By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
PARIS, FRANCE –Losing the bronze medal game is the worst possible scenario in any national team tournament, however, there was obvious pride in the German camp as a three-year successful circle, that included a gold FIBA World Cup medal and a bronze Eurobasket medal, was completed.
Coach Gordon Herbert, the architect of this team is stepping down to get the head coaching job in local powerhouse Bayern Munich – and even a rule that was preventing a coach from getting signed by a club directly after leaving the national team was changed for that to happen – but the future remains bright with captain Dennis Schroder being the guaranteed.
“I have already said I am playing in the national team until I am 40”, he said with a big smile, rephrasing his commitment to the German national team.
He even talked about the competition that he expects to have shortly, starting from Eurobasket 2025, and why European teams are such tough opponents for Team USA: “European basketball is not entertainment. It’s highly straight IQ basketball, straight coaching, guys who know how to play the game. Teams like Greece, Serbia, France, Spain, Germany, and Slovenia with Doncic. Of course the NBA is the best league in the world but Europeans are coming”.
And this is just the start for Germany and it was a great way to get into the top line of contenders. As the German guard said about his teammates: “Everybody is thinking about winning, they are just high character guys, high IQ guys, talented guys. The last three years coach made me captain as well and I mean that’s the biggest honor you can get and like I said we showed that German basketball is one of the best countries in the world”.
So it’s simple like that: “I mean we got two medals, we got the World Cup last year, we wanted to accomplish more this year but sometimes in life you can’t get everything you want and we just gotta go into the summer, into the seasons, work even harder, be better and come back next summer and try to go for something big again”
“Everything in life comes to an end”
As for coach Herbert himself, he added in his usual low-tone demeanor: “You know, everything in life comes to an end. It’s not the end we wanted. But these guys gave their heart and soul for three years. But these players… It’s been a family, so to speak, and congratulations to Serbia. The French would like me to say it is the best team we’ve played in the Olympics. The semifinal game bites us in the ass, I already said to our players that I could have done a better job”.
Dennis Schroder added: “We could have beaten France and losing that game changed the mood. I could have played better, but this game is on me”.
The captain was also asked about the possible replacement of his coach and didn’t have an answer, even if he implied that there’s a candidate already: “That’s hard to top. The federation is going to do something, we already heard something is being prepared, but we were not informed about anything else”.
Photo credit: FIBA