Status: 04/04/2022 3:39 p.m.
2009 German champions Baskets Oldenburg were already under threat of relegation from the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). With new coach Ingo Freyer and a more aggressive style of play, the old taillight is still on track to stay in place.
Two months ago, this would all have seemed far too far-fetched. A prediction that former top club Baskets Oldenburg, who have fallen to the bottom of the Bundesliga table, would suddenly take victory after victory under a German coach who took over by spontaneous application and even outclass FC Bayern Munich at 106:75 on the 28th day, would probably not have collected a nod yet. Rather a stunned silence.
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But that’s exactly what happened – although you have to admit that without the corona outbreak at FCB, the Oldenburgs would certainly not have won. Bayern have rested their best players. But there is no doubt that things are going well with the ex-champion since Freyer is head coach there. The club made him Alen Abaz’s successor in early February. He, in turn, took over the post from Mladen Drijencic, who was previously on leave, only in mid-January.
The new head coach introduces a new style of play
Freyer, who was born in Wolfsburg, took the reins and contacted the general manager of Baskets Hermann Schüller and therefore did not wait for him to call him at some point. We could also have wondered if we would have come to this. Because in the BBL, the trend has clearly been for foreign coaches for years.
“I finally managed to convince him that it was the right team for me and that it was the right time for him to hire me as a coach,” said the 51-year-old former international (39 caps). “There were repeated discussions at Zoom for days,” the former point guard said.
When he finally got the job he was hoping for, it was all about “mental work”. “I talked to the players a lot,” said Freyer, who also introduced a new style of play – an attacking, aggressive run-and-gun.
“Rickey leads the team in his own way.”
Ingo Freyer, coach of Baskets Oldenburg
It also meant that 39-year-old Rickey Paulding, who leaves the club this summer after 15 years of baskets and will also receive a farewell game, has less playing time. On the one hand, on the other hand, I got the impression that he was also a bit grateful for not playing so many minutes. And I told him that also that he can be as effective for the team. in 20 minutes than in 28.”
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In the home game against BG Göttingen, his 575th appearance in the Bundesliga, “the Eternal” gave impressive proof of this. Just before the siren, Paulding made sure with a three-pointer that it was 86:85 for the Baskets.
They are on track to stay upright. With their 20:36 points, they sit in 15th place and are currently eight points ahead of second-bottom Giessen 46ers. It looks like the Sneakers should be able to add the defining chapter to their success story – the one in which the success of staying awake is told.
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