11 Kostja Kalonda Didier MUSHIDI (Germany)
07/04/2016
David Hein's Eye on the Future
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Germany take important step with Albert Schweitzer Tournament victory

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Germany is attracting a lot of attention for the talent development going on in the country. The whole program took an important step forward by winning the 2016 Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) - and especially clinching their first-ever AST title as favourites.

An absolutely-loaded German team went undefeated at the biennial U18 international invitational, winning their first six games by an average of 27 points before knocking off Serbia for a second time within four days in the final 70-65.

Winning the game against the Serbs was an important test for Harald Stein's German side. Not only did the Serbian team feature players who had played in the last two title games of Adidas Next Generation Tournaments - so they knew what it takes to win. But more importantly, despite developing talent, Germany really haven’t been able to get winning results.

The German juniors, for example, have not placed better than seventh at the FIBA U18 European Championship since 1992. And the last top-four finish came in 1986. They were even in Division B at the U18s in 2013 and 2014.

Since returning to Division A at the FIBA U16 European Championship level in 2009, Germany only have one top-five finish (2012). The country’s 1999 generation is widely regarded as having a couple of highly-ranked talents, but not even a group featuring Isaac BongaNelson Weidemann and Philipp Herkenhoff was enough to get Germany a spot in this summer’s 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship.

Weidemann and Herkenhoff were on the Germany team at the AST and both played a strong role in helping the hosts win the tournament. Bonga was on hand for the entire event but did not play with an injury. Also missing from the team was Isaiah Hartenstein, the athletic low post player with Zalgiris Kaunas who was ruled out with an injury.

It’s really a shame for the team that Bonga and Hartenstein were not able play in Mannheim. They will likely be critical parts of the Germany squad at this summer’s 2016 FIBA U18 European Championship in Samsun, Turkey. And the AST would have been a great opportunity for Coach Stein to figure out who takes which roles in the team.

There are a lot of strong personalities within the team – let’s say that instead of saying egos. And seeing how they all fit together will go a long way to Germany’s chances in Samsun.   

GER vs SER 80:67 #AST2016 #koerbefuerD

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This Germany group can do everything - play up-tempo or pound it inside; go into the block or shoot it from long range; play big or small. Adding Bonga and Hartenstein will give the team even more weapons. And Germany are a mis-match nightmare for opponents, especially once the players really learn to be winners.

That’s why the Germans winning the Albert Schweitzer Tournament was so important. They finally won a big game when it really mattered.  

And actually it almost didn’t happen in Mannheim.

Germany were leading in the final 67-53 with more than six minutes left. But then the hosts went ice cold, watching Serbia go on a 12-0 run to pull within 67-65 inside the final minute. Germany looked like they would once again fail to come through despite having great talent.

But German guard Kostja Mushidi stepped up and showed why he was named the MVP of the tournament by hitting a huge layup with 29 seconds to play – snapping a 5:45-minute scoreless drought to secure the win.

The team even got a message from German star Dirk Nowitzki ahead of the final.

In addition to missing the chance to integrate Bonga and Hartenstein, it would have been good for the Germans to play Italy in the tournament – the Italians were undefeated in group play but then lost to Serbia in overtime in the Semi-Finals before easing to third place.

Borisa Simanic ('98) with the game-winner in semifinals against Italy. Great game solved in overtime.

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A test against Italy would have been good because Andrea Capobianco’s team is extremely disciplined with excellent point guard play. It would have been good for Germany to experience defending a patient team for a good 20 seconds on a regular basis – something they will undoubtedly have to do in the U18 Euros tournament.

All-in-all, there was the clear emergence of Mushidi and Richard Freudenberg as leaders of this team – both having played last summer at the 2015 FIBA U18 European Championship, along with Hartenstein.

Oscar Leon da Silva proved that his strong season in the German U19 NBBL league has been for real with a strong all-around performance on the wing. Herkenhoff still is a bit passive on the court but he began to come out of his shell. And Bennet Hundt showed his game is much bigger than his height with some nice numbers (6.6 points, 2.9 assists, 1.9 rebounds, 1.1 steals in 23 minutes).

Germany also showcased their depth all tournament along with their reserves scoring 49.8 percent of the team’s points – second in the tournament to only Australia’s 50.3 percent of the points coming from the bench.

Stein still has more than three months to work with his team and players before the FIBA U18 European Championship, which tips off on July 30. But Germany will be one of the heavy favourites going into the tournament.

Germany have never qualified for the FIBA U19 World Championship and for that the team would need to finish in the top five in Turkey this summer. Stein drew some raised eyebrows in Deutschland in the build-up to the Albert Schweitzer Tournament when he said he’d like to win the U18 European Championship.

That kind of talk and confidence is quite uncommon in the world of German national team basketball. Yet it’s exactly the correct approach for the Germans to take given the talent level.

Sure, there are some questions that still need to be answered, but the Albert Schweitzer Tournament did provide a few important answers to some other concerns for Germany.

David Hein

FIBA

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David Hein

David Hein

Walk into the media tribune of any major basketball event and there's a good chance you will come across David Hein. Having covered dozens of FIBA events, including numerous women's and youth events, there are few players Dave doesn't know about, and few players who don't know him. His sporting curiosity means he is always looking to unearth something new and a little bit special. David Hein's Eye on the Future is a weekly column digging out the freshest basketball talent worldwide and assessing what the basketball landscape will look like a couple of years down the line.