Dennis Schröder is enjoying his role as the new captain of the German national team and once again emphasized the importance of the office to him shortly before the start of the European Basketball Championships.
“It’s a great honor. I couldn’t have imagined it when I was 21,” said the 28-year-old at the venue for the opening round in Cologne.
National team coach Gordon Herbert had recently appointed longtime NBA professional Schröder as team captain (“an easy decision”). Earlier, predecessor Robin Benzing had been removed from Canada’s squad for the home tournament.
Big credit to Nowitzki
Thursday (8.30 p.m./MagentaSport) EuroBasket, chosen by the German Basketball Association (DBB), starts with the opening match against championship candidate France. Before that, Dirk Nowitzki’s national jersey will be pulled under the roof of the hall and “retired”, the number 14 will no longer be distributed.
“We are happy for him. But we have work to do,” Schröder said at the ceremony. He expects a well-filled Lanxess Arena. “In front of 18,000 in Cologne, it’s unbelievable. We can’t wait,” said the man from Braunschweig.
The DBB team is aiming for a medal
The French are “a physical, big team. Even the guards are big. We have to play fast,” emphasized Schröder: “Our focus is on defense. We have played well in the last games, even if not 40 minutes. .”
The DBB team, which has set itself a medal target, looks “day to day”, according to Schröder, “game to game”.
SID
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