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Germany men's national basketball team

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File:Dirk nowitzki.jpeg
Dirk Nowitzki is the current star of the Germany national basketball team.

The Germany national basketball team represents Germany in international basketball matches.

As of 2005, the biggest successes were victory in the European Championship of 1993 at home in Germany, the silver medal in the 2005 European Championships and the bronze medal in the 2002 World Championship.

History

See also: West Germany national basketball team

Until the German reunification in 1990, the team played as the West Germany national basketball team. (Basketball was not a popular sport in East Germany). In decades of competitive basketball, West Germany never had much success, partly also because in that time, the NBA made it near-impossible for German internationals to play in both their NBA teams and the national team. For this reason, important players like Detlef Schrempf, Uwe Blab or Christian Welp often were unavailable in big tournaments.

The win of the 1993 European Championship at home in Germany, thanks to superb clutch play of tournament MVP Welp (who had returned from the USA), came totally unexpected. The team won the election to "Team of the Year" by the German press. There was a huge wave of enthusiasm, but arguably due to lack of infrastructure and professionalism, tangible results were rare. German basketball stayed in the shadows, the next generation of youth shunning the native league while being glued to the NBA with Michael Jordan. The national team never came close to repeat the success.

But then, German basketball got a lucky break when a lanky youth called Dirk Nowitzki tried his luck with the Dallas Mavericks and became a superstar. He created new enthusiasm for basketball in Germany, and in his slipstream, the national team had a renaissance.

In 2001, Germany played Turkey and was one second away from the final, when Turkey nailed a buzzer beater to send the game into overtime. Turkey won, and demoralized Germany lost the small final and ended an unlucky fourth.

However, success at last came in 2002, when Nowitzki inspired Germany to win the bronze medal in the 2002 World Championships. Nowitzki was also named MVP of this tourney.

One year later, however, the team suffered its worst setback in years. In the Eurobasket 2003, which was also the qualifier for the 2004 Olympic Games, the talented, but inexperienced team blundered through a tournament, blowing late-game leads with appalling anti-clutch play. Germany was eliminated early and failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Before the Eurobasket 2005, the expectations were not too high. The German roster was depleted by injury, and remembering the disaster of two years ago, nobody dared to dream of a medal. However, an inspired Dirk Nowitzki powered the team into the finals, eliminating favourites like Spain and Slovenia on its way. In the finals the team was blown out by Greece, but Nowitzki was named MVP again, and the team won the election to "Team of the Year" by the German press again.


Notes

In Germany, professional basketball is known for creating a slew of players whose parents or grandparents are immigrants. The national team routinely uses many players who have roots in Africa, Eastern Europe, America or others, but have grown up in Germany, speak fluent German and are native Germans by law. The last point is especially important, as the new FIBA rules prevent the use of more than one "naturalized" citizen per country. Famous examples of these allochtone players are:

  • African-German: Stephan Arigbabu, Misan Nikagbatse, Ademola Okulaja
  • American-German: Robert Garrett, Stefano Garris, Demond Greene, Marvin Willoughby
  • Balkan-German: Stipo Papic, Marko Pesic, Drazan Tomic
  • Canadian-German: Michael Jackel
  • Turkish-German: Teoman Öztürk, Mithat Demirel

While most German players develop through the club system, several players over the years have played U.S. college basketball. Past and present national team players who have done so include:

Famous players

Centers

Forwards

Guards

Current squad

Position Player Current Club
Guard Mithat Demirel Beşiktaş
Guard Robert Garrett GHP Bamberg
Guard Johannes Herber ALBA Berlin
Guard Pascal Roller Deutsche Bank Skyliners
Guard Guido Grünheid RheinEnergie Cologne
Guard Steffen Hamann GHP Bamberg
Forward Demond Greene ALBA Berlin
Forward Jan-Hendrik Jagla
Forward Dirk Nowitzki Dallas Mavericks
Forward Ademola Okulaja Khimki
Forward Sven Schultze Armani Jeans Milano
Forward Julian Sensley
Center Patrick Femerling Panathinaikos
Center Robert Maras
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