Survey among bbl coaches: brose baskets and bayern title favorites
The three-way fight for the title turns into a three-way fight in the 50. Basketball bundesliga season a duel. Bamberg or bayern – one of the two heavyweights from the south will be german champion, the coaches of the 18 clubs largely agree on that. In a poll of coaches conducted by the deutsche presse agency, the two top teams were named 14 times each.
Brose baskets even stronger
Defending champion bamberg and challenger munich, on the other hand, continued to make do instead of spill the beans. The brose baskets were able to keep their championship team together with the exception of star center trevor mbakwe and even strengthen it with top players like nicolo melli or nikolaos sisis. Munich learned its lessons from the final defeat to its southern rivals and gave its team a "facelift", as managing director volker stix described it.
Athletic bavaria
With maxi kleber, alex renfroe and deon thompson, the bavarians added a lot of athleticism to their squad. In addition, in k.C. Rivers an experienced player from the spanish top league. The objective in munich is therefore clear. "If you are FC bayern, then national titles are always the goal", said stix. "If everything runs normally and we stay healthy, we can certainly become champions again, said coach svetislav pesic.
But it is important to beat the brose baskets. The team of italian andrea trinchieri, who has already achieved cult status in his first year in basketball germany with his temperament and wit, already proved in the champions cup against cup winner oldenburg what great potential it also has in the new season.
This is primarily thanks to sports director daniele baiesi and general manager rolf beyer, who were able to announce the signing of point guards bradley wanamaker and janis strelnieks immediately after winning the title. "It wasn't easy, but we're proud that we succeeded", said beyer.
Weak point under the basket after mbakwe's departure?
Only center mbakwe could not be kept for the franks, the position directly under the basket could therefore become the only weak point in the high-caliber squad, especially at euroleague level. "We will be very difficult for the opponents to calculate", said theis. Unlike the bavarians, the francs don't talk quite so briskly about the title. "Our goal is to make it to the finals", said beyer.
Bayreuth and wurzburg fight against relegation
Apart from the two giants, who are also challenged at the international level, two other bavarian national league teams are playing against relegation. Medi bayreuth, which just managed to stay in the league with a 16th-place finish in the preseason, was no exception. "We want to establish ourselves in the midfield as quickly as possible and bring more consistency to our season than we did last season", said coach michael koch.
A completely renewed squad with eleven new players and ten departures is to provide new strength for the upper franconians. Ex-national player koch, who stands for calmness and experience on the coach's bench, is considered a trump card. A playoff appearance seems rather unrealistic.
After its return, promoted wurzburg wants only one thing: not to be relegated again immediately. Together with gieben, the people of lower franconia were the most successful in the 2. Bundesliga and have sensibly strengthened their promotion team with players such as dru joyce (braunschweig) and maurice stuckey (oldenburg) with professionals suitable for the first league. "As a promoted team, we have to remain realistic and say: we don't want to have anything to do with relegation and want to secure our place in the league as early as possible, baskets coach doug spradley explained.
