job. I personally like Konrad Wysocki; he should be getting more time on the court, getting six points in ten minutes and was ready for more. Oh, I forgot to mention Dirk Nowitzki, who was not flashy but left his mark, was able to rest a lot due to the big lead and should be more tested more against New Zealand tomorrow.
- Puerto Rrrrrico is getting the best out of Carlos Arroyo (Flashy as ever … behind the back, no look, you name it) and … (A real surprise to me) Ricky Sanchez, who was left open at the three-point line and scored at will. Daniel Santiago got some minutes but was not nearly effective as in Malaga, and P.J. Ramos looked better (Well, not his look but his game) against Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. J.J. Barea is having some trouble displaying his scoring qualities but does his job which includes passing and defending.
- Cameroon is here with a bad karma. They were angry and disappointed regarding their government which failed to support them in a professional manner. Now Harding Nana had a good first game but struggles to find his shot against Puerto Rico. Boumtje-Boumtje is fighting like a bull on both defense and offense, but Cameroon really sometimes lacks the IQ on the court, as they repeatedly left Sanchez alone instead of guarding him closer and made mistakes when switching the player in the wrong moments. Parfait Bitee looks ready for Europe, as he is really doing a great job here, scoring mostly from outside and keeping Barea and Arroyo constantly under pressure. Brice Vounang is a short-sized center with a wide body and knows how to bang but may need to lose some weight in order to perform faster around the basket.
That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted…
UPDATE: Kris just sent us some more thoughts:
- Cameroon’s Harding Nana got his shot back in the second half and Parfait Bitte, who may land a contract in Europe soon (The D-League is not an option, and his agent Keith Glass is already receiving offers), did his part to bring Cameroon back into the game, but it was Larry Ayuso’s three-pointer that killed Cameroon’s hopes of advancing.
- Cameroon’s coach Lazare Adingono was certainly disappointed with the way things ended for his team, and hopes that the government has seen the positive outing of his team in Athens and tries now to support the team financially so they may bounce back with another strong outcome at the 2009 African Championship in Libya.
- George Felton, director of player personnel, scouted Alexis Wangmene (Texas University) closely these days to see if he is capable of playing against bigger competition. Wangmene was not a big factor offensively while helping out well in limited minutes on the floor on the defensive end, but has a long road to go if he wants to make it to the NBA.
- Brazil is currently destroying Lebanon, and they look quite confident on the floor with Marcelinho Huertas and Murilo Becker da Rosa having already reached double digits in scoring. Now all the players are set to score, and even NBA bust Baby Araujo is doing well on the floor, having no trouble scoring in the paint at all.
Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2008: Day 2
Day one is in the books and the first two games weren’t that surprising at all, right? New Zealand, most famous for its pre-game dance, won their game against Cape Verde by 27 points. Why does this matter? Because on day 2, Cape Verde will play Germany.
Why does Germany matter? You’re right, just because of Dirk Nowitzki and the Germanized Chris Kaman, who will play his first game for head coach Dirk Bauermann. It looks like Chris is pretty excited to play for Germany and even thinks the German eagle on his chest is “cool.” Basically Chris is trading in this eagle for that one.
Should be an easy first game for Chris unless Cape Verde is that mad because of losing to New Zealand by 27 points - It won’t happen; these guys are pretty chilled.
The third matchup features Cameroon and Puerto Rico. Cameroon just lost their opener against Croatia by 14 points, and I am sure Puerto Rico won’t give them an easy chance to win their first game of the tournament. With players such as Daniel Santiago, Juan Jose Barea (Dallas Mavericks) and Carlos Arroyo (Orlando Magic), Puerto Rico has one goal in mind: to qualify for the Olympics. I am pretty sure that Cameroon won’t be the team to stop their mission.
The last matchup for Tuesday night is Lebanon vs. Brazil. Even without a Leandro Barbosa, Brazil is good enough to easily beat Lebanon. Players such as Tiago Splitter and Alex Garica are enough to beat a team on which the tallest player is “only” 6′9″ (205cm).
Game to watch: Germany v. Cape Verde.
Monday’s cigarettes
July 14, 2008 by Christophe · Leave a Comment
Back from holiday, here are just a few cigarettes to start Olympic Qualifiers week in Beijing.
Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2008: Day 1
July 13, 2008 by Tobias · 3 Comments
With about 24 hours until the Olympic Qualifying Tournament starts, let’s have a look at the teams and the chances for each team to make it to the big goal: the Olympics in Beijing. Read more
Monday’s cigarettes
July 7, 2008 by Christophe · 1 Comment
A new week is starting and still no official competition going on. So the cigarettes are pretty short this Monday, too.
Breaking News: Kaman cleared to play for Germany
July 2, 2008 by Christophe · 11 Comments
It’s now official: Chris Kaman has received his German passport at the German consulate in Los Angeles. So Team Germany has now added big firepower in the paint for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers in Athens.
