Germany at basketball championships: a team with a future?

The final round of the European Basketball Championship starts in Berlin on Saturday – and Germany is there.

But it is not as self-evident as this statement has felt since this week.

In Cologne, where the German Basketball Federation (DBB) organized the preliminary round, the Germans in Group B had to compete with teams that have more top players.

With Slovenia, the European champion.

With France, the Olympic silver medalist.

With Lithuania, the basketball country.

And because Bosnia-Hercegovina and Hungary can at least keep up on good days, there was no need to be ashamed of the following questions: Will there be a group result among the top four?

What about the round of 16?

The strongest team

Now that the preliminary round is over and Germany is on as runners-up in the group, you can see that this result does not seem to come naturally, even for the German players.

That's how Niels Giffey could be understood, who said that he would have signed this final table immediately.

The Germans won not only against Bosnia-Hercegovina and Hungary, but also against France and Lithuania.

Her trump card: the depth of the team.

In their four games, the Germans had four different top scorers.

Then why didn't they come first?

Because they had the strongest team in Cologne, but not the strongest player.

You have to keep reminding yourself that in a tournament like this it is sometimes enough to have the best player in your ranks.

That's how it is in the national teams, where you can't prepare a game like in a club because of the few training sessions.

In such situations, talent is greater than tactics.

On the fourth and fifth match day, the Slovenians secured group victory against Germany and France.

Why?

You have such an exceptional talent.

You have Luka Doncic.

where is the limit

With his style of play, Dončić gives the Slovenians a level that the Germans simply cannot reach.

In the duel with Germany, Dončić scored 36 points.

Even 47 in a duel with France. That's the Dončić level.

On the way there, the fast Dennis Schröder and the versatile Franz Wanger reach their limits.

And with them the German team.

On Saturday (6 p.m. at MagentaSport) they will now play against Montenegro.

The Germans should be able to do that - and thus strengthen the impression that was created in those September days: that they are not only a team with a present, but also a team with a future.

Only three players in the German squad are older than 30 years.

And who knows whether the playful limits that seem to be there in this tournament could not be pushed back a little if the DBB were to convince Maxi Kleber, Isaiah Hartenstein and Oscar da Silva to participate in the next tournaments.

In Berlin, the quarter-finals are probably the limit.

Then it will probably be against Greece - and against a player who is almost as scary as Luka Dončić: the exceptional athlete Giannis Antetokounmpo.