Past weekend Eurospects attended JBBL/NBBL Final Four in Quakenbruck. Small town up north Germany is maybe not the best location but is already known from producing good talents and morever Vechta promoted back to BBL. Alba Berlin took both crowns home and can very well follow this success in senior BBL and U14 Championship next week. Below summarize of the event with thoughts on the participating prospects.
JBBL
Day 1
BAYERN vs Goettingen
Easy blowout. No history type of game. Lennart Weber can really cause a lot of damage at U16 stage especially if his shot is falling which opens the driving lanes. Solid athlete, made some big dunks. Has nice hangtime and always go hard through contact. Noah Jallow is back from injury. Gifted just like his older brother with huge palms, long arms and pure natural strength. Has very short neck and good standing reach but still it’s not enough late to use him inside on regular basis on next level as big. Still raw but just came back from injury and showed improved attitude.
Goettingen made it here mostly thanks to lucky draw. Would most likely got eleminated earlier from other conferences. No high level potential.
ALBA vs LUDWIGSBURG
Another game which was decided early and somewhat boring. Ariel Hukporti has really low iq. Refuses to play inside regularly for no reason. Tries to handle too much and commits many sometimes even unforced turnovers. Even with his tools the way he acts is extremely problematic. Dejan Bruce can be interesting long term. Long tweener forward with projectable touch. Terribly lanky and needs time. Can do nothing vs more physical players. Alba was led by Evans Rapieque. Super quick and energetic PG who can already really shot it from downtown. Always engaged on defense, keeps the opponents in front.
NBBL
Day 1
ARTLAND DRAGONS vs RATIOPHARM ULM
Not enough inside contribution from Ulm frontcourt: Fazekas and Bretzel (had some nice above the rim moments though). Mate can stretch the floor at really high level but defensive adjustment is still the key. Host team had no real center but really strong guys carried by local crowd. Danielius Lavrinovicious shows considerable BBL potential. 4 position, decent body + athleticism. Can face up. Potratz and Prash were x factors. They don’t look like players who can combine for 25 points in national semi-final.
BAYERN MUNICH vs ALBA BERLIN
Finally solid game by Rudan but doesn’t seem to upgrade his arsenal since last summer. Same body, mostly pick and pop type of plays. Not really impressed by Weidemann. Was scoring but far from being effortless offensively. Binapfl has nice role player potential but how useful are they on high level if don’t look at therim wide opened? Slow start and bad decisions for Mattisseck but managed to get his groove back. First catching up on Nikic since a while. Put on some weight but seems to still getting used to it. Franz Wagner looks weird with short hair but it doesn’t bother his smooth stroke.
DAY 2
JBBL FINAL
Quite competitive game. Bayern made a great run in the second quarter but it was hard to outscore ALBA which scored 113 ppg in group stage this season. Matthias Sasha Grant joined the team as NBBL fell short to make it to the final. He wasn’t practising at all with U16s this season but on this level can cause a lot of damage despite that. Beside simply overpowering the opponents and presenting improved stroke, he showed solid shiftiness on his drives and avoided taking the charges. However despite being ready physically it’s hard to notice him blowing defenders by like this at U19 stage. It wasn’t really easy to pick up the MVP in Alba team. Rapieque was not as good as in first game and was dealing with foul trouble.
NBBL FINAL
By eye test around 1500 fans were cheering for Artland Dragons. Moreover they were supported by former member of the team and Houston Rockets draftee – Isaiah Hartenstein who sat on the team bench. Another close game with good atmosphere but Alba managed to stop heroic effort of local club. Herkenhoeff is really rare inside outside threat at 6’10. During first year after school when he finally could focus fully on basketball it seems that he has really been working on his body. He started really well taking advantage of size & strength over Franz Wagner. Should be given really good minutes in BBL next year. Lavrinovicius injury made it more simple for Alba to take the W. Mo younger brother had hot hand again. Other than this Jonas Mattisseck is an absolute competitor with winner mentality.
Photo: Sven Kuczera
