This is the worst crisis in the club’s history. Veolia Towers Hamburg is at the bottom of Easycredit basketball Bundesliga.
Horror balance: The swaying tower is missing this season ALL 14 competitive matches in the league, cup and the second highest European competition EuroCup. They even failed to win 19 games in a row throughout the season! During the final triumph on Easter Sunday, lilies bloom outside…
“We are at rock bottom, at the lowest point you can get to at the moment,” lamented managing director Marvin Willoughby (47) last week after a lackluster performance at rival Keller Braunschweig (73:85).
According to statistics, after six BBL games, Towers were even worse than relegated BG Göttingen, who had only won three times the entire previous season. Calculated per 100 ball possessions, opponents scored 24.3 points more than Towers – Göttingen “only” had a so-called “net rating” of minus 18 all season.
Hamburg recently missed the play-offs three times in a row. This season, the big city’s ambitious project finally wants to catch up with the top clubs again. Thanks to new sponsors, it has a record budget of around 6.3 million euros (previous season it was 5.7 million).
How could such a brutal accident still happen?
► Personnel policy: After last season, the top players left the club. Development player Brae Ivey (29) moved to Würzburg, dunking prodigy Kur Kuath (27) was bought out of contract by Spanish first division club Gran Canaria. So far – very normal for a BBL club. However, practically all new players failed to qualify. Development player Carlos Stewart II (22) came straight from college and turned out not to be suited for the BBL. Eric Reed Jr (25) who was introduced to guarantee the points was too shaky. Both were released again. To convince transfer magnate Justin Edler Davis (27) to sign, coach Benka Barloschky (37) even visited him at his former club in Romania last season. However, he was also unable to match the performance shown there.
► Structure: The Towers are one of the few BBL clubs not to have a full-time sporting director. Willoughby, Barloschky and youth coordinator Fabian Villmeter (45) made the transfer together. However, all three of them are busy with their main work. This makes strategic and conceptual work difficult. And finding an affordable rough diamond next to it is almost impossible…
► Injury: In the previous season, former national player Niklas Wimberg (29) broke his finger and was out for six weeks. Since then he has been looking for his form. Then Osaro Jürgen Rich (27), who is a local player, suffered a broken wrist. Without their best defender, the defense collapsed.
► Negative spiral: “There’s definitely a lot of uncertainty after that series of losses,” coach Barloschky said. “I think we always develop a good mindset before the game. The players come to the game and are ready. You can see that too. They’re invested and the energy is there. And then the moment comes when the plug is pulled. When you’re in a hole like that, it’s like quicksand. It’s very difficult to get out of it.” How: “I think it’s all in your head.”
The Bremen native started his career as an assistant coach at Towers 15 years ago and has been boss for almost three years. And still enjoys Willoughby’s trust. “We stand together now,” stressed the founder of the club in Braunschweig.
Instead of asking coaching questions, he gave himself and the team a task: “Of course we are all dissatisfied and Benka is the one who is the most dissatisfied and the most sorry that we couldn’t solve it. In the end, I am the person responsible for this sport. The results are on my shoulders, around my neck. And I have to try to build and support everyone who is there, giving confidence and bringing quality in the right place and at the right time. But the best performers must also be there. The team, the players, be the one who straighten themselves out first, look themselves in the eye and ask: Is what I brought here actually enough?”
During the week, Towers recruited Devon Daniels (27/USA) to revive the worst offense in the league. They previously guided Weißenfeld cup hero Martin Breunig (33) to the Elbe. Barloschky was involved on both occasions. Both transfers must be successful – as a club is only allowed to sign a total of four players in one season.
Height 2.36 meters: Teenage giant makes basketball history
As relegation would be much more expensive, Willoughby was prepared to spend his quota: “We have too many construction sites hampering our development process. To close the gap with other teams and be competitive for the rest of the season, we need more quality in the squad. With the signing of Martin we have taken the first step – with Devon the next. We are still looking for reinforcements to help us get out of the bottom of the table for the rest of the season and arm ourselves.”
Barloschky already saw improvement in Tuesday’s EuroCup defeat in Breslau (81:92). “I really feel like we hit a dead end today,” he said, almost defiantly. “There was a moment in the second half when we were down by double digits. And that’s the moment where the game has always gotten out of control in recent weeks. But today we stayed together, played hard and broke through that wall.”
However, one thing is clear: If there are no results after the international break (November 23-December 1), things may start to get tight for the club’s veterans.
But he’s not worried about it: “I try every day to help the team as best as I can. I don’t think about losing streaks or any consequences. I model that for the players. If I start worrying now, what kind of decision do I make? Decisions based on fear are usually not good decisions.”
