Main Blogs

I AM GOING TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES!!!

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:42:41 GMT

I AM GOING TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES!!!

Unfortunately that also means that this will be my last blog since it is forbidden by the Olympic committee to publish any personal accounts of what is going on in the Olympic village, but I hope you will forgive me for still deciding to go. With all that in mind let’s look at how I got there and what lies ahead of us in Beijing, China.

Let's start with a huge dance at half court and a big celebration that was well deserved after six days of intense basketball. It was done, the German national team is going to China and that is well deserved. It was a huge relief for everyone and joy overcame everyone on the bench and especially on the court when we finally realized our dream of being a participant in the Olympic Games. We had just watched the Croatian team celebrate the night before, while we had to play another game to realize our dream and from that low of losing the first available spot, the high of finally making it was twice as big. Some of the guys have waited 12 years and three Olympics to finally become part of an elite group called the Olympic Athletes.

The road to this final ticket was tough. We faced and beat a very good Brazilian team in the quarterfinals and then unfortunately lost a heartbreaker to Croatia, who was playing some phenomenal basketball and well deserves to go to the Olympics. Greece on the other hand dominated the competition and is also a team that does not only deserve to go, but will also become an instant favorite to win an Olympic medal. The only ironic thing is that in the end of the Tournament, the same teams qualified that would have been in the Olympics if you would have just let the top six seeds of the European championships go directly. But oh well, not my job. It was a great experience either way to fight for a spot and succeed.

Looking ahead of what awaits us in Beijing, I can only start to smile, because even though we are a part of one of the toughest groups you can imagine, we will be living in the Olympic Village, we will meet people from all over the world and we will walk into the Olympic Stadium as participants right behind the German flag. The food I am sure will be notoriously bad and the rooms tiny, but all that will only be a side note to seeing all the great competitions and just being a part of the greatest event in sports. I know especially in basketball there are other huge events every year, like the Euroleague Final Four or even the European Championships for that matter, but this event is so global and monumental that everything else just shrinks in comparison. I am just as excited for our own competition as I am to see others compete in almost every sport for Olympic medals.

Favorites USA, Spain and Greece all will play in our group and that is a big piece of work, even host China, and a...

Busy summer points to great 2008-09 season!

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:29:53 GMT

Here comes my second take about the goings-on during what is already a busy summer in European basketball. As some national teams are getting ready for the Olympics, we on the German team are still trying to qualify after the first stage of the qualifier has finished here in Athens. At the same time, all the Euroleague teams - including my own, Joventut Badalona - are building their rosters with anticipation of the the first group stage in the Euroleague. After last week's draw, everyone knows their opponents and is trying to manage their teams accordingly. So the stage is set for a great start to the 2008-09 season here in Europe.

As for the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament, going on right now here in Greece, I think that the group stage has been a success. The hotel is, as always, a fun place to be, because you get to see old friends and teammates. The German team has a late-night poker game in the lobby and everyone is complaining about the terrible food, just like at every other tournament any summer. It's always a big event, where of course winning takes center stage, but seeing people that you have not seen in a while comes a close second. Once again, the favorites out of every group have come out on top, and with that the European teams have shown their dominance once again. The home team from Greece has been most impressive as everyone probably expected; their full court press and balanced offense has looked almost unstoppable at times. The other two group leaders, Slovenia and Croatia, have also impressed the critics. My team, Germany, started the tournament very well, too. We have shown that we are contenders for the Olympic spots by taking first place in our group, as well; we won our first two games by 20+ points and have earned the right to play a very good Brazilian team in the quarterfinals on Friday to stay alive in this competition. We're still trying to make our newest addition, Chris Kaman, part of the team and are succeeding a little more every game, since he is fast becoming a part of the team, on and off the court. We now have a very good team that is still led by a very impressive Dirk Nowitzki, but has lots of other players who make big contributions to our wins. The only thing that counts this summer is the Olympic Games and we are still working hard on that goal for the next few days. All it takes is two more wins against some of the best national teams in the world to earn a spot in Beijing next month.

First and foremost, the Euroleague has its groups for the upcoming season and I truly believe that we at Joventut find ourselves in a group that gives us the chance to qualify for the next round. Of course, we face European powerhouses like Tau Ceramica, Virtus Roma and Fenerbace, but that is a given in any group. After all, it is the toughest competition in Europe. For me personally, the group has a big treat, as again I will be playing against my home team Alba Berlin. Last year I had the fortune of playing them in the ULEB Cup and now I get to play them again in the Euroleague group stage, so I am thrilled to get another chance to play in front of my family and friends. The O2 World will be ready for next season and will be a special place for Berlin. Most of the professional teams of Berlin will play there and it already has its first major European event scheduled with the Final Four at the end of...

Chasing the Olympic dream before my Euroleague debut

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:41:23 GMT

Fresh off our ULEB cup season, I am honored to have been asked to give everyone who is interested a little bit of an insight to what goes on behind the scenes of not only a club but also a national team. This summer is one of the most exciting ones of my life because not only do I still have the chance to become an Olympic games participant with the German national team, but I will also start into my first Euroleague season personally and with my team Joventut Badalona who is looking to leave our mark on the Euroleague and Spanish ACB after the most successful season for the club in many years. Even though we will have a completely new team and coach we are looking forward to picking up where we left off and being a contender in the Euroleague.

This year in particular will be electrifying and new for me since I have played the FIBA cup, the ULEB cup and will now for the first time be a part of the Euroleague. In a year where the Final Four will be played not only in my home country, but in the brand new O2 arena which is located in my home town of Berlin. Even though we are a young team which has yet to be fully formed, I believe with an aggressive style of basketball which we have been playing in the past year we can be a contender to play in the Final Four and in that I could fulfill my dream of playing in the Euroleague in front of my friends and family.

But all that is still far in the future for me and my teammates on the German national team, we just got done with training camp in Mallorca where practice might have been the hardest in years but is what we need to compete for a spot in the Olympics. Not only has our star Dirk Nowitzki been with us for the first time in a camp setting, but everybody came prepared since the turnaround from the season has been rather short for everyone. For most Germans the beautiful Spanish island is more of a vacation destination but for us it has become a place of work and team bonding, every year we have a few newcomers who make these camps a little more bearable for the rest of us, one year for example the performance of “Take Me Home Country Roads” could have easily been mistaken for a bad performance on American idol in other years there are small dares that catch everyone’s attention and turn a week of hard work into a fun time with the guys. At the end of the week the team always ends up a lot closer and a lot more ready to take on the schedule that is ahead of us. Our biggest weapon for years now has been team unity and the love of the game, no matter how long a tournament is or how far we are away from home problems within the team have never surfaced.

I have been with the national team for some time now and even though I was a young prospect when I first started out I finally became a part of the team. Last year I was able to become part of the...