Hello kings' fans, I'm from Berlin, Germany and therefore am curious how Bobby Brown will perform at NBA level after he played a year for my favorite team Alba Berlin.
After yesterdays excellent performance the NBA referred to him as a player who played only 11 games last season in Germany. Well, that's simply not true, it were more than 55 games and I think he started in all of them. So I'll just pass on some more information as it seems that his first professional year is kind of underrated only because it was in a "minor" league.
Last season Bobby Brown played in the German 1st division for a team named Alba Berlin (www.albaberlin.de) and won the German championship. Bobby was named Rookie of the Year in that league and played in the league's all-star game. Of course the German league is not as strong as the Spanish ACB or the Euroleague. An important thing to know about the German league is the following: As opposed to Russia, Greece, Italy or Spain there's no real limitation in the number of foreign players. More than 50 % of the teams players are from the US and a lot of them being their first season abroad just after college or D-League. Teams consisting of 9 US players and 3 Germans mostly sitting the bench are nothing unusual. Only the top teams (as Berlin) have some experienced high quality european players and the German national team players in their roster.
Alba Berlin as Germanys top club over the last ten years is often named as one of the best basketball organisations outside the NBA. Of course they don't have the crazy amount of money Olympiakos Pireus, Panathinaikos Athens or CSKA Moscow use to buy players like Childress. But they are financially stable and in the european mid-field with a budget somewhere around $ 12 mio and a new NBA-style arena built for them by Anschutz Entertainment Group, which you probably know as the owner of L.A. Lakers and Staples Center. (Check out: www.o2world.com)
Although there have been no other German players since Nowitzki who really made the step to the NBA, there are quite a lot of former NBA players playing in the German league and quite a few US players moving up to play a minor role in the NBA after a excellent season in Germany. Just taking a look at Berlin, former NBA role players there have been Mike Penberthy, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. And currently the roster features Ansu Sesay and Casey Jacobsen. Players recently moved from the German league to NBA include Awvey Storey, Marcin Gortat, Anthony Tolliver. Just to get an idea of the league: All those borderline NBA players or NBA dropouts can be considered starters in the German league, but usually they don't dominate. Late in last season, Bobby dominated.
So what did Bobby Brown show in Europe? Last season Berlin played internationally in UlebCup, which is the second highest pan-european competition. Bobby's stats in 10 games in that competition: http://www.ulebcup.com/ulebcup/home/on-court/players/showplayer?clubcode=ber&pcode=000129 His opponents? Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio...
In the German league he played 45 games: http://www.basketball-bundesliga.de/verein.php?menuid=2&topmenu=270&keepmenu=inactive&teamid=413
When Bobby came to Berlin, he didn't look very convincing as a PG but he showed a tremendous learning progression throughout the season. He started as a rather wild shooter with little feeling for structured play and a lack of eye for his teammates. But througout the season he became a floor general taking scoring responsibilty whenever needed. Signed as a backup he became starter after the experienced PG got injured and was out for the season. So coach Luka Pavicevic kind of made Bobby Brown his "project" for the season, worked him hard but also trusted him. Perhaps it is quite interesting, that coach Pavicevic himself, has been one of the top european pointguards in his active time with Yugoplastika Split (with Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja) , the only team in Euroleague history winning the Euroleague three years in a row.
As you referred to Bobbys biography when you compared him to other players before, there's one other anecdotal story: Bobby came to Berlin only after his buddy from L.A Dijon Thompson (D-League MVP 07, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijon_Thompson ) was signed. In the first games they were a dream team showing blind understanding. But only Bobby Brown was able to adjust to the needed standards of professionalism and effort in training and on court. Bobby fought until the end, not only when he had to play 60 minutes (and scored 44 points) in the longest game in a european competition ever, a five overtime thriller against Bosna Sarajevo. Dijon Thompson got himself released for disciplinary reasons just before the playoffs. Bobby persevered and led Berlin through the finals to win the Championship.
If you want to see some videos from Bobby Brown's season in Germany, check out the "BBL (Germany) video thread" on interbasket.net. (#6 in yellow/blue).
http://forums.interbasket.net/showthread.php?t=5338
After yesterdays excellent performance the NBA referred to him as a player who played only 11 games last season in Germany. Well, that's simply not true, it were more than 55 games and I think he started in all of them. So I'll just pass on some more information as it seems that his first professional year is kind of underrated only because it was in a "minor" league.
Last season Bobby Brown played in the German 1st division for a team named Alba Berlin (www.albaberlin.de) and won the German championship. Bobby was named Rookie of the Year in that league and played in the league's all-star game. Of course the German league is not as strong as the Spanish ACB or the Euroleague. An important thing to know about the German league is the following: As opposed to Russia, Greece, Italy or Spain there's no real limitation in the number of foreign players. More than 50 % of the teams players are from the US and a lot of them being their first season abroad just after college or D-League. Teams consisting of 9 US players and 3 Germans mostly sitting the bench are nothing unusual. Only the top teams (as Berlin) have some experienced high quality european players and the German national team players in their roster.
Alba Berlin as Germanys top club over the last ten years is often named as one of the best basketball organisations outside the NBA. Of course they don't have the crazy amount of money Olympiakos Pireus, Panathinaikos Athens or CSKA Moscow use to buy players like Childress. But they are financially stable and in the european mid-field with a budget somewhere around $ 12 mio and a new NBA-style arena built for them by Anschutz Entertainment Group, which you probably know as the owner of L.A. Lakers and Staples Center. (Check out: www.o2world.com)
Although there have been no other German players since Nowitzki who really made the step to the NBA, there are quite a lot of former NBA players playing in the German league and quite a few US players moving up to play a minor role in the NBA after a excellent season in Germany. Just taking a look at Berlin, former NBA role players there have been Mike Penberthy, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. And currently the roster features Ansu Sesay and Casey Jacobsen. Players recently moved from the German league to NBA include Awvey Storey, Marcin Gortat, Anthony Tolliver. Just to get an idea of the league: All those borderline NBA players or NBA dropouts can be considered starters in the German league, but usually they don't dominate. Late in last season, Bobby dominated.
So what did Bobby Brown show in Europe? Last season Berlin played internationally in UlebCup, which is the second highest pan-european competition. Bobby's stats in 10 games in that competition: http://www.ulebcup.com/ulebcup/home/on-court/players/showplayer?clubcode=ber&pcode=000129 His opponents? Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio...
In the German league he played 45 games: http://www.basketball-bundesliga.de/verein.php?menuid=2&topmenu=270&keepmenu=inactive&teamid=413
When Bobby came to Berlin, he didn't look very convincing as a PG but he showed a tremendous learning progression throughout the season. He started as a rather wild shooter with little feeling for structured play and a lack of eye for his teammates. But througout the season he became a floor general taking scoring responsibilty whenever needed. Signed as a backup he became starter after the experienced PG got injured and was out for the season. So coach Luka Pavicevic kind of made Bobby Brown his "project" for the season, worked him hard but also trusted him. Perhaps it is quite interesting, that coach Pavicevic himself, has been one of the top european pointguards in his active time with Yugoplastika Split (with Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja) , the only team in Euroleague history winning the Euroleague three years in a row.
As you referred to Bobbys biography when you compared him to other players before, there's one other anecdotal story: Bobby came to Berlin only after his buddy from L.A Dijon Thompson (D-League MVP 07, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijon_Thompson ) was signed. In the first games they were a dream team showing blind understanding. But only Bobby Brown was able to adjust to the needed standards of professionalism and effort in training and on court. Bobby fought until the end, not only when he had to play 60 minutes (and scored 44 points) in the longest game in a european competition ever, a five overtime thriller against Bosna Sarajevo. Dijon Thompson got himself released for disciplinary reasons just before the playoffs. Bobby persevered and led Berlin through the finals to win the Championship.
If you want to see some videos from Bobby Brown's season in Germany, check out the "BBL (Germany) video thread" on interbasket.net. (#6 in yellow/blue).
http://forums.interbasket.net/showthread.php?t=5338
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