European Prospects

The German U19 League NBBL has reached the end of the first half of the season 2010/2011 last weekend. As the NBBL All-Star game is approaching (22nd January 2011 at 17h00 in Trier ), we take a look at the most effective players of the season so far in terms of statistical production.

But first of all, let’s mention the overall situation in the League. The Northwest division is once again dominated by the Top4 team Paderborn Baskets who remain undefeated this season, even when playing some of their games without the Wendt-twins. Behind them, Eisbären Bremerhaven reaches the second spot despite the loss of some major players last summer. Oldenburg, Phoenix Hagen and Bonn/Rhöndorf most likely will fight for the 3rd and 4th spot.

The Northeast Division is really balanced as so far Funkwerk Jena is at the top with only one defeat followed by four teams competing for the three other Play-off spots. Braunschweig and ALBA Berlin look to be the stronger ones but Central Hoops and IBBA Berlin will try to reach the Play-offs as well. The Mitte Division has an undefeated leader in LTi 46ers Giessen which comes a bit as a surprise because they have lost their two strongest individualities this summer. However, an excellent first NBBL season by the 1994 born Dominic Lockhart and good team effort gives them the lead in front of the traditional force Breitengüssbach. Trier, Eintracht Frankfurt, SG Rheinhessen and Basket College Rhein-Neckar are still in the race for the 3rd and 4th spot.

The South Division is traditionally dominated by the Team ALBA Urspring. The defending champion is so far unbeaten and tops the ranking. Ulm and Ludwigsburg look like sure Play-off teams at the moment while Speyer and Bayern München most likely fight for the fourth spot.

The NBBL League office announced already the coaches for the All-Star game in January. After having been an All-Star Coach for three seasons in a row, ALBA Urspring’s Felix Czerny gets a pause this season so that the South team will be coached by Filip Piljanovic from Giessen and Rainer Bauer from Ulm. The North team will be headed by Artur Gacaev (Paderborn) and Frank Müller who is the head coach of Jena.

The EuropeanProspects.com Vote

The official selections for the 20 All-Stars will be announced in the coming weeks but Europeanprospects.com goes for an imaginary vote on the players that we would invite for the 1st main event of the NBBL Season 2010-2011.

Team North

• Guards: Lars Wendt (Paderborn), Ole Wendt (Paderborn), Martin Bogdanov (Central Hoops), Sebastian Fülle (ALBA Berlin)
• Forwards: Jan König (Oldenburg), Thomas Reuter (Hagen), Stephan Haukohl (Jena)
• Centers: Daniel Theis (Braunschweig), Johannes Voigtmann (Jena), Maurice Pluskota (Bremerhaven)

Team South

• Guards: Dominic Lockhart (Giessen 46ers), Patrick Heckmann (SG Rheinhessen), Besnik Bekteshi (BBA Ludwigsburg)
• Forwards: Johannes Richter (Breitengüssbach), Bill Borekambi (TBB Trier), Julius Wolf (ALBA Urspring), Kevin Bright (ALBA Urspring)
• Centers: Javon Baumann (Giessen 46ers), Andreas Wenzl (Ulm), Philipp Neumann (Breitengüssbach)

The Stat-Leaders

Top-scorers

1. Patrick Heckmann (SG Rheinhessen) 28.6ppg
2. Martin Bogdanov (Central Hoops) 25.7ppg
3. Thomas Reuter (Hagen) 25.4ppg
4. Bill Borekambi (TBB Trier) 25.4ppg
5. Daniel Theis (Braunschweig) 24.8ppg
6. Lars Wendt (Paderborn) 24.8ppg
7. Florian Koch (Bonn/Rhöndorf) 24.6ppg
8. Sidney Grosse Kleinmann (Tübingen) 22.6ppg
9. Till-Joscha Jönke (Leverkusen) 21.6ppg
10. Tim Kasper (Bonn/Rhöndorf) 21.2ppg

Other notables: Dominic Lockhart (LTi 46ers Giessen-1994) 17.0ppg, Paul Zipser (BCRN-1994) 16.0ppg

No major surprise for the top-scorer of the League in Patrick Heckmann who shows once again what a great scoring talent he is. The same goes for Martin Bogdanov who has during the previous seasons already displayed excellent scoring qualities.

Rebounders

1. Jonathan Maier (Ludwigsburg) 14.0rpg
2. Johannes Voigtmann (Jena) 12.9rpg
3. Maurice Pluskota (Bremerhaven) 12.3rpg
4. Javon Baumann (LTi 46ers Giessen) 11.8rpg
5. Daniel Theis (Braunschweig) 11.8

The top rebounders are a bit more surprising as Jonathan Maier and Johannes Voigtmann are two players that have not been on the radar recently. Maier ahs grown a few centimeters from last season to be now close to 2m10 tall, Voigtmann only started to play Basketball three seasons ago after being a Handball player.

Assists

1. Dennis Schröder (Braunschweig) 7.0apg
2. Martin Bogdanov (Central Hoops) 5.7apg
3. Ole Wendt (Paderborn) 5.3apg
4. Till-Joscha Jönke (Leverkusen) 4.8apg
5. Alexander Blessig (Bayern München) 4.8apg

The 1993 born Dennis Schröder tops the league in assists which puts his name on the board as well. He gets some minutes on ProB level as well and got selected for the U18 NT this winter.

Block Shots

1. Daniel Theis (Braunschweig) 3.6bpg
2. Christian Fischer (Artland Dragons) 2.8bpg
3. Jonathan Maier (Ludwigsburg) 2.3bpg
4. Bogdan Radosavljevic (Bayern München) 2.2bpg
5. Frederik Lothar Jörg (Oldenburg) 2.1bpg

The vertical Daniel Theis is not a major surprise at the top of the Shot-blocker listing. The absence of Philipp Neumann here can be explained by the little number of games that the German Center played with the NBBL team this season.

Steals

1. Lars Wendt (Paderborn) 5.0spg
2. Martin Bogdanov (Central Hoops) 4.6spg
3. Ole Wendt (Paderborn) 4.3spg
4. Finn Hübner (Bramfeld) 3.9spg
5. Tobias Horn (IBBA Berlin) 3.9spg

Lars Wendt topping the steals ranking is not a major surprise as the Paderborn guard can be considered as one of the best defenders on the outside positions in Germany. He showed this already, together with his twin brother on ProA level as well.

Efficiency Rating

1. Daniel Theis (Braunschweig) 35.0epg
2. Patrick Heckmann (SG Rheinhessen) 29.0epg
3. Martin Bogdanov (Central Hoops) 28.0epg
4. Julius Wolf (ALBA Urspring) 27.6epg (best 1993 born)
5. Thomas Reuter (Hagen) 27.2epg
6. Bill Borekambi (TBB Trier) 25.4epg
7. Johannes Voigtmann (Jena) 25.4epg
8. Jonathan Maier (Ludwigsburg) 24.3epg
9. Till-Joscha Jönke (Leverkusen) 23.2epg
10. Till Gloger (Paderborn) 23.0epg

Best 1994 born: Dominic Lockhart (LTi 46ers Giessen) 20.8epg

The most efficient player of the League is Daniel Theis. If you score a lot of points, with excellent shooting percentages, grab double-digit rebound and are the best shot-blocker, this is not a major surprise. Theis averaged in the 5 games he played in the first half of the season 24.8ppg (66.2% FGs – 67.6% FTs), 11.8rpg, 2.4apg, 2.0spg, 3.6bpg and 2.2topg. Patrick Heckmann comes second with a double-double average of 28.6ppg and 10.7rpg while adding 2.3apg and 1.4bpg but 3.6topg. Martin Bogdanov plays an overall very interesting season showing that he is more than a scoring threat as he averages impressive numbers: 25.7ppg, 5.7rpg, 5.7apg, 4.6spg and 3.4topg.

The most effective 1993 born player is Urspring’s Julius Wolf with 19.1ppg, 11.6rpg, 2.4apg and 2.4spg. The best 1994 born player is Dominic Lockhart from Giessen.The 1m93 tall guard averages 17.0ppg, 7.0rpg, 2.6apg and 2.2spg.