BBL: Bonn ends the dream season without a championship

BBL
Bonn ended the dream season without a championship

After a memorable basketball year, the Telekom Baskets Bonn are moving into an uncertain summer. The future of successful coach Tuomas Iisalo is just as unclear as that of playmaker TJ Shorts. And after the vice championship and the 70:74 at Ratiopharm Ulm, neither of the two key figures publicly acknowledged the club.

“Now I want to enjoy the time with the boys and then we can still talk about the future,” said Iisalo, who is traded as a coach in Paris. His future, that’s two to four beers for now. The Finn stated that the feeling was “bittersweet”. They still want to celebrate the Champions League title they have achieved because this was not possible due to the stress of the deadline in May.

Shorts: “must not hang our heads”

Despite weaknesses in the final, Spielmacher Shorts promoted themselves in such a way that a change to a better club – probably in the Euroleague – would only be the logical consequence. “We mustn’t let our heads hang. We finished first in the main round and won the Champions League. We came up short today, but that’s nothing to let our heads hang,” summed up Shorts after the final.

The Bonners played outstanding basketball throughout the season and also left Alba Berlin and FC Bayern behind in the regular season. Main sponsor Telekom confirmed on Friday before the fourth final that they would continue to support the club financially.

“The Telekom Baskets are a flagship for Bonn and Telekom. Together with those responsible for the club, we want to broaden the sponsorship and try to give the club a perspective in professional basketball and to secure Bonn as a basketball location in the long term,” said the CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Timotheus Höttges. The commitment could also be continued beyond the end of the contract in 2024.

dpa