Dennis Schroder trying to recruit more NBA players to the German NT ahead of EuroBasket / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Sipapress – Scanpix Credit Sipapress – Scanpix

With NBA guard Dennis Schroder as the driving force, the German Basketball Association held a presentation in Berlin regarding the national team's participation in the upcoming EuroBasket.

"It's a new opportunity to make basketball even bigger in Germany. Everyone is already fired up," the Houston Rockets guard said on Wednesday during a press conference in the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

The 2022 EuroBasket will take place from 1 to 18 September in four countries, including Germany with Cologne and Berlin as host cities. In fact, Berlin will host the final round of the competition featuring the last 16 teams standing.

In Berlin, "there's still some unfinished business," Schroder said. At the last EuroBasket held in Germany in 2015, the German national team lost to Spain in the preliminary round, in Berlin.

"We said very quickly at the time that we had to change that here," the German federation's president Ingo Weiss stated.

The Germans will meet defending champions Slovenia, France, Lithuania, Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the preliminary round in Cologne.

Schroder will definitely be there in September and wants to persuade other NBA players to participate. He had already received a promise from Daniel Theis.

"He said he was definitely up for it," he said.

Maxi Kleber (Dallas Mavericks) had told him he was in the mood, but had to look "how he feels" after an ankle injury.

The two brothers hailing from Berlin, Moritz and Franz Wagner (both playing for the Orlando Magic), would probably also be available.

Schroder is particularly fond of 20-year-old Franz Wagner, who had a sensational NBA rookie season. "He's very, very strong on defense and offense. We've never had anyone like that on the national team," he said.

In the end, however, only those "who are really in the mood should participate," says Schroder. The NBA star remained cautious when it came to the goal of winning a medal.

"Defining a goal is difficult, but we don't have to hide from anyone. We have a lot, a lot of quality," he said. It is important to "bring everything together and build team chemistry to the highest level possible."

Support BasketNews so we could make even better content.