Philipp Herkenhoff

Phillip Herkenhoff is established domestic player who has positional size for stretch guy and can really shot it but he may actually be at this stage more interesting option to follow for German top teams than NBA executives.

Day 2. Game: Vechta vs Ludwigsburg. Player scouted: Philipp Herkenhoff

After good ending of previous season especially upset win over Bamberg in playoffs series, German stretch big caught some attention. Phillip is often used as a 5 man. Theoretically it’s not his best fit but it changes when it comes to small ball trends. He has size but struggles to battle with big bodies due to strength shortcomings but is very mobile and stretches the court nicely so at the end of the day it’s about who causes more damage with their game in such missmatches (and if shot is falling everyone knows 3 is more than 2). 

Herkenhoff doesn’t really have much to offer for NBA executives other than shooting. Well he is a bit more than that thanks to being relatively fluid, having good reactivity to things that occur around him on the court whether it is keeping good spacing, embracing Vechta high character unselfish mentality as a teammate, making smart extra passes or pounding the ball a bit if necessary as he is capable of handling it. But how much it is if he doesn’t have superior skill level or athletic abilities + switchability of his countryman Maxi Kleber considering he is not elite close to 50% 3pt shooter? 

As of now his range is rather going undrafted but he can potentially bring a lot to the table in BBL and is almost surefire candidate for top domestic teams as a rotation pick and pop target for years to come. With further seasoning on highest Euro level and mastering his role while being capable defender and rebounder he can still be somewhere in notebooks of NBA scouts though. 

Most notable promotion goes to Philipp Herkenhoff for his notable run with BBL cinderella: Rasta Vechta. With 7 man rotation, small team from north Germany was able to cause huge upset on domestic powerhouse from Bamberg and big credit for that goes to 1999 born prospect who played as a 5 man in that series. Given that result and promoting to the next phase of playoffs Herkenhoff couldn’t participate in any pre draft workouts but his performance was widely noted and his progress will be definitely followed next season by scouts.

Philipp Herkenhoff (1999, #13) – First year when he doesn’t need to divide his time and attention between school and basketball works really well for Philipp. He is getting things done on both ends of the floor in the best Pro A team. Hopefully he can continue doing this next season after promotion to Beko BBL.