Brose Baskets

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Brose Baskets is a German professional basketball club based in Bamberg, Bavaria. The club won the German Championship for the first time in its history in 2005 and became the first German club to qualify for Euroleague Top 16. Their home arena is Jako Arena. Brose Baskets was formerly known as GHP Bamberg.

Brose Baskets Logo

1 The Club
2 Euroleague Season 2005/06
3 Current roster
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] The Club

After establishing itself as the most consistent team in Germany throughout the last three seasons, Brose Baskets' reward came in spring 2005 with its first-ever German League title. The reward was just as great for diehard fans in all corners of Bamberg, a town of 70,000 people whose basketball tradition reaches back over the last four decades. Bamberg had ups and downs throughout its history, but has always been followed by one of the most enthusiastic crowds around the continent. The team won a German Cup title in 1992 and qualified for European competitions several times, but real competitiveness came when Dirk Bauermann arrived as the head coach of an ambitious project to take Bamberg to the very elite of German basketball. That is exactly what the team has done, selling out most games on its way to becoming an annual contender in its domestic competition.

Bamberg lost the 2003 German League finals against Alba Berlin and also reached the title series the following season. The Opel Skyliners stood in the way that time, as Bamberg lost the title in dramatic fashion. Both teams shared road wins in the opening four games of the best-of-five finals, but the Skyliners prevailed in Game 5 in Frankfurt. Even with that, Bamberg earned a ticket to play the 2004-05 ULEB Cup, where it finished 5-5. Bamberg now had everything a winning team needed - experience, a talented roster, a respected coach and the support of many great fans. Brose Baskets also had to wait until Game 5 against the Skyliners in the 2005 domestic finals, but this time the team managed finally to overcome and lift the German League trophy for the first time. Bamberg now hopes to extend its success as it joins the Euroleague for the first time with an ambition to take its recent success to new and bigger heights.

[edit] Euroleague Season 2005/06

If there is a team which made history in the 2005-06 Euroleague regular season, it has to be Brose Baskets, which became the first-ever German team which made it to the Top 16. Bamberg made its Euroleague debut this season and beat the expectations created due to a nice combination of athleticism and versatility. Bamberg finished the regular season in Group a with a 7-7 record and sealed its ticket to the Top 16 well in advance. Things changed in the Top 16, however, as its unexperience at this stage, added tough opponents such as TAU Ceramica, CSKA Moscow or Lietuvos Rytas did not allow Bamberg to win a single game. Bamberg could not repeat its domestic success last season, when it won the German League, and was knocked off by RheinEnergie Köln in its domestic semifinals in dramatic fashion. Even with that, Bamberg provided some highlights along the way. Derrick Phelps hit back-to-back game winners against KK Union Olimpija and Strasbourg IG. Spencer Nelson ranked fourth in rebounds at the end of the regular season, while Uvis Helmanis was second in three-point accuracy in this stage. Above all, Dirk Bauermann confirmed it is one of the best coaches in European basketball, taking Bamberg to its biggest European success ever.

Bamberg played the underdog role throughout the regular season and had a strong start in Group A in which the team two of its three opening games. Bamberg edged Union Olimpija 81-80 behind 14 points each from Phelps and Demond Mallet, and then downed Strasbourg 73-60 with Nelson, a newcomer in European basketball, leading the team with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Bamberg would lose the next 4 Euroleague games to drop its record to 2-6, but Nelson and Phelps decided they have had enough losses. The team broke its losing streak with a 71-61 home win against AEK in which Phelps had 18 points, and then Nelson provided the best individual performance in the Euroleague this season. Nelson scored 23 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and dished 7 assists in a 92-85 home win against Benetton Treviso. Not only Nelson was the Weekly MVP, nobody beat his 48 index this season. Phelps took over then with consecutive game-winners. He stepped up with a driving layup to make Bamberg beat Olimpija 57-59 in Ljubljana at the buzzer, and then fired in a three-pointer which allowed Bamberg not only to get a 68-71 road win in Strasbourg, but to seal its ticket to the Top 16. Bamberg would add another regular season win, as it beat AEK 51-65 on the road in Game 14 behind 13 points from Mallet to finish fifth in Group A with a 7-7 record.

That road win against AEK happened to be Bamberg's last in its first-ever Euroleague appearance. Bamberg had to fight its way to the Quarterfinal Playoffs with some of the best teams in the competition such as Tau, CSKA or L.Rytas. Even with that, the team had some chances to win each of its three opening Top 16 games. All-Euroleague forward Luis Scola scored a Euroleague career-high 36 points to make Tau beat Bamberg 72-77 in Game 1. Chris Ensminger led Bamberg that day with 20 points. The hosts tied it at 65-65 with 2 minutes to go but failed to win the game. L.Rytas had to battle hard for 37 minutes to beat Bamberg 79-67 in Vilnius. Nelson led Bamberg with 16 points. Bamberg lost all hopes to advance to the next round due to a 64-75 home loss against CSKA. Mallet led Bamberg with 12 points, and a 17-1 run allowed the hosts to get within 64-65 with 2 minutes to go. CSKA woke up just in time to win the game. Bamberg would lose the next three games by an average margin of 19 points and could not win a Top 16 games. Moreover, even when Bamberg finished the German League second, RheinEnergie won its best-of-five semifinal series 2-3 with a buzzer-beating triple. Bamberg will play the ULEB Cup next season, in which its Euroleague experience will be a factor to consider Bauermann's team a top contender.

[edit] Current roster

Name	Position	Age	Nationality
Dirk Bauermann	Trainer	December 10, 1957	Germany
Volker Stix	Co-Trainer	July 4, 1974	Germany
Derrick Taylor	Co-Trainer	November 20, 1963	Germany

No.	Name	Position	Age	Height	Weight	Nationality
4	Chris Ensminger	Center	December 8, 1973	2.09 m	118 kg	United States
5	Demond Mallett	Guard	February 22, 1978	1.85 m	81 kg	United States
6	Steffen Hamann	Guard	June 14, 1981	1.86 m	75 kg	Germany
7	Rick Stafford	Forward	April 19, 1972	1.90 m	92 kg	Germany
8	Max Weber	Guard	April 23, 1985	2.00 m	99 kg	Germany
9	Uvis Helmanis	Forward	June 10, 1972	2.02 m	118 kg	Latvia
11	Ivan Pavic	Forward	September 30, 1981	2.00 m	99 kg	Germany
12	Robert Garrett	Guard	March 18, 1977	1.92 m	96 kg	Germany
14	Michael Schröder	Center	July 6, 1984	2.08 m	124 kg	Germany
15	Derrick Phelps	Guard	July 31, 1972	1.92 m	105 kg	United States
17	Sajmen Hauer	Guard	March 14, 1988	1.93 m	88 kg	Germany
20	Koko Archibong	Forward	May 10, 1981	2.03 m	98 kg	Nigeria
21	Dickey Simpkins	Center	April 6, 1972	2.05 m	k. A.	United States
22	Mike Nahar	Center	May 7, 1971	2.11 m	112 kg	Netherlands
31	Tim Begley	Guard	August 8, 1983	1.98 m	104 kg	United States
33	Spencer Nelson	Forward	July 18, 1980	2.03 m	102 kg	United States