Germany NT

[Dizz]

Really interesting...

who do you think will make up the rest of the roster then guys?

[madmax]

Dirk could drag this german team to any place really...maybe not to a golden medal match, but bronze is not out of reach for you guys. Never underestimate the heart of NBA champion

[thespywhozaggedme]

Are you Germexican?

Heavy discussion on our german basketball board about
Chris Kaman.

On one side, i understand many people who are criticizing the naturalization of Kaman on the other side, we have a big dark hole on the center position. (except Pleiss - who didnt progress so well this year).

Harris wont be with our national team this year, He wants to recover his shoulder? injury.

I really dont know what to expect from our team this year.
Nowitzki alone is able to carry us to the quarterfinals.

But we definitely lack of quality players in our roster (international standard)
We lost vs Angola at the WC. They really choked.

The good thing is with Nowitzki at the EC, for the other guys its way more easier to produce solid numbers, so i hope they will raise their level in comparison to the WC.

Im really delighted and looking forward to this years competition and i hope we can reach a positive result. Not particulary a good ranking, but some great games and some progress of our youngsters who havent made this big step forward, that we have expected last year.

But, Nowitzki is the KING

[JuJu]

Should i change the flag for you?

Dizz:

Roster should be something like this:

Hamann/Schaffartzik (Günther)
Schwethelm/ (Herber)
Benzing (Zwiener)
Nowitzki/Jagla (Ohlbrecht)
Kaman/Pleiss

Theres no doubt about these guys without brackets. Günther is a undersized PG, quick, with some nice offensive skills.
Herber had always troubles with injuries, several cruciate ruptures. But a solid season with Tübingen, without injuries. Solid, hard workiing guy.
Zwiener had his breakthrough season, he was several years in Berlin but the coaches never trust him or not really.
Imho he had a better season than Benzing and would start him instead if Benzing but with Coach Bauermann
Ohlbrecht a talented guy but there are rumours that its more likely to see him in a bar than in the gym
Pleiss, with a good size fora C, with a nice shooting touch, played a lot in Bamberg and hes still young, but i guess people in Germany expected a bit more or expected that me improves faster.

I really like Schwethelm he flew a bit under the radar, because the people talked more about Benzing, Pleiss and Harris, but he had an outstanding season and raised his level. He can also play SF.

So watch out for Schwethelm...(measured on german standards )

[MD11]

u guys obviously have a shot at it with dirk. i dont wanna be sounding naive but he might just do what has never been done before and turn a european tournament into a one-man game. if it's not turkey let it be dirk... i mean germany, who wins the title.

[pivx]

With Dirk and Chris Germany is a medal contender for sure. Other players are good but they are nothing compared with other NT. Without Dirk Germany is not in top 12...

[Mindozas]

If not a tough draw - I'd bet that Germans will be in Top8 atleast, but now... There wouldn't be much of surprise if they wouldn't even make it to next stage of competition... Tough I believe they will, but still won't make it to the quarterfinals

[wardjdim]

In the first two groups and then in group E, it is very difficult to make predictions. First of all, it's the chemistry of each team, the schedule, the possible irrelevant or random results in the first 2-3 gamedays and the rather similar level of teams, which in different occasions can create different game plans and thus outcomes

The level of group B, for example, with Serbia being the main favorite (where we know the roster more or less, but we don't know if some players who didn't have a good season, will be in form), France the 2nd best (where we don't know if Noah is playing or not) and then Germany (similar team to the past two summers, where team spirit was great, but talent not enough and then they get back Dirk and Kaman) and Italy (big questionmark, lack of key role players, as well as no PG, Gallinari never having played for the NT) is relevant

Similarly to last summer, a Teodosic and Krstic-less Serbia lost to a Dirk-less and Kaman-less Germany in one of the biggest shocks of the 1st round in Turkey. This proves the team spirit and willingness of Germany but it also proves that the 1st round (and in general non-knock out matches) are tough to predict

[JuJu]

Team chemistry in our national team is always good.

I always try to be realistic and imho as we defeated that serbian team, they fully underestimated us or/and they didnt take us seriously.
We lost a few games later vs Angola (no disrespect).

If our youngsters tap their full potential, then and only then we have some chances for Top 5 or Top 6 imho.

If not we have two high class players who are able to deliver like a pizza delivery man, but then from PG to SF (S5 and Backups) ad PF to C (Back ups) we have only borderline player (EC teams and teams that fail to qualify).

So its almost anything possible but i dont trust in our youngsters atm and in our coach. I mean i like his personality, he always speaks slowly, deliberate and more or less often with some nice kind of humour.
In an interview he said to the reporter (the question was; how likely it is that Dirk plays for Bayern Munich). "Its equally likeley that one of us two has a date with Heidi Klum" in his dry manner. Really cool.

He won several championships in Germany but with powerhouses, so nothing special. Hes a brilliant motivator, teaches good defense, but come on our offense is so awful. They try to create something, when Dirk is double teamed and any of these other four tries to attack the basket desperatly or knock down a difficult jumper.

[TB-Fan]

It will be tough for Germany to come out of their group with Serbia, Italy and France. Even Israel is not bad team. Then next group stage will be even more difficult. Dirk is the best european player but I can't believe germany can make QF. Competition is to strong IMO

[thespywhozaggedme]

Huh? No, I was just curious. There's a long history of German immigrants in Mexico, from the famous cattle ranching family the Green's in northern Mexico, to the Mennonite population. Just thought that it was interesting, that's all.

Should i change the flag for you?

Dizz:

Roster should be something like this:

Hamann/Schaffartzik (Günther)
Schwethelm/ (Herber)
Benzing (Zwiener)
Nowitzki/Jagla (Ohlbrecht)
Kaman/Pleiss

Theres no doubt about these guys without brackets. Günther is a undersized PG, quick, with some nice offensive skills.
Herber had always troubles with injuries, several cruciate ruptures. But a solid season with Tübingen, without injuries. Solid, hard workiing guy.
Zwiener had his breakthrough season, he was several years in Berlin but the coaches never trust him or not really.
Imho he had a better season than Benzing and would start him instead if Benzing but with Coach Bauermann
Ohlbrecht a talented guy but there are rumours that its more likely to see him in a bar than in the gym
Pleiss, with a good size fora C, with a nice shooting touch, played a lot in Bamberg and hes still young, but i guess people in Germany expected a bit more or expected that me improves faster.

I really like Schwethelm he flew a bit under the radar, because the people talked more about Benzing, Pleiss and Harris, but he had an outstanding season and raised his level. He can also play SF.

So watch out for Schwethelm...(measured on german standards )

[Xristos]

Any update on this team?

Demond Greene? Wysocki? Staigger?

[Trifilli]

Demond Greene won't be on the team, he'll rest after his long injury.

After De Mello and Giffey were sent home these are the remaining 16 guys:

PG Steffen Hamann
PG/SG Heiko Schaffartzik
PG Per Günther
SG Lucca Staiger
SG Johannes Herber
SF Robin Benzing
SF/SG Philipp Schwethelm
SF Philip Zwiener
SF Konrad Wysocki
PF Dirk Nowitzki
PF Jan-Hendrik Jagla
PF/SF Sven Schultze
PF/C Tim Ohlbrecht
C Chris Kaman
C Tibor Pleiß
C Chis McNaughton


The 8 guys in bold should be sure. 9th should be Ohlbrecht (over McNaughton), 10th definately one out of Staiger (most likely) / Herber, to cover the weak SG position (where Schwethelm will help out most likely).
If Bauermann wants to have 3 PGs on the team, then Günther should be Nr. 11, although his body is just not made for this level.
Nr. 12 should be a question between experience (Schultze), the better season (Zwiener) or chosing another pure SG (Herber/Staiger). I doubt that Wysocki will make the team...

[Italian Pride]

dirk and kaman have joined the rest of team?

[Mindozas]

dirk and kaman have joined the rest of team?

Yes, they did