Yang Yi: From losing to China to top Europe, how did the German men s basketball team do it

On August 16, 2008, in the Wukesong Stadium of the Beijing Olympics, Yao Ming's roaring posture of clenching his fists formed a sharp contrast with Dirk Nowitzki's lonely back. 59 to 55, the Chinese men's basketball team successfully eliminated Germany in the group stage and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Olympics. People at that time talked about Yao Ming's rule over Kaman, Yi Jian's key mid-range shot was not aware that in the next 20 years, it would be the peak of the Chinese men's basketball team and the trough of the German men's basketball team.

The German men's basketball team was standing at the crossroads of history at that time. Who would have thought that they could win the World Cup and European Championships championship trophy in three years? What did they do right in the past 17 years to make the poor and weak German men's basketball team look brand new and become the strongest whirlwind in European basketball since Paul Gasol's Spain?

Looking back now, Germany's defeat in 2008 was not accidental. The German team at that time completely relied on Nowitzki's personal abilities. The NBA superstar led the team to win the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships and the silver medal at the 2005 European Championships, but he could not immediately change the barren soil of German basketball: in Germany, football is the undisputed first sport, perhaps the second and third sport. Is basketball the fourth sport? Not necessarily, it needs to compete with handball, tennis and hockey first.

While there are few seedlings, the German basketball league did not train them well. For a long time from the late 1990s to the early 20th century, due to the lack of restrictions on foreign aid quotas, it was difficult for German local players among the strong Bundesliga teams to get the opportunity to perform. In one season, there were even scenes where only two German players averaged double-digit points per game and eight German players played for more than 20 minutes. Short-sighted behavior at the league level has exacerbated the talent crisis. German teenagers are originally exposed to basketball, and it is difficult to play in local leagues, which makes most children regard professional basketball as a way to go from the beginning. The result is that the German men's basketball team has almost lost a whole generation of new blood for ten years. Compared with the continued glory of Spain's "golden generation" and the vigorous development of France's training system relying on the immigration and the US training camp training system, German basketball's backwardness is all-round.

But over time, everything changes - first from communication and interest.

With 18.8 seconds left in Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks have secured the championship. Nowitzki raised his fists at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, a move symbolically igniting another type of direction for young Germans in addition to football. There are countless German children who regard him as an idol and embarked on the basketball path. Most of them ended up not being able to compete with Dirk, but they all remember that Dirk was one of the important reasons why they fell in love with basketball.

Nowitzki scored 21 points that night, including 10 points in the last quarter. This scene was deeply imprinted in the hearts of 9-year-old Franz Wagner and 14-year-old Moritz Wagner who stayed up late to watch the game. Now the brothers have played together for the Orlando Magic. Many people believe that Wagner Jr. will become an All-Star player in the NBA in the future.

Their father was the famous German boxer Axel Schultz. He was 1.91 meters tall and won the bronze medal at the 1989 World Championships in Moscow and the silver medal at the 1989 European Championships in Athens. Traditionally, his son should prioritize boxing or football when choosing a sports path, but because of Nowitzki, the Wagner brothers firmly chose basketball.

Wagner Jr. described the influence of Nowitzky on him in this way: "He made me believe that the Germans also have the opportunity to realize their dream of playing the NBA. He not only scored and won, but we also like the way he achieved victory. He always remained humble and never forgot to achieve his original intention. This is what resonates most with the Germans. He is Michael Jordan in the minds of our German children."

Wagner, as an experienced person, also said: "In Germany, it was originally. No one watched basketball, but Nowitzki broke through this boundary and opened the door for young players. He gave the sport a loud name, and this influence continues today. In Germany, whenever people hear his name, they know that this is our greatest basketball player. You must know that this is rare in non-mainstream countries of basketball. "

Maxi Kleber and Nowitzki are both Würzburg natives in Germany, and they regarded this fellow as an idol when they were young. When Nowitzki returned to Germany in 2011 to celebrate the NBA championship, Kleber mixed in the crowd and cheered, witnessing the Finals MVP standing on the balcony and singing "We Are The Championships".

Daniel Theis was born in Salzgitter, Germany. He only played football since childhood. He did not start to get involved in basketball until he was 15 years old. The opportunity was when Nowitzki won his first regular season MVP that year.

Nowitzki influenced an entire generation of German children in different forms. Some of them also followed Dirk's footsteps to work hard in the NBA, some were the thighs of their own league giants, and some went abroad to play for many European powerhouses in Spain, Greece and Lithuania. They all have one thing in common: yes, almost everyone in the German men's basketball team, which can be called the "golden generation", was once a fan of Nowitzki.

But far water cannot quench the near thirst. The vicious cycle of German basketball still reached the bottom in 2015. They set the worst 18th place in the European Championship that year. Nowitzki also officially withdrew from the national team after that game, but the real turnaround also came that year.

At this time, German society was also undergoing changes. In fact, as early as 2000, the new German Nationality Law recognized dual nationality and simplified the procedures for naturalization of foreigners.. After the refugee crisis broke out in 2015, the Merkel government even announced that it would "unlimited" to accept refugees, and millions of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa flocked to Germany. The far-reaching impact of this policy in sports may not have been revealed at the time, but a black teenager named Dennis Schroeder had already begun to emerge at that time. His father is German and his mother is from Gambia. He has also become a pioneer in the multicultural integration of German basketball.

In the German team we see this year, there is a mark of national integration that is close to ordinary people. Maodo Luo's father is from Senegal, Banga's parents are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the da Silva brothers' father is from Brazil. They all brought completely different factors to the German team than before. The Germanic team always leaves everyone with the impression of being tall, solid, precise and disciplined, and is always ineffective in speed and flexibility. But when they injected different bloodlines from all over the world, the German team also became one of the few "hexagonal warriors" in the world basketball world.

When Schroder celebrated the victory with Wagner, who was wearing his brother's jersey, and stood beside Antetokounmpo and Shin Kyung to receive the best team, we can see the magic of this team: the solid Germans built the cornerstone of the team, and what Nowitzki passed on to them was not only love, but also enough size and good people who could project. Black leader defenders like Banga have excellent athletic ability and wingspan, and can defend from 1 to 5, and can be called the fill-in-the-blank master in the FIBA ​​world. Da Silva can be called the best scorer in this European Championship along with Türkiye's Osmani. Schroeder and Maudo Low bring the possibility of variation to the team. The starting strength is strong and the substitute is considerable. If Wagner of the Big Big would return from injury, it would be a team without weaknesses.

With seedlings, there must be soil. If you want to know where these young German players emerge, we still have to look back at 2008.

After the defeat at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the German Basketball Association made drastic reforms to the league and introduced a new "6+6 rule", that is, the 12-man roster of the Bundesliga team includes at least 6 German local players. The rules also stipulate that each team in the German League Two must ensure at least two German players on the court.

Because local players are required to play, the Bundesliga clubs are forced to increase their investment in youth training, and more young players have also gained valuable opportunities for the game. Because this kind of "local players" includes the youth training players of our team, and even foreign young players travel to Germany to play in the youth training system of German clubs. This not only improves the skills through more complete training, but also gets the title of "local players trained".

Before being selected by the Hawks, Schroeder had won the Bundesliga Newcomer of the Year as the defender of the Brunswick Phantom; Theis was the best defensive player in the Bundesliga before going to the NBA; Wagners were the core of Alba Berlin... Almost all German stars have made their mark in the Bundesliga, except for Tristan da Silva, but before going to the University of Colorado to play the NCAA, he also played some local school games and regional leagues in Germany. Countless newcomers have emerged like mushrooms after a rain from local leagues at different levels. It can be said that the "6+6 rules" have completely reshaped the talent training ecosystem of German basketball.

From the team that relies solely on superstars in 2008 to this champion who integrates diverse cultures and complete systems in 2025, the path of Nirvana of the German men's basketball team is a miniature history of social change. When spiritual inheritance crosses generations to form cultural identity, the talent dividends brought by immigration are transformed into competitive advantages, and policy innovation stimulates the vitality of the system. The German men's basketball team, which already has the best economic foundation in Europe and the second largest population, has finally become a super monster that we cannot match.

The 2023 FIBA ​​World Cup final set a record of 4.63 million real-time viewers in Germany. The data for this European Championship final has not yet come out, but I believe the viewing volume will only be more. As the entire system works well, this team will definitely set their goals higher than the European Championships and the World Cup, targeting awards that the golden generation of Spain could not achieve.

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