The German national basketball team qualifies early for the round of 16 of the Eurobasket, despite a tough group with defending champion Slovenia and Olympic finalist France. After three successes at the start, there is great hope that 29 years after the only major title and 17 years after the last international medal so far, it will be back at the top. In an interview with ntv.de, former national player Per Günther reveals why the home European Championship is going surprisingly well, why he still sees room for improvement in the DBB team and who his tournament favorite is. And which German leaves him incredulous.
ntv.de: Before the Eurobasket, it was said that this was the best-occupied European Championship that has ever existed - with Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the winners of the four most recent NBA MVP awards are there, France won Olympic silver last year , Spain is the reigning world champion - and yet the German national team is slowly beginning to have the aura of a title contender after three wins at the start. What has happened there?
Per Günther: First of all, the most important thing is that Daniel Theis came along. [Because of knee problems, his participation was questionable until shortly before the tournament started; Editor's note]. Otherwise it would have been thin on the big positions. But as it is, the first five that is now on the field would also be the first five if everyone were there. Maybe with the exception of Maxi Kleber, who would then start for Joe Voigtmann, but otherwise this really represents the best that Germany has to offer.
Nevertheless, the DBB selection was previously considered an outsider, why is perception changing?
It was assumed that Dennis [Schröder] and Franz [Wagner] would definitely play at a high level and then we'll see who else is there - that the first game starts and everyone you were hoping for they find their way into the tournament, are there from the moment they play, you can't explain that. But you definitely take it with you with a kiss on your hand. In addition, Dennis still has room for improvement, especially when it comes to the field throw rate. And that you still don't beat the teams in any way, don't have the feeling afterwards "Oh, today we scored an incredible one" or something crazy happened, but rather have the feeling that Germany was simply the better team in all three games: That is amazing then. That was not to be expected. But there is no single reason for this.
In fact, Dennis Schröder is playing a good tournament, but he is still looking for his throw, so far the three-pointer has hardly happened. Success in recent years has often largely depended on his performance. Now he doesn't have to be the sole entertainer anymore - and seems to be absorbed in this role, doesn't it?
The big question is: How does he deal with it when the ball is no longer in his hands so much? And he couldn't handle it better. Because he uses that, now has extra energy, to defend even harder, to take care of the organization even more. He doesn't sit flat on the bench when he's substituted. He gets up, talks to players, is active, screams. It's no longer this Dennis-centric system, and that's much better in terms of sport and tactics, but there was the question of how he would deal with it. And so far he's been doing it really well.
This in turn relieves national coach Gordon Herbert, who decided before the European Championships to remove long-time DBB captain Robin Benzing from the squad. Benzing complains about the lack of gratitude for the fact that he was always there for years when the nation called. Is it already possible to judge whether this tough decision was the right one?
If the team starts the tournament 3-0 … you could put a barometer in it, how is the "team chemistry" doing, is there a lack of leadership, should they have taken any experience with them? And to be honest, the answer to these questions is no. It's incredibly sad for me personally that Robin can't be at this basketball festival. Because no one from the last ten years deserves it when you hear the interviews with the other players. What Robin took on to always be there, even if it wasn't worth it when there were no European Championships at home, no festivals, no chances of a medal, but it was about playing a qualifier somewhere, playing some international game windows ... that he missed the birth of his first child for it, that's what sums it up. That's why my heart bled that he wasn't there, but it's just in sport: at the end of the day, you're measured by success and Gordie [Herbert] is one of the main people responsible for that.
What is his leadership style?
First you see that the team follows him and trusts him, and so do the leaders of the team. It allows him to make decisions that might have been risky for some other coaches. Leaving Dennis on the bench for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, substituting him early on, making sure someone else gets the ball on offense. Of course that's also a bit of a chicken and egg question: Does it work now because Dennis is at a different point in his career or does it work because it's a different coach? I can not judge over this. I can only say that it is. I think Gordie always, for better or for worse, has absolutely no sense of what might have been the right decision politically. He's very sharp in communication, even with the players who aren't there.
Like Maxi Kleber and Tibor Pleiß, who canceled this summer due to injury. Herbert then indirectly accused them of not wanting to sacrifice themselves for the DBB team.
What you don't know from the past, because of course you want a Maxi Kleber, or whatever they are called, to be there again soon. But he doesn't take that into account, instead he makes the decisions that he believes will be the most successful in this tournament. And so far he seems to be doing everything right.
That's what it looks like in any case, seen from the outside, the team consistently supports this path. Does it help with such drastic changes that Maodo Lo, Johannes Thiemann and Niels Giffey are three professionals in the German squad who learned at Alba Berlin under coach Aito what such a cultural change can enable?
It might be unfair to only speak of Alba. Maodo has also matured extremely in Munich, Andi Obst has now enjoyed a steel bath at FC Bayern, played a Euroleague quarter-final against Barcelona, you can't let that fall under the table. Of course, Alba is the most striking, but it's not just happening there and that's what we need. Especially at the top, the BBL [the national basketball league] has come closer to the highest European level and the national team is now benefiting immensely from this.
How does that work?
Traditionally, we're used to looking at how many NBA players Team X has at the tournament. As if that had any direct meaning. You can now see what problems a Domantas Sabonis has, who is an NBA All-Star and can hardly score ten points in the FIBA game. Or a Rudy Gobert [three-time NBA Best Defenseman] who sometimes ends up on the bench because a Euroleague player, Moustapha Fall, is preferred over him.
The gap between NBA professionals and those active in Europe seems to have narrowed.
It's almost a history of the European Championship that this idea, the label "NBA player" would immediately ensure that someone dominates and that there is a big drop in performance compared to the people who play in France, in Germany or in Spain - you just don't see that anymore. I've never seen Bundesliga players win games at the highest European level, have a say in decisions, can compete with NBA players.
Why is that? Is basketball in Europe so different than in the NBA?
To a certain extent, I believe that the game in the USA has shifted, changed, that it is now a little further away from the European game. I think so. Also through the analytical approaches that many teams have, which then only use the best ball handler, play even more one-on-one. That's of course a complete exaggeration, but the fact is that the difference is very, very large and that makes the changeover all the more difficult.
Franz Wagner seems to be handling this change fairly well. 21 years old, barely ten international matches, his first year in the NBA behind him, the European Championship is his first major tournament. 32 points in the win against Lithuania and a confidence like he'd never done anything else. How does he do it?
That was always the hope with Franz. It was always that he enjoyed a European education, got a little something from Aito, has origins as a role player with movement off the ball, with defense and so on. A few things have come together in Orlando this year, also with the failure of other players, that he got the keys to the offensive. And the hope was that someone would come along who would bring the best of both worlds [from the NBA and from Europe] and that he would work in Europe.
Wagner is carrying out this process at record speed, it seems.
I couldn't see before that it would work in this way. In his first international match, he scored 23 points and played incredibly well in preparation. Then for the first three halves of the European Championship he's a little quieter, a little weaker - you were a bit scared of having to ask yourself: Did we hype that too much? But he gave the answer from the second half of the Bosnia game. It just took him a bit to settle in. And now you can see that when he has a matchup where he's physically ahead, he can explode.
Like against Lithuania.
If Dirk [Nowitzki] had done the game, we would have been impressed too. The performance was... disbelief it was easy. I watched the game from the MagentaSport box, surrounded by our commentators and experts, and there was just disbelief at the level at which it took place. Because he already shows all facets of the offensive game and is still there for the team in defense and everywhere else. That's perversely easy.
After the disappointments with 18th place at the 2019 World Cup and only one victory at the 2021 Olympics, things finally seem to be going uphill again.
It's really fun. Not only because of the performance, but there are also one or two guys for every fan. It's also just great when the national team not only wins, but you can also see the players play in Germany afterwards. Maybe that's how the first name Maodo has the chance to appear more often in the future. I do believe that there is a certain amount of hype around him, for example, and if you then want to see him play live, you always have the chance to do so in Berlin. Then you go to the Mercedes-Benz Arena for affordable money and watch Maodo. It's different than just hoping for Dirk to come every year, that's something special.
What is also being discussed a lot these days, but not quite as positively, are the referee performances at the European Championship. How do you see that, even as a former professional?
Of course it has now exploded...
... because the referees forgot to allow a Lithuanian free throw in the narrow German victory after double extra time against Lithuania. The protest was dismissed, the result is final.
Together with the game between Turkey and Georgia, these are two really strange things that happened. During a discussion, 22 seconds simply elapsed from the clock in the fourth quarter, which was overlooked and no longer corrected. In addition, the Lithuanians missed a free throw, which unfortunately, even though it was still an absolute basketball festival, was a small black cloud over this game.
Was that to be expected? After all, the FIBA as the organizer of the European Championship and the Euroleague as the highest European competition are at odds, many very good referees are absent from the tournament because they whistle in the Euroleague.
I wasn't expecting that at all after the first two games. A lot of physique was allowed, I've never seen it so extreme at European Championships. But within that interpretation it was consistent and fair, well called. My criticism would have been that the line was completely different against Lithuania. Also not advantageous in any direction, but just a completely different line. Within a tournament, the aim should be that the players can adjust to it: What was a foul in game one should still be a foul in game four.
After these serious mistakes, however, nobody spoke about it anymore.
Of course that was just odd. It is clear that a discussion arises, and rightly so. But to a certain extent it was just an anomaly, those two glaring blunders. However, I would have to deal explicitly with the differences in the quality of the referees between FIBA and the Euroleague, because my expertise is not enough.
Expertise is a good keyword, because afterwards it is always nice to evaluate expertise by how well forecasts age. How far can the DBB team go as the tournament progresses?
When we say "can", it can go anywhere. But it's different when the expectation is to win a medal than when you have a chance to earn a medal. Greece [around superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo] are very strong, stronger than I thought, Serbia [with reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic] are as strong as we expected. Germany can also get to the final, and they can also win in the final. There is no team that I consider unbeatable. But it will depend on whether this positive lightness remains, whether you can take it with you to Berlin [to the final round] and also get into knockout games.
Who do you see as the favorite?
Serbia is my A1 favourite, then Greece behind them and then I would rank Germany as the third strongest team I've seen in the tournament so far.
The perspective of the European Championship is an unusual one for you, after the end of your career in the summer you are now working as an expert for television. How does this change of sides feel?
I don't yet know how to deal with the fact that the first few days of work were so spectacular, I keep rubbing my eyes. I would have loved to have watched this tournament even if I wasn't employed by MagentaSport. I love coming to the hall in the morning, there are basketball people everywhere, you're chatting at every corner, then someone heard a rumour, the games are at such a high level. I think it will be difficult to maintain this level when you are an expert and maybe see Braunschweig against MBC in November. Simply because the contrast is so great, because this is the start, because these are the first experiences. But I'm enjoying it immensely.
Torben Siemer spoke to Per Günther
(This article was first published on Tuesday, September 06, 2022.)
