Elias Harris: 15pts (88%) 4rebs MVP

Extremely athletic forward who excelled with powerful drives which he finished easily on two handed power dunks. He goes to the offensive board where he can also finish with put back jams. Unselfish player who sees the open man when he drives and is not afraid to go for the dishes to the cutters. His athleticism is way above average for this level. His shot however looks a bit perfectible as he does not stretch out the arm completely when shooting. Defensively, he has good quickness and can block shots due to good timing and his leaping abilities. He is surely the best combination of physical gifts and basketball skills in his age category in Germany. His future is not sure at the moment as he will stay for another season very probably with his actual team in the third German league (ProB). After that, when he has finished his high school, he looks for a college scholarship.

Christian Standhardinger: 19pts (71% 9/11FT) 7rebs

The top scorer of the game. Standhardinger showed once again his great scoring skills. He draws a lot of fouls, especially in his right hand drives and in the open court where he excels in running the breaks. He has good size and very quick feet. He played SG during the game for some stretches but his future will probably be more on the SF position. His right hand is really his best offensive weapon, so far that you can say that his left drive is nearly non-existent. His only out shoot was taken out of balance from the top of the three-point line, and was missed.

Thomas Gajda showed why he is one of the best scorers in the NBBL. The forward has a very nice and fluid shot. He can also drive with nice direction changes or spin moves. He is working also in the rebound with an already good developed body and nice size for the SF position.

Thomas Schoeps had a good first half where he showed interesting skills on the PG position. He had a very difficult drive where he scored with the foul against several defenders. Not the best athlete and he was missing some of his mid-distance shots. He got a little injury in the second half.

Fabian Thülig is still the all-around guy we knew from last year’s NBBL Final Four. He is present everywhere on the court, doing a good job in rebounding but also having the ability to score, especially on hustle plays. He finished the game with 100% on his shooting.

Azeez Oladimeji was one of the players I was really curious to see for the first time. The 2m06 PF came to Oldenburg this season via the same agent that also brought former NBA player Olumide Oyedeji to Germany. Oladimeji impressed with good power moves but was very unlucky around the basket missing some dunks. His FT shots looked very ugly and he only made 1 out of 6 attempts. Defensively he had a lot of trouble defending the drives of Elias Harris in the beginning. All in all, he looks like a very impressive physical specimen but showed only limited basketball skills, at least in this game.

Robin Benzing who is considered as one of the top talents in Europe of the 1989 generation did not have a good game. His shot was not falling (1/6) and he looked very fragile. However, he is still impressive with his size running the floor standing 2m10 tall. He showed on the other hand a good defensive presence despite a still very underdeveloped body.

Stefan Schmidt may not have scored a lot, however he was another player that stood out in my eyes. The 2m08 tall Center showed good mobility for an inside player of his size. He is not the best athlete but showed good basketball IQ and also a very nice spin move basket in the paint. He is definitely a player to watch as he is also seeing already some limited minutes in the 2nd German league.

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