Jan 10, 2008, 12:30 pm
Short roundup of the 07/08 BBL Season so far:
1 ALBA BERLIN 15 12 3
2 Artland Dragons 15 11 4
3 Bayer Giants Leverkusen 15 11 4
4 Telekom Baskets Bonn 15 10 5
5 Brose Baskets 14 9 5
6 ratiopharm Ulm 14 9 5
7 Köln 99ers 15 9 6
8 New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig 15 9 6
9 EWE Baskets Oldenburg 15 9 6
10 Deutsche Bank SKYLINERS 14 7 7
11 Eisbären Bremerhaven 14 7 7
12 EnBW Ludwigsburg 15 6 9
13 digibu Baskets 14 5 9
14 WALTER Tigers Tübingen 15 5 10
15 BG 74 Göttingen 14 4 10
16 Giessen 46ers 15 4 11
17 TBB Trier 15 3 12
18 Science City Jena 15 2 13
ALBA is topping the table, with Patrick Femerling and Julius Jenkins providing the most outstanding performances so far. Artland Dragons have been showing that last season's post season success story was no fluke, while Bayer Leverkusen is maybe the feel good story of the season: With main sponsor Bayer quitting basketball next season, the club is almost sure to not be able to continue first league basketball, yet they are third at the moment. Give credit to their excellent coach Kuczmann. Surely one to look out for in the upcoming years. Telekom Baskets Bonn have climbed up to fourth after a tough start, while Brose Baskets is probably the dissappointment of the season so far. They started 6-0, but have since lost 5 out of 8, plus 10 out of 11 in the Euroleague. Their defensive-minded playing style is at the moment throwing themselves off, not the opponent. Ulm are an excellent 6th behind great play by Jeff Gibbs and Konrad Wysocki, while Cologne has climbed up all the way from 14th place, feeding off excellent performances by Aleksandar Nadjfeji and Imanuell McElroy. Braunschweig, that has been in nomansland in the last years, has had a great start and is currently on the 8th spot. Oldenburg, Frankfurt and Bremerhaven are the teams that would consider a non-playoff-season as a big dissappointment. BBL and ULEB-Cup topscorer Derrick Allen has been performing brilliantly for Murat Didin's club. ENBW Ludwigsburg have not been able to repeat last season's success so far. While Paderborn Baskets have no amitions participating in the playoffs, the Walter Tigers Tübingen have, after splashing out big in the summer transfer market. Still, things have not been working out as they should have, so Coach Aaron McCarthy was fired a couple of weeks ago. Göttingen and Giessen will surely struggle in the long run, while second-to-bottom Trier have improved dramatically in the last games, making their future look a lot brighter. Science City Jena have adjusted their roster and showed nice improvement when they upset Bamberg last week.
- As for the most recent signings and rumours, Mithat Demirel joined Brose Baskets and thus National Team coach Dirk Bauermann, from now on backing up Steffen Hamann at the point guard position. Kimani Ffriend was also signed a couple of years ago, but he seems to be rather on his way out of than on his way into the rotation, after being late for the team meetings on two out of three gamedays, drawing a fine by the club. He only played five minutes against Rome.
- Bremerhaven meanwhile cut PF RT Guinn from its roster due to disciplinary reasons.
So far, so good. I'll update things here once in a while.
1 ALBA BERLIN 15 12 3
2 Artland Dragons 15 11 4
3 Bayer Giants Leverkusen 15 11 4
4 Telekom Baskets Bonn 15 10 5
5 Brose Baskets 14 9 5
6 ratiopharm Ulm 14 9 5
7 Köln 99ers 15 9 6
8 New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig 15 9 6
9 EWE Baskets Oldenburg 15 9 6
10 Deutsche Bank SKYLINERS 14 7 7
11 Eisbären Bremerhaven 14 7 7
12 EnBW Ludwigsburg 15 6 9
13 digibu Baskets 14 5 9
14 WALTER Tigers Tübingen 15 5 10
15 BG 74 Göttingen 14 4 10
16 Giessen 46ers 15 4 11
17 TBB Trier 15 3 12
18 Science City Jena 15 2 13
ALBA is topping the table, with Patrick Femerling and Julius Jenkins providing the most outstanding performances so far. Artland Dragons have been showing that last season's post season success story was no fluke, while Bayer Leverkusen is maybe the feel good story of the season: With main sponsor Bayer quitting basketball next season, the club is almost sure to not be able to continue first league basketball, yet they are third at the moment. Give credit to their excellent coach Kuczmann. Surely one to look out for in the upcoming years. Telekom Baskets Bonn have climbed up to fourth after a tough start, while Brose Baskets is probably the dissappointment of the season so far. They started 6-0, but have since lost 5 out of 8, plus 10 out of 11 in the Euroleague. Their defensive-minded playing style is at the moment throwing themselves off, not the opponent. Ulm are an excellent 6th behind great play by Jeff Gibbs and Konrad Wysocki, while Cologne has climbed up all the way from 14th place, feeding off excellent performances by Aleksandar Nadjfeji and Imanuell McElroy. Braunschweig, that has been in nomansland in the last years, has had a great start and is currently on the 8th spot. Oldenburg, Frankfurt and Bremerhaven are the teams that would consider a non-playoff-season as a big dissappointment. BBL and ULEB-Cup topscorer Derrick Allen has been performing brilliantly for Murat Didin's club. ENBW Ludwigsburg have not been able to repeat last season's success so far. While Paderborn Baskets have no amitions participating in the playoffs, the Walter Tigers Tübingen have, after splashing out big in the summer transfer market. Still, things have not been working out as they should have, so Coach Aaron McCarthy was fired a couple of weeks ago. Göttingen and Giessen will surely struggle in the long run, while second-to-bottom Trier have improved dramatically in the last games, making their future look a lot brighter. Science City Jena have adjusted their roster and showed nice improvement when they upset Bamberg last week.
- As for the most recent signings and rumours, Mithat Demirel joined Brose Baskets and thus National Team coach Dirk Bauermann, from now on backing up Steffen Hamann at the point guard position. Kimani Ffriend was also signed a couple of years ago, but he seems to be rather on his way out of than on his way into the rotation, after being late for the team meetings on two out of three gamedays, drawing a fine by the club. He only played five minutes against Rome.
- Bremerhaven meanwhile cut PF RT Guinn from its roster due to disciplinary reasons.
So far, so good. I'll update things here once in a while.