FC Bayern Basketball finally starts the new season: At the end of the first Bundesliga gameday, the German champions will receive the second league champion and newcomer Hamburg Towers on Monday evening (30.9.). Tip-off in the Audi Dome is at 20:30 CEST.
For Hamburg it is the premiere in the Bundesliga, but for two of their professionals it is also a return: playmaker Heiko Schaffartzik from the 2014 Munich championship team signed in Hamburg two weeks ago and is thus back in the BBL after four years abroad. Previously, the 35-year-old had kept fit for three weeks as a training guest with the Bavarians and also travelled to Miami on the BayWa Basketball Tour. Power Forward Marvin Ogunsipe, 23, who grew up in the FCBB youth program and was involved in the pro rotation for the first time last season, also knows his way around the Audi Dome.
"The first game is never easy and Hamburg will bring a lot of euphoria as a rising star," said Bayern coach Dejan Radonjic. "Of course we still want to win this first game, after that we have to get better from training to training and from game to game. We only have a few practices with all the starting players behind us now and hope that there will be enough time for us".
MOOP MAMA concert
For the season premiere, the Bavarians are offering the hip Urban Brass band MOOP MAMA to provide a show at half time as well as an exclusive concert after the BBL game. The band will tour Germany again in mid-November.
Without Bray and Huestis
The Munich players have not had an easy preparation: Five players were in action at the World Cup in China and TJ Bray will miss the coming months with a foot injury. Josh Huestis will also miss at least the first games of the season as from the otherwise wildly successful Uruguay trip including tournament victory in Montevideo, the new US forward brought knee problems with him. He is also out for the start of the EuroLeague next Thursday (3.10., 20:30 CEST) against Italy's elite team Armani Olimpia Milan.
Center Mathias Lessort, bronze winner at the World Championships with France, could make his debut against Hamburg after only a few days in a new environment. The young Italian Guard Diego Flaccadori and the long-time NBA Center Greg Monroe, on the other hand, were able to take part in the complete preparation and are about to make their debut in the new, red FCBB uniforms (available for the first time in the Audi Dome on Monday), as are Paul Zipser -who is returning home - and new Point Guard DeMarcus Nelson.
Hamburg's promotions coach Mike Taylor has also had an intense summer as at the World Cup in China he unexpectedly made it to the quarter-finals as national coach with Poland. In addition to Schaffartzik and Ogunsipe, center veteran Jannik Freese and Malik Müller (Göttingen, Ludwigsburg) also have Bundesliga experience. The top performer from the rising team is US forward Beau Beech. A total of six players from the ProA team are tackling the BBL adventure.