Germany has advanced to the second round of World Cup qualifying. National team coach Alex Mumbru had to reshuffle his roster time and again. Even so, the DBB team was still one of the best in the qualifying round.
Just three players appeared in all six qualifying games, which spanned three international windows. They were Christian Sengfelder (Ulm) and the two Alba players, Jonas Mattisseck and Malte Delow. Delow was the workhorse, playing 114 minutes, while David Krämer (59 points in four games) scored the most points of any player who saw action.
Johannes Thiemann scored the most points in a single game, tallying 24 points in the overtime victory against Croatia. Tornike Shengelia (Georgia) and Jordan Loyd (Poland) share the top score for the entire World Cup qualifying campaign in Europe, with 37 points each
A total of 24 players saw action; during this time, Sananda Frau, Simonas Lukosius, Norris Agbakoko, Mahir Agva, Michael Rataj, Till Pape, and Collin Welp made their debuts for the DBB team.
Only Six European Champions in Action
In fact, only six of the twelve European champions played; Andreas Obst, Johannes Voigtmann, Maodo Lo, Daniel Theis, Tristan da Silva, and Franz Wagner did not play at all. The remaining six players made a total of twelve appearances, four of which were by Leon Kratzer, who was only the third center at EuroBasket.
The reason, of course, is the grueling schedule in the EuroLeague and the NBA, which takes no account of the FIBA calendar.
However, the DBB team played a strong first round. On average, only Croatia (98.8 PPG) and Poland (94.3) scored better than Germany (92.3), even though Mumbru’s squad had mediocre shooting percentages. Instead, the World and European champions were the best team in the qualifiers with an average of 16.2 offensive rebounds; the same applies to total rebounds (43 on average).