At the test in the Netherlands, the German basketball players want to gain more self-confidence for the European Championship. In addition, for some players it is about showing themselves again.
In the second test match of the preparation for the European Championship, everything is already at stake for some German basketball players. Today’s game in the Netherlands is the last chance for them to collect plus points from national coach Gordon Herbert before the final squad nomination for the European Championship.
Because when the dress rehearsal for the upcoming two World Cup qualifiers in Sweden (August 25) and against Slovenia (August 28) and the European Championship that will follow immediately afterwards is already scheduled for the Supercup in Hamburg, Herbert wants to start with his play squad. “It’s about building a team as quickly as possible,” Herbert explained his approach. “We have to get used to it and roles have to be formed in the team. You can’t do that with 16 or 17 players.”
Herbert only wants to make an exception for Nick Weiler-Babb, who has just been naturalized. The Bayern Munich professional is currently still in his US homeland due to urgent family matters. However, those responsible in the German Basketball Association hope that Weiler-Babb will be able to join the team in Hamburg early next week. In that case, Herbert would contest the Supercup (19th/20th August) with 13 players and only then delete the last player.
For the other shaky candidates, however, the game in Almere against the Oranje team is the last opportunity to draw attention to themselves. In the narrow victory in Belgium, David Krämer and Christian Sengfelder scored plus points. Kenneth Ogbe and Leon Kratz, on the other hand, were not used at all. Herbert left it open whether they would get playing time against the Dutch, who also qualified for the European Championship. Johannes Voigtmann, Maodo Lo and Johannes Thiemann, who were seeded for the tournament and had a break in Belgium, will definitely be used in Almere.