By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
The last few weeks have been eventful for Jonah Radebaugh. Right before the national team and domestic cup break, he played his last two games with Galatasaray.
Two defeats, one on the road in Ludwigsburg – we will come back to that later – and one at home in the Istanbul derby against Anadolu Efes. The end of a difficult chapter started with Zvezdan Mitrovic and ended with Yakup Sekizkök, never really making up to early expectations.
By the time the Basketball Champions League was back, he was wearing another jersey, coming back to the ACB. He spent the previous season in Valencia, making his EuroLeague debut on a consistent basis, but this time the call came from UCAM Murcia.
In his third-ever game with the team, he recorded a personal career-high in scoring, dropping 31 points with 12/15 from the field and 5/5 at the charity stripe against AEK. “They got me off to a good start, and I feel like the guys, the staff, and the front office believe in me. That can take me really far. I need confidence: that’s when I play my best basketball”, he now says to Eurohoops.
Moving to an already talented-loaded backcourt with guys like Dylan Ennis and Troy Caupain, waiting for Ludde Hakanson to come back, he’s already feeling at home. “They’re unselfish guys, that’s the type of player everybody wants to play with. It’s been really simple to plug myself in and play already, knowing I can get the ball in my spots and that nobody has a hidden agenda where they have to do this and that”, the 26-year-old guard commented about his new teammates.
“Everybody is playing as a team and those guys are making it a pleasure to do it. It’s been simple so far, and those guys have made it even simpler for me. Especially for a guy in the beginning. That has been a really good change, really good free weeks so far. Hoping I can continue it”, he added ahead of the Basketball Champions League Quarter-Finals, which will see UCAM Murcia playing a familiar opponent for Jonah Radebaugh.
Defense upon everything in black-and-yellow
Recently speaking to Eurohoops, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg’s head coach Josh King made it clear: defense is always the first thing you have to focus on when wearing that black-and-yellow jersey.
Having played two seasons there, Jonah Radebaugh knows it clearly. “That was always at the very forefront of being in Ludwigsburg: you’re gonna be giving all of your effort on defense, pressuring guys full court, you have to know your assignments and your schemes. If you didn’t do it, you weren’t gonna play”, he states. Simple as that.
That’s the reason behind the growth of so many defensive-minded guards within the German system, such as Thomas Walkup, Nick Weiler-Babb, and Jonah Radebaugh indeed. Pressuring your opponent full court was the first adjustment you had to make when stepping into the court.
Behind all this, there was one experienced head coach, who moved to Ludwigsburg in 2012 and stayed for ten seasons straight. “John Patrick didn’t care if you were an MVP candidate or the 12th guy on the bench. If you didnìt do what you were supposed to be doing once or twice, that was it: you were not gonna play. That’s something you see all the time from them, I learned pretty early on when I got there”, the current UCAM Murcia player underlined.
“He made it so that everybody knows now that when you think of Ludwigsburg the defense will be the first thing you think of, at the forefront. It was just giving effort the way he wanted you to give the effort. If you did that, you and him would be fine. He instilled that identity in all of his teams”, he also said about John Patrick, who left in 2022 for Japan, replaced by Josh King.
After being out of the BCL in the 2020-21 season but shining in the Basketball Bundesliga, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg made it for the Regular Season of the competition the following year, where Jonah Radebaugh stood out for his all-around game.
Averaging 14.8 points, 5,4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, he made it to the All-BCL First Team alongside Joe Ragland, Chima Moneke, Chris Johnson, and Giorgi Shermadini. But his innate defensive abilities really made the difference. “In college [with the Northern Colorado Bears], I wasn’t always the most talented, tallest, fastest, or strongest on the court, but I knew if I played defense I’d be on the court. For me it was finding a way to be on the court, being useful for everybody there”, he said.
From day one, he had defense in his mind first. “I won Defensive Player of the Year three times in my Conference, it sparked for me that it was something I was really good at, and I didn’t wanna lose that when I went professional. That was something I had in my bag and I knew it was important to keep it moving on”, he also underlined, recalling times in the NCAA.
🏅 Your #StarLineup @BasketballCL Guard: @Radebaugh12!
_____#ihrundwir #winner #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/YAJaVsjHDK— MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg (@MHP_RIESEN) May 7, 2022
BCL Final Four in a neutral site is always a good thing
That majestic 2021-22 season was enriched even more with the participation in the Final Four, the icing on the cake after a tough Quarter-Finals series against U-BT Cluj-Napoca. “Playing at a neutral site is important because nobody has the upper hand at the starting grid. Manresa traveled really well to our game in Bilbao with their strong fanbase. They had to travel there, and it shows the fan love for each team. It makes an even playing field for everybody”, he recalled.
Losing in the semifinals against Chima Moneke, Sylvain Francisco, and teammates, he now hopes to flip the tables in another neutral-fielded Final Four, this time in Belgrade’s Stark Arena from April 26-28. “This year being it in Belgrade it would show what fans are willing to travel across Europe to support their teams. Other teams are feeling the same as you in neutral sites, it’s not their home court. You’re all on an even playing field”, Jonah Radebaugh also said about this decision.
“At the end of the day, when you come out you have to bring everything you got. If you don’t, the better team is gonna win: no matter what. The neutral site is very important, I’m glad they did it this way this year”, he added. Moreover, one of his best EuroLeague nights with Valencia came against Crvena Zvezda, in Belgrade.
Coming up close in Bilbao, a bronze medal came as a consolation prize, with “Justin Simon playing really well”. One thing that struck him the most, however, wasn’t about games, practices, or the neutral field. “We were all in the same hotel. You come in, it’s the Final Four, high stakes, “We have to beat Manresa, they’re the enemy”, and then you see them at dinner that night. Sometimes some of the guys might know each other already, so you might say hi. We were talking about them being the enemy, and then they were right next to you”, he commented about an unexpected environment.
“The competitiveness is always there, but there’s always the human part of it that comes back. It’s not like we’re going to war, we’re going to play basketball. That dynamic is always interesting to me when you see somebody you have to play a game against. They’re in your way of winning a title essentially, but there are just guys too; there might be teammates from college, guys you played with when you turned pro. It all comes back to human stuff at the end of the day, and when the game mood comes, they come back to be enemies”, Jonah Radebaugh added.
Two games away from proving defense does win championships 🤫👑#BasketballCL #FinalFour I @MHP_RIESEN pic.twitter.com/vOxS553UNu
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) May 1, 2022
In order to get to the Stark Arena, however, he will have to overcome his former team, currently led by one of the most underrated players on the continent. “Playing against Jayvon Graves is interesting because I like to see him being really successful in that Ludwigsburg system the same as I was. I think we have similar playstyles, so playing against him will be fun”, he said comparing himself to Ludwigsburg’s current leader.
The former Limoges player is on a roll lately, having dragged the black-and-yellow site to the Quarter-Finals by averaging 17.5 points (8th in the competition), 4.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. “I’m hoping I can limit some of the things he does, but that’s the thing about good players: sometimes they’re good players for a reason, and it’s hard to stop them from doing the things they’re best at doing”, Jonah Radebaugh added about the 25-year-old guard, having already faced him.
“I played against him [at Galatasaray], he tore us up. I have to get my revenge a little bit”, he recalled the 20-point loss, where Jayvon Graves scored 23 points. “But he’s a great player, I watched him play a lot, and it’s nice to see someone take the same path I took sort of. Coming from Ludwigsburg, he’s probably gonna play at a higher level next year. It’s been really cool to see, I’m hoping the Defensive Player of the Year can come back, trying to slow him down and get us the win”, he added.
Keeping it silent when it came to predicting his team’s series, he had interesting words on the other three matchups in the Quarter-Finals. “I played against Joe Ragland when he was at Hapoel Holon, and he can really dictate the game. It’s hard to stop him from doing those things; if he can take over like he’s used to, it will be a tough matchup for [Telekom Baskets] Bonn. But they’re well-rounded and I’m gonna go with them taking the series”, he said about the Quarter-Finals between the reigning champions and Vassilis Spanoulis’ team.
In his eyes, the German team won’t be the only back-to-back participants in the Basketball Champions League Final Four. “Promitheas has good guards, but Malaga is a really good defensive team already as well. I think Promitheas will show what they’re good at with Hunter Hale and [Anthony] Cowan. Unicaja will have a little trouble but I see them winning in three”, he underlined about Ibon Navarro’s team.
Moreover, he also believes the two-time BCL champions are gonna come back to the Final Four, making it for the third straight time. “I’m gonna take Tenerife in two. [Tofas] Bursa is a good team, I’ve had the experience playing them in Turkey, but even when they’re not playing their best basketball Tenerife is still a well-oiled machine. Tough to beat, well-coached, and they have a coach on the court with Marcelinho [Huertas]. I think they will win it, but I wouldn’t be against a surprise upset”, he concluded.
The last time Lenovo Tenerife won the Basketball Champions League, the Final Four was in Bilbao. Jonah Radebaugh had led MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg to their-second ever appearance in the final stages of the competition and shone throughout the event in the Miribilla Arena. Now his eyes are set on Serbia with UCAM Murcia’s jersey on. The clash with the past is ready.
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League