Nowitzki as a lucky charm? The corridor of size XXL basketball players begins

Posted On: August 14, 2023

For a long time there was only Novitsky. Now he plays Schroeder, Tess and two Wagners. The retired legend is optimistic about the German national team. Inner anger no longer bothers you.

Bonn (dpa) – Retired basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki couldn’t help it. According to national coach Gordon Herbert, Nowitzki is no longer needed in XXL’s race to Germany’s first World Cup medal since 2002.

Herbert, 64, immediately fell into ecstasy when asked about his team led by captain Dennis Schroeder. “We have a great team – it’s a great team with even better people. It’s an honor to coach this team,” said Herbert. The goal? A year later, the bronze medal at the European Championships was, of course, next.

And Nowitzki is enjoying his new role watching from his couch in his native Texas and at the World Cup as an ambassador and fortune on the spot. He led the German team to a bronze medal in the United States 21 years ago and believes such a blow is also possible at the World Cups in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines (August 25 to September 10 ).

Nowitzki is optimistic

“In the end, we showed that we can play with the best countries in the world. They are all a year older. The distribution of roles is very good,” said the 45-year-old from Würzburg. Nowitzki is a fan – and he hopes he will have something to look forward to this summer: “We have one of the best teams you could hope for.”

The background noise caused by the quarrel between captain Schroeder and Maximilian Kleber will have to be silenced when the friendly match against Sweden kicks off on Saturday (7:00 p.m. / Magentasport). When coach Herbert in Bonn was asked if he had missed Kleber after being turned down in response to Schroeder’s criticism, he simply replied: “Maxi is not here. Again, Maxi is not there. We have good players here.” Kleber voluntarily announced his retirement after Schroeder publicly reprimanded him for, among other things, the cancellation of last year’s European Championship.

Position taken by Schroeder

Obviously, the Society and in particular Herbert sided with Schroeder. After all, the coach himself announced a three-year plan. First the European Championships at home, then the World Cup, and the 2024 Olympics in Paris. “Last year we showed that we can compete with anyone. We believe in ourselves. We have goals at the World Cup, and we have goals next summer.” became one of the top two World Cup teams in Europe.

But it’s quite realistic. Where there was only superstar Nowitzki for years, there are now many of the best tested players in the NBA. In addition to Schroeder and Tess, the Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz in particular give hope for a strong summer. Sweden, who have yet to qualify for the World Cup, went beyond mandatory training on Saturday, and the endurance event quickly became complicated as a result.

“We have a very good schedule. We are in Germany for a few weeks and against two strong teams in Abu Dhabi,” said Herbert. Games against favorites Canada, Greece and USA should indicate if Germany are ready for a tough challenge. World Cup qualifiers in Okinawa, Japan If they make it to the final, there will be 13 games in 37 days on the schedule starting Saturday For Herbert, the first week of training was crucial to slim down his team of 18. Our goal was to have twelve players as soon as possible, then they became a real team.