FIBAWC Preview: Rödl’s Germany squad kick-starting a new era

Josh Coyne

FIBAWC Preview: Rödl’s Germany squad kick-starting a new era image

Roster

As they enter their first major competition since the retirement of their nation’s greatest ever player, this industrious German team will attempt to usher in a new era and truly establish themselves as a force in international basketball. The FIBA Basketball World Cup of 2019 in China provides the perfect opportunity to do just that.

While they may not necessarily be littered with household names, Head Coach Henrik Rödl’s team possesses enough top-level talent to justify a certain level of quiet confidence heading into the tournament. When playing with a sense of proper cohesion, they have shown the ability to shine during a semi-convincing 9-3 qualification process and if they are to make notable progress this summer, they will hope to rely on the impressive depth of their roster. This has been one of Germany’s strong points in recent years and one of the reasons this under-the-radar team can exceed expectations if everything falls into place.

Led by the 25-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Dennis Schröder, the Germans boast a healthy mix of the energy that comes with youth and leadership typically brought by experienced veterans. Casademont Zaragoza’s Robin Benzing offers a considerable scoring threat and Dallas Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber provides a multifaceted skillset. Other notable names to have made the cut include Besiktas guard Ismet Akpinar, Boston Celtics center Daniel Theis, Bayern Munich’s Paul Zipser, Riesen Ludwigsburg’s Johannes Thiemann, CSKA Moscow’s Johannes Voigtmann and promising Washington Wizards duo Moritz Wagner & Isaac Bonga. 

Bonga Germany FIBA

Qualification

Going unbeaten against Serbia, Georgia and Austria, Germany made light work of Group G in the first round of European qualifiers and built a considerable amount of optimism around camp. However, the level of competition was turned up a notch last September, when the second round began and the first genuine challenges presented themselves.

In Group L, Germany won only three of a possible six games and lost any real momentum that they had gathered in the prior round. In Tel Aviv, they slipped up against Israel in what was widely considered a glaring upset; losing to a team that failed to qualify is something they’d rather forget about. The group-topping Greece managed to defeat them in both clashes, as the sides built a fierce rivalry worth monitoring going forward. Estonia proved no challenge for Rödl’s group however, as Germany came out victors by a considerable margin on both occasions. Eventually, they ended up with a total of 21 points overall, finishing second and just two points away from Greece.

Although entering a brand new competition phase where recent results can soon be forgotten once qualification has been achieved, they won’t necessarily have momentum on their side after a 3-3 second round record. That said, Germany can take solace from the bright start that they made, as well as the 1017 points that they scored through the entirety of qualification – more than any other team in Europe. The offensive threat is there, now comes the challenge of finding something common in all serious contenders - consistency.

Group

The Germans had to have been pleased by the results of the World Cup draw; in Group G, they will face the Dominican Republic on the 3rd September, Jordan on the 5th but firstly, their bordering neighbours France on the 1st of the month. While their fellow Europeans provide formidable opposition that cannot be underestimated, both teams will feel that they can progress beyond the opening stage in Shenzhen by finishing in the top two of the group.

After logging a 5-1 record in the first round of Asian qualification, Jordan edged into the competition despite tying China – who qualified as hosts regardless – for points in the second round and finishing in third place of Group E. As the fashion in which they qualified would suggest, Jordan don’t pose a great threat to Germany on paper and won’t carry a great load of expectations into the tournament.

The Dominican Republic fought their way through an even tougher route to the competition. They swept through their group in the first round completely unscathed, before entering an extremely challenging Group F in the second round of Americas qualifiers. They eventually finished 7-5, 4th in the group but qualified on a technicality, as the best 4th-placed team.

Expected to fight Germany for the top spot, France truly romped their way through the first round of qualification, winning all six games. This carried over into the second round as they blazed their way to ten wins and only two losses – finishing at the top of Group K, above the likes of Russia and the Czech Republic. They finished the European qualifiers with the joint best record, equalled only by Spain – a long-time major basketball power. The two teams have only met once previously at the FIBA basketball World Cup with France coming out on top. 

France Germany FIBA basketball world cup

At first glance, many will expect this group to play out in a fairly straightforward fashion, with the European teams advancing, but on the world stage, nothing is scripted.

Matchups

Due to the aforementioned roster depth that Germany possesses, they will be able to look to multiple players to expose any mismatches during the opening group stage and shift their game-plan to ensure progression.

If they wish to negate the Dominican Republic’s offensive threat, they will need to find the appropriate defensive match for 33-year-old veteran Victor Liz, who was present for the duration of qualifiers and led the team in scoring with 13.7 points per game. If the Dominicans find a way to make things interesting, look for a potential duel between the savvy guard and Germany’s Schröder, who will surely aim to affirm his status as a leading European talent.

Jordan’s standout player is 31-year-old shooting guard Dar Tucker, who carried the offensive workload for his team to get to the competition, averaging 21.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Germany’s equivalent in many ways is Robin Benzing, who not only claimed a huge portion of the team’s qualifying points, but helped on the glass and facilitated when possible. While they won’t be necessarily matched up on the floor, it’ll be interesting to see which of these two can make the most well-rounded impact on the game.

Dar Tucker Jordan

As Germany’s biggest roadblock, France are not pulling any punches, as the announcement of their roster recently proved. Despite most of them playing minor roles in the team getting to the tournament, France’s roster is brimming with recognisable talent, such as the Orlando Magic’s Evan Fournier, recent Boston Celtics signing Vincent Poirier, New York Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina, Charlotte Hornets veteran Nicolas Batum and Fenerbahce’s Nando De Colo.

Arguably the biggest addition to the team however – both in frame and status – is Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz. Adjustments will need to be made when the 7’1 center is on court, due to his elite rim protection and fierce defensive prowess. This will likely force the Germans to do most of their work outside of the paint and hope for efficient shooting from the likes of Akpinar, GIffey and Obst.

Rudy Gobert France FIBA

Key Stories

There are no glaring omissions from the roster that are likely to come back and bite the German team, but as has been widely covered, it will be their first major international competition since the book officially closed on Dirk Nowitzki’s career. Losing the greatest European player of all time was always going to be difficult for Rödl, not even just on the court (Dirk hasn’t played for Germany since 2015) but in the nation’s collective basketball psyche. Now the team has truly shed the weight of expectation that aligns with his presence. 

Rödl will hope that he can foster an all-for-one, team-focused style of play that puts a real stamp on the tournament, without such an obvious offensive focal point. Of course, this could also be a concern for the team, if shots just stop falling.

In the absence of Nowitzki, Schroder will be looked upon as the main playmaker for the team. In the four games in which he featured in qualifying, he had the highest usage rate among all European players (37.9) and only one other player scored more total points than him for Germany, despite the small string of appearances. He recorded an average of 23.5 points and dished out 7.5 assists per game, also setting a new assist record for European qualifiers, with a total of 13 in a win over Israel.

In recent years, several German players’ profiles have raised to levels that may have not seemed reachable in the pre-Nowitzki era. In their mid-20s, center Daniel Theis and Maxi Kleber have been picked up by NBA teams and carved out legitimate roles within their teams on the highest stage, after numerous years playing in their home country. This attainable dream will likely inspire some of the German squad to push themselves to impress while the World Cup spotlight shines on them and showcase the best version of themselves to the rest of the basketball world.

On August 21st, the team will travel to Japan for their final preparation games, with the aim of tightening up their play, just before making the trip to China. Nobody truly knows what to expect from Germany and in many ways that might ultimately be the most dangerous weapon at their disposal.

In August 2021, Germany will take part in Eurobasket 2021, for which they automatically qualify as one of four hosting nations. When they play host to the wider basketball community, they will see it as an opportunity to take home some silverware. With only a couple of years until that event, they could do with building a winning culture within their camp; what better way to do that by hitting the ground running in China.

Josh Coyne