Basketball World Cup
Nowitzki as a lucky charm? XXL path of basketball players begins
Leader of the German basketball: NBA star Dennis Schröder (2nd from left). photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
For a long time there was only Nowitzki. Now Schröder, Theis and two Wagners are playing. The retired legend is optimistic for Germany’s national team. Internal anger should no longer bother you.
The retired basketball legend can actively help Not Dirk Nowitzki. According to national coach Gordon Herbert, Nowitzki is no longer needed on the XXL route to the first German World Cup medal since 2002.
The 64-year-old Herbert went straight into raptures when he was asked to speak about his team led by captain Dennis Schröder. “We have a great squad – this is an outstanding team with even better people. It’s an honor for me to be able to coach this team,” said Herbert. The goal? A year after the bronze medal at the European Championships, of course, the next medal.
And Nowitzki enjoys his new role as a spectator from the sofa in his native Texas and at the World Cup as an ambassador and good luck charm on site. He led the German team to bronze in the USA 21 years ago and believes that such a coup is also possible at the World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines (August 25 to September 10).
Optimistic Nowitzki
“In the end, we showed that we can play with the best countries in the world. They’re all a year older. The distribution of roles was great,” said the 45-year-old from Würzburg. Nowitzki is now a fan – and hopeful he’ll have plenty to cheer about this summer. “We have one of the best squads anyone could ask for.”
The background noise caused by the dispute between captain Schröder and Maximilian Kleber should be checked off with the start of the friendly against Sweden on Saturday (7 p.m. / Magentasport). When head coach Herbert was asked in Bonn whether he was missing Kleber after his cancellation in response to Schröder’s criticism, he only said: “Maxi is not here. Once again: Maxi is simply not here. We have very good players here.” Kleber had voluntarily declared his resignation after Schröder had publicly reprimanded him for, among other things, the cancellation of the home European Championship last year.
position taken for Schröder
The association and especially Herbert clearly took Schröder’s side. After all, the coach himself had proclaimed a three-year plan. First the European Championships at home, then the World Cup and in 2024 the Olympic Games in Paris. “We showed last year that we can keep up with anyone. We believe in ourselves. We have a goal for the World Cup, we have a goal for next summer,” confirmed center Daniel Theis. In order to buy the Olympic ticket this year, you have to become one of the two best European World Cup teams.
But that is quite realistic. Where there used to be only superstar Nowitzki for years, there is now a whole range of NBA-tested top players. In addition to Schröder and Theis, the Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz in particular are giving hope for a strong summer. The Swedes, who did not qualify for the World Cup, are more of a compulsory exercise on Saturday, and the endurance tests quickly become more complicated as a result.
“We have a very good timetable. We’ll be in Germany for a few weeks, playing a couple of strong teams in Abu Dhabi,” said Herbert. Games against Canada, Greece and top favorite USA should give an impression of whether Germany is ready for the tricky World Cup preliminary round in Okinawa, Japan. If they make it into the final, 13 games in 37 days are on the program from Saturday. For Herbert, the first week of training is particularly important to reduce his 18-man squad. “Our focus is to get twelve players as quickly as possible and then become a real team,” announced Herbert.