Christian Standhardinger is a tall forward who can play both the PF and the SF position. His future however will probably be more on the SF position as he prefers attacking the basket facing his opponents and has not that much of a back to the basket game. He has worked a lot on his shot over the last year in order to diversify his offensive options which were mostly limited to a very strong right handed drive before. Together with the Urspring coaching staff, Standhardinger has done a lot of work in that area and he is aware of what he needs to do in the next years to become a better player.

I have worked a lot on my shot of course, but after the first practices here in Nebraska, I realized that there is still a long way to go concerning that. I need to work mainly on my shot, but also my ball handling, my left hand and my defense need to be improved.

The young man is very well aware of what he needs to do in order to improve his game. And his determination and ambition will certainly help him to develop his weaknesses and fulfill the hopes of the Husker fans. Even if his defense is sometimes considered a bit suspect, Standhardinger had to carry his team in the 3rd German division on the offense and may have taken some rest on the other side of the court. But he is very present in rebounding and despite not being the most physical guy, he is not afraid at all to go the rebound. The question remains how this will translate to the very physical Big 12 conference.

But Standhardinger is  a player that knows how to get into the game, even when starting slowly. Talking to the referees, flopping on offensive foul situations or going for difficult or unorthodox moves can surprise everyone on the court and be the beginning of scoring runs. But those kind of stuff can also go the wrong way and this may have given him a certain reputation that does not always work in his favor. You can call it like that: you better have him on your team than playing against him.  However, Standhardinger was not selected for the U20 European Championship with the German National Team this summer, officially because of his scholar issues (Standhardinger missed several National Team camps because of exams).

Of course I was very disappointed that I could not play with the National Team this summer, every good German player would be disappointed if he is not selected. But I work very hard in Nebraska with very good coaches and I am confident that I will add my part to the National Team success one day.

During the summer, there were eligibility questions to see if Standhardinger can qualify academically but also if he risks a suspension like did his former team mates at Urspring Lucca Staiger and Christopher Niemann. But the NCAA made a decision recently that allows Standhardinger to play the Big 12 conference games as well as during the pre-season. However, the German forward did not doubt about his decision during this waiting phase.

Oh yes, I would have gone to Nebraska, even if I had to miss a full season, because I have here the best conditions to develop my Basketball game but also to get a good education. I had alternatives to sign with Bundesliga (1st German division) or other European professional teams but I preferred to come and play for Nebraska.

His former coach at Urspring Academy Ralph Junge underlines that the decision of Standhardinger to go to the United States was the right one. And he has high hopes on his former player.

Christian came to Urspring as a Rookie who had no idea how to play and has matured to become the team leader, from no shot at all to a 50% three point shooter in the 2nd half of his last season with us. Now, his development needs to continue in that direction. He needs to apply what he has learned here on the next level. Then, he will become a team leader there too.

What works on 3rd German division level, will most likely not work in the Big12. This is the next goal for him, to become one of the best offensive players in the Big12, to remain an excellent rebounder and to be able to defend against future NBA players.

Christian has always been very ambitious, and this has helped him to reach his current level. For the people that qualify his defense as suspect, they should take a look at the game between Speyer and Ehingen from last season where Christian made 41pts against Gonzaga recruit Elias Harris who is currently mentioned everywhere as big time defender. Harris had only 25pts that game, so Christian is probably the best defender in the world. (grin)

Standhardinger knows that there are a lot of expectations on him. And he thinks that Nebraska is the right place to reach the next level.

I like it over here in Nebraska. I see that I make big steps forward and that the coaches are highly motivated to work with the team. Additionally, I want to say that we have a great team and great team mates and that I have the best available environment to get better and reach the next level.

Christian Standhardinger plays with #7 in red

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• Two more German players will join the NCAA next season. Christian Standhardinger will move from Ehingen to the Big12 team of Nebraska while Elias Harris will join Gonzaga. Both 1989 born forwards are members of the German U20 National team and play great seasons with their respective teams in the ProB. Standhardinger has been elected Player of the month while Harris was Youngster of the month for January.
• Jeffery Taylor from Sweden is currently doing an excellent job with the Vanderbilt Commodores as a freshman
• The Dutch Center Roeland Schaftenaar has been elected Pac10 Player of the week at the end of January
• The Turk Telekom U16 Tournament will start next Saturday. The games from the Turkish NT can be followed on Live Stream right here
• Luis Fernandez discusses the value of Donatas Motiejunas numbers in the Lithuanian championship
• Watch a highlight clip of Fernando Raposo who steps up big in the French LNB this year

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Elias Harris (2m00 – 1989 – Forward – BIS Speyer)

In a recent article by the German magazine Forward, the current German U18 National team coach Kay Blümel considers Elias Harris as the biggest German prospect right now. Nobody else has the same combination of athleticism and basketball skills in the youth categories. Harris is also a house-hold name for all the followers of European Youth competitions and the possibility to see him play in his daily setup of Speyer was very interesting.

Harris is still present on the floor through his great athletic and physical skills. He is currently in process of developing a Small Forward type of play, as he was always used to play more on the PF position. So you see him attack the basket from the top, in a face-to-the-basket style. He can go down low on the block if he has a smaller defender on him but most of his plays are currently energetic drives to the hoop in a special off two feet jumping style. He uses this technique in order to surround players and it helps him to turn his big physical presence into an advantage.

The main question in Harris’ game was and still is his shot. While his mechanics look already better, most of his jump shots in this game looked pretty short. From the outside, he seems to miss the necessary shooting touch. However, this is a work in progress and his nice accuracy from the FT line shows that he is on the right way. What can be added in his favor is that he saw that his shot was not falling in the first half and relied more on the drives in the 2nd period; drives that he often scored of with the additional foul.

On defense, Harris is very present in rebounding and has the necessary speed and athleticism to defend Small Forwards. In his particular match-up with the quick Christian Standhardinger, he effectively blocked the way to the basket and forced the Ehingen forward to take mid-distance jump shots. Harris has the timing to become an interesting shot blocker too. In the rebounding area, he is very present through his good positioning and physical force.

After a slow season start, Harris has now found his rhythm and plays nearly 40 minutes every game. It is well known that he wants to join the NCAA next season, but for the moment, nothing official has been published. He will in any case be one of the leaders of the very talented German U20 team for this summer’s European Championship.

Statistics after 10 games: 19.1ppg (52.5% 2FG 20.5% 3FG 77.4% FT), 8.2rpg

Simon Schmitz (1m88 – 1990 – Point Guard – BIS Speyer)

Simon Schmitz is one of the nice surprises for me this season. The 1990 born PG has nearly doubled all of his figures in his second full season on this level. Together with Elias Harris, he represents the a very nice talented combo for the team of Speyer. Schmitz is a regular member of the different German Youth National teams and it would be no surprise if he joins the U20 squad this summer despite being one year younger.

Being physically quite the opposite of Harris, Schmitz displays a good size but a very thin and fragile body. He gets banged around and has to take lots of off-balance shots in a league that features quite a number of very physical players. But he is not afraid and drives with nice speed and mostly of his right hand to the basket. He normally does not go until the rim but mostly finished of some kind of driving lay-up a bit off the basket in order to avoid the big guys.

He can also hit the jump shots out of the dribble without any problem and even nets them when getting fouled. He looks under control in what he does and is very good in avoiding turnovers. Even if he plays more than 33 minutes per game, he loses only 1.8 balls per game, quite a great figure for somebody touching the ball so often.

Simon Schmitz, who is a coach’s son, looks to me like one of the most promising PG prospects in Germany right now. His development since the last time I saw him is good, and his numbers are also improving big. Of course, he needs to work on his physical abilities in order to get stronger and resist better on the shocks in the game.

Statistics after 9 games: 15.8ppg (54.7% 2FG 41.2% 3FG 77.8% FT), 3.9rpg, 3.6apg

Christian Standhardinger (2m01 – 1989 – Forward – Erdgas Ehingen)

Christian Standhardinger is in his first season where he only plays for the ProB team of Ehingen after winning two times the NBBL championship with Urspring. His slashy style of the last two years was somehow limited so that he works hard in order to add some additional tools to his offensive game. The 2m01 tall forward is for the moment the second best scorer of the whole ProB and the game that I had the opportunity to see him was simply the best scoring game of his season so far with 41 units.

And Standhardinger started the game with a very nice 3 point shot coming of a multitude of screens he used over the baseline. It showed that he has worked a lot on his long distance shot as Speyer tried to control his drives and he answered with some very nice shots from behind the arc or jump shots out of the dribbling. His one dribble jump shot seems to connect now on a regular basis off both sides when driving.

Of course, his main weapon remains the right handed drive which he tries to use up until the rim and where he collects a lot of fouls. He shots a high percentage from the FT line (more than 90% in November – 40/44) which makes his play very effective. Additionally, he reads the defense well as he uses the help defense to dish out easy assists to his team mates. He came for example up with an 8 assist effort recently.

Defensively, he lacks of course the physicals in order to stop a guy like Elias Harris on the block. On the other hand, he is going for every rebound on both sides of the court and has good instincts to play the steal. In order to be considered as a great prospects, Standhardinger needs to improve his physical presence, especially get stronger in his legs. His future is surely on the SF position.

Having participated to the ALBA Berlin training camp in Slovenia this summer, it is highly likely that Standhardinger will join the NCAA this summer though. His scorer and winning mentality makes him a very promising player, even if his sometimes arrogant behavior is not liked by all the observers.

Statistics after 13 games: 22.0ppg (57.4% 2FG 32.6% 3FG 73.3% T), 8.5rpg, 2.5apg, 1.7spg

Nicolai Simon (1m91 – 1987 – Point Guard – Erdgas Ehingen)

Nicolai Simon was considered as the top Point Guard talent in Germany 2 years ago. But a very long-lasting back injury (he did not play for about 14 months) pushed him backwards in his development. At one moment, he was coming up with promising games for ALBA Berlin, he is now back in Ehingen where he played before signing with the German powerhouse.

Simon’s play is still characterized by a very good jump shot, control of the game and leader qualities on the floor. He lost a bit of his speed which is quite normal and he has now the time to regain his full physical form. He is not yet having a big impact in terms of scoring, but with his 21 years of age, he is one of the oldest players right now of Ehingen and has additional roles to fulfill. And with Standhardinger on the team, he does not need to score that much.

Nicolai Simon likes to to for the drive where he has no particular preference for one side. He can go for the score until the rim, and even nets in with the foul after a spin-move for example. His range is great and he can hit the three-pointer without any problem. However, his shot does not really fall for the moment but this will come back for sure.

This season is very important for him as he needs to play a full season without any physical problems in order to show himself that he is really back and gain in confidence. The coaching staff at Ehingen gives him this possibility and he plays big minutes. And he claims himself that right now he is 100% free of pain so that everything looks well for him to come back at his potential level.

Statistics after 12 games: 6.7ppg (40.4% 2FG 23.3& 3FG 81.3% FT) 2.5rpg, 3.2apg

Other players

The game between Speyer and Ehinger featured some other interesting players in Ehingen’s roster. I saw a particularly nice game of Cornelius Adler, a 1989 born forward who is doing really well in the last games. The 1m95 tall former Braunschweig player scored 15pts in just 17 minutes and showed a nice arsenal of offensive possibilities. He made a good score of a post-up move, finished a drive on his left hand and also netted one three pointer.

Maurice Stuckey had not his best day and he finished the game scoreless.

Thierno Agne was present in his typical defending rebounder style. Offensively, he was not very present as his shots did not fall.

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Christian Standhardinger (2m03 – SF – 1989 – Team Urspring)

The season MVP and top scorer of Team Urspring did play only 2 half times during the Tournament. In the first game, Standhardinger was just on the court during the first half and left the court for good after few minutes in the 2nd half when the game was decided. In the Final, after a disastrous beginning, he was benched until halftime. He played the Tournament with a abdominal muscle strain that caused him a lot of pain and can explain his up-and-down performances during the games.

The minutes he spent on court were however enough to give an update on him and check his development over the season. Standhardinger showed still his amazing penetration skills, especially from his very strong right hand. He could slash to the basket with ease when the defenders opened his right side. He showed however some skills from his left hand when he had to use it. However, this drive was not as good as from the other side. He showed sometimes a spin-move also after a left-handed drive to finish off the right hand.

The other concern in his game was his shot. Unfortunately, there was not much of a development to be seen here. On the other hand, he was not “forced” to take jump shots as he passed nearly every time his direct opponent with his great first step. His few shots from mid-distance still looked a bit hesitating and coming of a slow release. He struggled also a bit on his free-throws, but this was more the result of concentration problems.

Standhardinger is really an emotional player which can boost him as well as it can hurt him. He put him self out of the game totally in the beginning of the Final with his overreacting after some missed shots. However, in the second half, he fought really hard and made some game deciding plays with a charge and also a big steal after a missed layup by himself. To conclude on something positive, with his extremely aggressive play, Standhardinger is an regular visitor on the free-throw line.

He has also develop interesting passing skills and court vision. As he is driving hard, he recognizes the helpers very well and can give the pass out to the open shooters on the three point line. If he manages to develop a correct and regular mid-distance shot in his next season with Ehingen, Standhardinger will be a very interesting Small Forward.

Maurice Stuckey (1m84 – PG/SG – 1990 – Team Urspring)

Maurice Stuckey played a very good Saturday and a correct Sunday game. On Saturday, the scoring guard from Urspring went really hot from three and made 8 shots from behind the arc. On Sunday, he got defended harder and could not connect from downtown.

Stuckey showed great speed and excellent athletic skills which made him the fastest guy in the whole tournament. He can drive very well, with an excellent first step and finish strong around the basket due to his good jumping ability. Stuckey, who played mostly SG during the tournament should however develop into a PG in the future as the starting PG Wiseler will be gone next season.

His shot looks a bit strange, like he is always falling a bit to his left. But he can hit the threes in series, mostly in catch-and-shot fashion. He nearly never went for difficult threes out of the dribble. He did not show a particular spot from where he hit the threes with preference.

On the defensive end, Stuckey can be a very aggressive defender. He looks however sometimes a bit unconcerned in this area. But when he goes for the Defense, he is there with big pressure.

Frank Wiseler (1m85 – PG – 1989 – Team Urspring)

After a slower game on Saturday, Wiseler showed up big time during the first 20 minutes of Sunday’s game. With three threes in a row, he helped his team to stay in the game during the first half when Urspring was trailing big. He is the team captain and he showed why. His scoring pressure has been a little bit decreased with the addition of Maurice Stuckey so that Wiseler could concentrate more on his playmaking skills.

He is living a lot from his good drives to the basket where he guards control over himself and the ball. He can go for some beautiful passes when the help comes as he sees the open man very well. He sometimes looks for the fancy stuff but it is more a youth error than the absolute show forcing move. Wiseler has solid athleticism for the European level which allows him to score against the big guys on his drives too.

Wiseler has finished his stay at Urspring is currently looking to move to the NCAA.

Andreas Seiferth (2m05 – C – 1989 – ALBA Berlin)

With a new 3-year deal in his pocket, Seiferth came to Langen as the only real inside threat for the Top4 rookies. With a very long and thin frame, Seiferth looked however pretty aggressive in his moves and not afraid of using his elbows. He scored nearly all his baskets after a back-to-the-basket turn around jump hook.

He connected this move with both hands after he always faked in the other direction before his turn. Seiferth showed also correct athletic abilities on an extremely powerful two handed dunk with the foul on the break. However, Seiferth seems to have still big problems with his mid-distance shot.  He could not connect one shot from around the key or make one free-throw during the whole tournament.

Seiferth will be with ALBA Berlin for the next three season and get a lot of minutes with the farm team. For joining the professionals already next season will be too early for him probably.

Thomas Schoeps (1m88 – PG – 1989 – ALBA Berlin)

Schoeps was the absolute leader of the ALBA team on the floor, on both ends. During the final, he did a good job in defense to limit Stuckey to 14 points only. Offensively, he lived a lot from his jump shots that he can hit from everywhere on the court. He is not afraid also to go up against defenders for the long range missile. And this despite a shot that looks perfectible as he takes it a bit from over his shoulder.

Schoeps has already a well developed body and looked “older” than the other guys on the court. On his drives, he sees the cutters but he is not a John-Stockton like assist collector. However, with his good developed body, Schoeps is present in rebounding. He collected 14 rebounds combined in the two games of the tournament.

In Part 2, I will talk about the players from Bonn/Rhöndorf and Breitengüssbach as well I give a short outlook on the players of the next generation (91 and 92 born)

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• ALBA Berlin defeated Breitengüssbach in a relatively poor semi-final behind the nice scoring effort of Thomas Schoeps
• The second semi-final has been won like last year by Team Urspring. The guys from Southern Germany started with an incredible 16-2 run which they managed until the end of the game
• The tropical weather in Langen made a really heavy atmosphere in the gym. Extremely high humidity and temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius impacted the games.
• Maurice Stuckey came up with the most impressive performance of the semi-finals. One day after his 18th birthday, Stuckey hit 8 three pointers to score 28pts, grabbed 9 rebounds and stole 4 balls.
• The awards of the NBBL season were for Christian Standhardinger (MVP), Mathias Perl (Best defender) and Kevin Bright (Best youngster, born in 1992 or before)
• Bonn had to play without Sascha Wahlbröhl because he was not ready after his injury. For Urpsring, Thierno Agne had his comeback after a long pause.
• Michigan recruit Robin Benzing was also in the gym. He controlled the tickets of the spectators…

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In 10 days, the NBBL Top4 tournament will be played in Langen. On the 31st of May and the 1st of June, the German U19 champion will be decided. And the first thing to remember is that three of the four semi-finalist have already been at this stage of the competition last season. But let’s check the teams in general.

The first semi-final will be played between ALBA Berlin and TSV Tröster Breitengüssbach. The team from the German capital, that is coached by former North Carolina player Henrik Rödl, had quite a clear victory in the quarter finals against their rival from Berlin, IBBA. The team is led by 1989 PG Thomas Schoeps who is the top scorer of the team in the games he played during the regular season. He gets support from big guy Andreas Seifferth who recently signed a 3 year contract with the ALBA pro team. 14.7ppg and 8 rebounds are the numbers that are speaking in favor of the 2m05 tall youngster. Additionally, U18 National team player Niels Giffey is in the supporting cast for the only newcomer team of the 2008 Top4 tournament.

The big surprise is however the qualification of Breitengüssbach. With the loss of Tim Ohlbrecht, Karsten Tadda and Sajmen Hauer, I did not see them as strong this season. However, the team managed to beat TV Langen in a heavily disputed quarter finals where no team won a game on their own court. Europeanprospects.com reader Kris sent us a few of his thoughts as the was in Langen for the decisive game.

Stefan Dinkel and Marco Völler were the two guys that lead their respective teams. Dinkel was always there in the big moments with the three pointers. Völler had some great plays but he was too tired at the end as the rest of the Langen team that did not substitute enough to be fresh in the money time. This was the key factor in the game in my opinion. Dimitry McDuffie was really in a bad day, but played 37 minutes while shooting 0/10 from behind the arc. Robin Benzing was ok in the first half but after that, nothing anymore from him and he was also in foul trouble so that he could not go hard in defense. Erik Land did a great job in the post but he did not get enough possessions. He finished the game with 18pts and 7/12 shots.

So can Breitengüssbach also go over ALBA and reach the final, something they could not do last year. I think their chances are there as they really seem to have a team with alternatives coming from the bench. And they can even win big games when one of their top players is having a total nightmare day.

The other semi-final will be a remake of last year’s game between Team Bonn/Rhöndorf and Team Urspring. And even the main players of both teams are still the same. Bonn/Rhöndorf is having in Fabian Thülig its all-around player that does everything on the court. He leads the team in scoring and in steals which shows his skills on both ends of the court. Long-distance shooter Sascha Walbröhl needs one of his better days in order to give a possibility to his team to put some pressure on the guards. The player to watch is however U18 National team center Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann who showed exceptional progress over the last year and is the team’s best rebounder and shotblocker.

The main favorite in my eyes is of course the defending champion: Team Urspring. Having lost their big guys since last year, the addition of Maurice Stuckey gives them even more potential in the backcourt. The emergence of Kevin Bright brings also more possibilities on the wing where the most dominant scorer of the team is still Christian Standhardinger. The PG duties are executed by Frank Wiseler and you have still guys like Akeem Vargas or Thierno Agne doing their job. I could continue with some more people just to show how incredibly deep the Urspring roster is this season. So, I don’t think anyone can stop them during this Top4 and the 1989 born generation can probably end their NBBL career with back to back champion titles. But still, the games have to be played and Bonn/Rhöndorf is known for their extraordinary team effort and defense so the game may become closer than one thinks.

I will be present in Langen on both days and cover the games extensively. If you need further info, feel free to contact me.

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• What a game for Christian Standhardinger this weekend with his German ProB team. 35pts, 12rebs and 8 assists for a 51 efficiency rating.
• Nicolas Batum also had one of his better games in a double overtime win for Le Mans. The French forward finished with 19pts and 9 assists.
• Jorn Steinbach, the 1989 born Belgian PG came up with a nice 25pts scoring effort to lead his team to a first victory in the Playoffs that would eventually bring Waregem to Division 1 in Belgium
• With some delay, FMP Zeleznik won the FMP Tournament last weekend in Belgrade in a highly disputed Final against Lietuvos Rytas. FMP forward Bojan Subotic was named MVP for leading his team to a perfect 4-0 record. He was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow FMP big man Dejan Musli, Montepaschi forward Nika Metreveli and the Partizan duo of Nemanja Jaramay and Aleksander Vlahovic. All the results and stats can be found here.
• With these results, we know now already 6 participants for the upcoming NIKE International Junior Tournament to be played at the Euroleague Final Four in Madrid in the beginning of May: Real Madrid (Hosts), Zalgiris Kaunas (Champions 2007), FC Barcelona, FMP Zeleznik, Lietuvos Rytas and Red Star Belgrade. Two wildcards will be distributed within the next weeks.

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Here is also a recap of the four series of the South teams in the NBBL. Here also, some surprises arrived and we also had some impressive individual performances.

The apparently the most uninteresting series before the start could have been the matchup between BBLZ Mittelhessen and Urspring. But the team from Giessen managed to go for a win against the academy team, the first ever loss of Urspring at home in the NBBL. With the return of Thierno Agne and Akeem Vargas and a lot of energy, Urspring destroyed Mittelhessen on Saturday behind an impressive performance of Christian Standhardinger who scored 37 and grabbed 22 rebounds (55 efficiency). Agne took care of the top scorer of the first game Benjamin Lischka and Maurice Stuckey added 15 points to the scoreboard.

The runner up of the Mitte Division MTV Kronberg had no problems to win against Basket-College Rhein Neckar in two games. The team around Jonathan Meshgna and Yannick Schicktanz that had the addition of Amil Klisura before the playoffs looks now like a serious contestant for the next round where they will probably play against Urspring.

BIS Speyer has to go to a decisive game at home against last year’s Final Four team Breitengüssbach. Elias Harris and Simon Schmitz came up with 22 respective 21 points but Erik Land looked like the king of the paint with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Land, who will play with the U18 National team in Mannheim is really improving this year and his performances in the NBBL and the ProB look promising. The shooters Daniel Leithner (5/7) and Stefan Dinkel (6/8) need to hit like that again next week in order to have a chance to qualify for the next round.

Favorite and Final Four organizer TV Langen cleared its series in two games against Bayern München. Robin Benzing is still playing in the cruising mode with 23pts in 29 minutes. Ruben Spoden helps out under the rim while Marco Völler missed along with the two PGs Kai and Nico Barth. With its complete roster, the team should be the favorite for the next round and qualify for its hometown Final Four competition.

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The last day of the regular season of the German U19 NBBL has been played last weekend. So it is time to check who were the best performers of the last weeks and see where is the top talent of the 1989 and younger German generation.

Matthias Hurst (1989 Center – 2m05 – BG Karlsruhe)

Maybe it can be considered as a surprise to see Hurst at the top of the Efficiency ranking. This can of course be explained by the reduced playing time of some of the top performers in the league like Harris or Standhardinger, but it is essentially the result of a very good improvement by the 2m05 tall inside player. Hurst is in fact a very consistent inside scorer. He never scored less than 11pts and went as high as 35 during the season. But his main gift is his rebounding where he averaged a huge 18.0rpg. He is in his last season to play NBBL so now he has to improve his physical abilities in order to see more playing time at the next level with the ProA team.

Tibor Pleiss (1989 Center – 2m08 – Köln 99ers)

Pleiss could only play 7 games in the NBBL this year. In the beginning of the season, he was only playing with the pro team but then joined the NBBL squad in order to improve their record. So he went for 7 games to show his great talent on the Center position and averaged 23.3ppg and 13.3rpg in just 30 minutes per game. Then he got injured in the worst moment as with the leave of some of the star players, he could get important minutes on the pro level.

Florian Trmal (1989 Forward – 1m94 – Bayer Leverkusen)

The big surprise of the season in my eyes. The Austrian forward started the season slowly in order to adapt to the new situation he faced. But then he started to play at an impressive level. He went even for an incredible career high efficiency rating of 55 against Hagen where he scored 32pts, grabbed 21rebs, stole 6 balls and even went for 3 rejections. However, Trmal is a bit short for playing the PF position, he has to develop a more consistent outside shot where he went only for 6/23 from behind the arc.

Maik Zirbes (1990 Center – 2m06 – TBB Trier)

The massive Center from Trier was fulfilling the high expectations that the officials had in him. Being one year younger than most of his opponents, but physically already very strong and heavy with about 120kg, Zirbes was the main offensive threat for his team with 22.0ppg. He got also selected for the U18 NT in order to play the Albert Schweitzer Turnier and he should also enter the professional team of TBB in the next weeks as his NBBL season is already over. He has one more year left to play NBBL, so he should be among the best performers next season.

Azeez Oladimeji (1989 Center – 2m08 – Oldenburg)

Oladimeji, who is originally from Nigeria only joined the German team this summer. But the least you can say is that he made some impact in the North. Being an All-Star, he showed impressive numbers over the regular season essentially based on well developed physical abilities. During the game where I scouted him, he had not a very impressive showing though being extremely raw on the offensive end and having no chance to stop faster players by defending them face to face. However, he is working extremely hard in the paint and his presence is making an impact on both ends of the floor.

Simon Schmitz (1990 Guard – 1m85 – BIS Speyer)

A very interesting player on the guard positions is the U18 National Team player Simon Schmitz. Having also been voted Youngster of the month of the ProB division, Schmitz is showing a lot of versatility on the court. Being listed as a SG, he is of course a very good shooter. However, he will probably move more into a PG as he is one of the best assist givers of the whole NBBL. 12.1ppg 6.5rpg 4.1apg and 2.9spg are the numbers that look very interesting for somebody who has another season to go in the U19 league.

Erik Land (1990 Forward – 2m04 – Breitengüssbach)

Another member of the U18 National team that is putting up interesting numbers in the NBBL is Erik Land from the Brose Baskets Bamberg farm team. 14.0ppg at 66.7% in just 24 minutes are already very good for the 17 year old forward who is also adding 9.8rpg. He should be one of the top performers of the Gemran U18 team this summer as he showed all his potential at the Onil Tournament a few weeks ago against top European nations.

I deliberately let away some players as they can already be considered too strong for the NBBL and only had limited playing time due to the huge domination of their teams. I speak essentially of Christian Standhardinger, Elias Harris or Robin Benzing. This list is also far from being representative as I could of course not see all the players so far. So I limited myself on the top performers of the 1989 as well as of the 1990 generation. I will come up with more information about different players as soon as the playoffs go ahead and of course I will be attending the Final Four of the NBBL that will be played on the 31st May and 1st of June.

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• Ricky Rubio is still amazing (13pts 5rebs 5asts 2stls), even if his team lost this weekend against local rivals Barcelona. However, he had a very special move to score against the whole Barcelona defense.
• Predrag Samardziski came up with a huge statistical effort this week in the Adriatic League. He destroyed Geoplin Slovan with 19pts (8/11), 11rebs and 4 blocks for a total evaluation of 31. A good rebound after some ups and downs over the last weeks for him.
• It is always nice to see how some of the more unknown young prospects are doing. For example Jorn Steinbach who excelled with the Belgian U18 team last summer in the European Championship of the B Division. He is actually getting serious minutes with his team Waregem in the 2nd Belgian league. Not only that the team is actually first of the division, Steinbach is also putting some scoring on the table with 9.4ppg. Other interesting Belgians in the lower divisions are for example Lorenzo Giancaterino (1990) who is averaging 16.4ppg in the third division or Jean-Marc Mwema (1989) who scores 13.2ppg on that level for a moving up candidate.
• A career game for Alexis Ajinca this weekend in the national broadcasted game against Nicolas Batum’s Le Mans. The skinny seven footer from Hyères-Toulon finished the game with 11pts 8rebs and 3blks in just 15 minutes on the court. Without having seen him play so far this season, one thing I want to mention is that he did not take one three-point shot since the first week of the season. Maybe DX selection as “Who’s not” in their excellent weekly recap motivated Alexis to show what he can do on the court
• The Clash in the German ProB between the two best scorers of the 1989 generation between Elias Harris (Speyer) and Christian Standhardinger (Ehingen/Urspring) ended with an overtime victory for the the team of Ehingen. And it was the awaited scoring festival of both standouts. Standhardinger came up with a crazy 26pts at 10/15 shooting assorted with 9rebs, 2asts and 2stls while Harris was not that lucky in his shooting but finished however with 24pts (8/19) and 12rebs. PG Frank Wiseler had also an interesting performance with 13pts and 9asts (one of them to find the open player for the overtime buzzer).
• To continue in Germany, the NBBL U19 league features some huge statistic efforts this weekend with two great performances by two young players. To start with, I want to talk about the Austrian forward Florian Trmal (who was not selected for the All-Star game which was totally not understandable). The powerful and athletic forward totally destroyed the actual vice-champion Phoenix Hagen with 32pts 21rebs 6stls and 3blks to finish with an astonishing 55 evaluation. This was not a once in a lifetime performance for the 1989 born forward as he is actually averaging 21.1ppg and 14.8rpg. Another huge show this weekend came from Trier’s Maik Zirbes who lead his team to an important road victory with 38pts and 19rebs with a 47 evaluation. In a recent interview, Zirbes also informed us that during the tournament series he played with Urpsring in the States over Christmas, he got a scholarship offer from the University of Miami (ACC). However, he will stay in Trier at least until 2009 to finish his school. Since the professional team changed their head coach, Zirbes is also practicing 3-4 times a week under Coach Yves Defraigne who is particularly working hard with the Centers and the youngsters.

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