The Bavarian club was seriously rebuilt recently, had short downfall in means of results but got back as strong as ever.
“Brose Baskets is a German champion and very aggressive team on both ends,” CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis said. “They play tough and physical, on the edge of foul, they use to the full athleticism and mobility of the players. The team proved to be very competitive in both games they played so far, they stayed in the game against Unicaja in Malaga and had their chances to win; they confidently beat Darussafaka at home. This well-organized team knows perfectly what it wants to do. Bamberg side has some high-quality experienced players like Zisis, Melli and Strelnieks, it has some creative and talented players like Wanamaker and Miller. So we expect really tough game here and we need to have concentration and motivation to get the W.”
Non-American vector
David Hein, heinnews.com – for cskabasket.com
Brose Baskets Bamberg have gone through an entire overhaul since many Euroleague fans have seen them. After a wildly successful era with Chris Fleming as head coach and Wolfgang Heyder – who helped the club to four straight Beko BBL titles and three straight German Cups – Bamberg team leaders decided to sack Fleming after they lost in the quarter-finals of the playoffs to Artland Dragons.
Bamberg leaders wanted to steer the club in another direction and before the 2014-15 season, Italian Andrea Trinchieri was brought in as new head coach to replace Fleming. After not winning the title in 2014, Bamberg played last season in Eurocup with Bayern Munich taking the guaranteed Euroleague spot as champions and Alba Berlin as wild card recipients. Bamberg ended up finishing second in their Eurocup Regular Season group and reaching the knockout stage, where they lost to Lokomotiv Kuban in the eighth-finals.
In his first season in Germany, Trinchieri rebuilt the club almost entirely, keeping only Germans Elias Harris, Karsten Tadda and Daniel Schmidt. Bamberg management still provided its personnel people with a strong budget to be competitive, bringing in Latvian international Janis Strelinieks as well as still unproven Americans Brad Wanamaker, Trevor Mbakwe, Ryan Thompson, Josh Duncan while also locking up talented German Daniel Theis. The funds were also there to bring in Josh Shipp and Darius Miller during the season as an injury replacement.
In the German league, Trinchieri led the team to first place in the Regular Season to lock up home court advantage in the playoffs, which they needed as Bamberg beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in the Beko BBL Finals in Game 5 at home.
This past off-season, Trinchieri and his personnel people concentrated on bringing in players with Euroleague experience, whereas in the past the team has signed players talented enough to play in Euroleague but were lacking the experience of doing so.
Bamberg first off re-signed Wanamaker and Strelnieks as playmakers and Darius Miller as wing and added veteran point guard Nikos Zisis. Trinchieri also signed fellow Italian Nicolo Melli to give the team even more leadership. Yassin Idbihi was brought in as a veteran German big man from Bayern Munich, from where sharpshooter Lucca Staiger was also signed.
Bamberg took a chance on two college graduates in rookies Gabriel Olaseni and German Patrick Heckmann. And the club also showed a commitment to a strong non-American foundation in the team as they added Slovenian 20-year-old talent Aleksej Nikolic and 17-year-old Lithuanian prospect Arnoldas Kulboka.
During this season, one of the final remaining major parts of Bamberg’s previous identity was released with Bamberg native Karsten Tadda transferring to Giessen 46ers after playing his entire career with Brose Baskets Bamberg.
Interestingly enough, Bamberg only have two Americans on their team – Wanamaker and Miller – something matched by very few teams in the Euroleague – and Germany.
And the club is fully committed to Trinchieri as they prematurely extended their contract with the Italian coach until the end of the 2016-17 season in early October.
Important numbers
Milos Teodosic needs 7 more three-pointers to catch retired CSKA star Marcus Brown for seventh place on the all-time Euroleague charts. Teodosic enters the game with 320 career triples.
Teodosic has made at least 1 three-pointer in 26 consecutive Euroleague games.
Teodosic has made 29 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action.
Nando De Colo has made at least 1 three-pointer in each of his last eight Euroleague games.
De Colo has scored in double figures in each of his last seven Euroleague appearances.
Kyle Hines is closing in on a spot among the competition’s all-time top 10 in blocked shots. He enters this game ranked 13th with 118 career rejections. Former CSKA forward Marcus Goree (120) is 12th, Nikola Vujcic (122) 11th and Darjus Lavrinovic (123) 10th.
Cory Higgins has made 9 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action.
Andrey Vorontsevich has blocked at least 1 shot in four straight and six of his last seven Euroleague games.
Past matchups
Wins/losses: 8-0.
2005-06 – Euroleague. Top 16: Brose Baskets – CSKA: 64-75 (+11)
2005-06 – Euroleague. Top 16: CSKA – Brose Baskets: 76-64 (+12)
2011-12 – Euroleague. Regular Season: CSKA – Brose Baskets: 94-74 (+20)
2011-12 – Euroleague. Regular Season: Brose Baskets – CSKA: 78-81 (+3)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Regular Season: CSKA – Brose Baskets: 76-67 (+9)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Regular Season: Brose Baskets – CSKA: 89-97 (+8)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Top 16: CSKA – Brose Baskets: 90-83 (+7)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Top 16: Brose Baskets – CSKA: 58-78 (+20)
Short dossier
Brose Baskets Bamberg, Germany
Founded: 1955
Colors: red, white
Homecourt: brose Arena (6,900)
President: Norbert Sieben
Head coach: Andrea Trinchieri
Website: www.brosebaskets.de
Trophy case: 7-time German champion (2005, 07, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15), 4-time German Cup winner (1992, 2010, 11, 12)
