European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse American expertise gives German league a. I. T us byte Boivin staff writer in 10 years. Les Habegger went from being Champion supersonic to being a Champion took the Seattle supersonics to the National basketball association title As general manager in 1979. Last month he took Bayreuth Steiner the West German basketball team in the first Bunde Sliga or top National league to the German cup and German championship titles blazing teaching trails As the coach of a German team. Habegger took the Job in Germany after Don Nelson left As coach of the Aba s Milwaukee Bucks a team Habegger scouted for in 1985-87. The language and culture were not hard to adapt to. His parents who Are from Switzerland spoke Swiss German around the House. As an 18-year-old, Habegger had been a Mode and interpreter for the 70th inf p v As it fought in Germany during the War he served with 3rd inf div in Wiesbaden alter the War the Way the germans played basketball however was hard to adapt to. I came from working and coaching against Guys like magic Johnson and working with Sidney Moncol and Jack Sikma says Habegger. Now All of the sudden i m working with Guys who some of them could hardly understand what a drop step was. They just did t have any understanding of the with the Aba working toward expansion to Europe in the 1990s, basketball in Germany is branching out. Aba clubs have been overseas for Tours and that s How Habegger got his first table of German basketball on a tour with the supersonics in 1984. When a Friend Langen Forward Paul Hallgrimson called him last Winter and said Bayreuth was looking for a coach Habegger decided to give it a go. He could have stayed in the Aba with the Bucks but to be a head coach you control everything you Call Iho shots he wanted to be Able to do it his Way and he had t done ii in a while Hallgrimson says Habegger arrived Wilh doubts about coaching the Bayreuth team which he first saw in action on a far East tournament Lour of Malaysia. Taiwan and Singapore. I came Over in june of 1987 to take the team to those tournaments i guess to be honest. To kind of see what the team was like he says. What he saw was t anything close to the Aba level of play he was used to but then the teacher in Habegger took Over. He decided to stay. Habegger had to Start from scratch going Back to basics Wilh the German players. It was Back to leaching players How to think basketball How to see the floor How to anticipate what s s altogether a Dilfer enl Ball game recalls the former head coach at Seattle Pacific. Habegger says his German players had the physical skills to play the game but not the know How. There Are some people who have tremendous Talent but they just Haven t been laugh so fundamentally they Are very very poor he explains. But As far As jumping ability running quickness and shooting they have Talent. They re like a wild stallion out on the Range that has t been corralled and trained ii was up to Habegger to harness Bayreuth Steiner s wild stallions. After winning the German cup last year they did it again this year piling up a 49-8 record and then added the German championship by beating perennial Power Leve Kusen. A team from Northern Germany Lour games to two. That made up for last year s playoffs when Habegger s players lost to Cologne the eventual German Champion. Bayreuth Steiner beat Cologne this year before defeating Leve Kusen in the finals. Because of its finish Bayreuth Steiner will play against the club champions from other countries in the european cup next season. Habegger added three new German players to his team this year brought in a True Point guard to run the offence and moved Star Michael Koch to shooting guard. He also worked on Koch s shot. He worked a lot Wilh me on shooting Oil the dribble Koch explains. Before i Only had a jump shot. He also taught us How to play a faster game and to play defense. And he tells you what to do and then leaves you alone out on the the team has responded to Habegger s style and so have the German fans in Bayreuth. When i came to Bayreuth the gym Only held legally about 900 people says Habegger who saw the sonics draw More than 18.000 lans a game in their Aba championship season and More than 20,000 the next year. They stuffed in about 1,200.1 told them Hail jokingly and half serious this is ridiculous " Habegger was quickly assured a new gym was on the Way with a 5,000-fan sealing capacity. It opened this year just in time Lor the team s title run. In the playoffs against Cologne and then Leve Kusen there were overflow crowds Habegger says. In the last series against Leve Kusen people were lined up at 6 30 in the morning and they could have sold again As Many As they had in the building. They could have sold 10,000 seals easily. The people were going what the lans came to see was basketball Habegger style. Last year Koch a gifted pure shooter was running the offence and shooting. One year of thai Les Habegger coach of Bayreuth Steiner. Page 14 the stars and stripes was enough Lor the 64-year-old coach who says he already had enough Gray hairs. To me a Point guard is the key on a basketball team. We talk a lot about Kareem with the lakers but i coached against the lakers before magic Johnson got there and we beat them All the Lime Habegger says. Enter to Dukes a Pink sized Point guard Habegger spotted on the Chicago bulls Rookie league Leam in California. We re stretching it a bit when we say to is 5 8," Habegger admits. Wilh Dukes running the offence Koch was freed to shoot the Ball More. " Dukes really could and should be in the Aba Talent Wise _ he s a Little too Small but he s a Little magic Johnson Habegger says. People will laugh and say that s absurd but he can make passes like magic Johnson. Obviously he s not the kind of player magic Johnson is because of his Habegger says thu sex Xavier of new Orleans College Star has the Bayreuth fans talking. He has captivated those people captivated their attention and he is probably Why the place has overflow crowds and the place is going there Are 12 learns in the first Bunde Sliga 20 in the second and 80 in the third there Are several lesser leagues Wilh learns in smaller Lowns. Basketball is branching out All Over the place in Germany says Hallgrimson whose Langen Leam moves up to the first Bunde Sliga next year after winning the second Bunde Sliga this year. Jorg Hahn a basketball writer for the Frankfurter All Gemein newspaper thinks the presence of Dukes and other americans Bayreuth also had former University of san Diego Star Buzz Hurnelt and Calvin Oldham who played at Virginia tech is helping make basketball More popular in Germany but he also thinks too much Money is spent on them. They spent a lot of Money for players but a Good coach could help German basketball and a German club More than two Good players without coaching to says. There Are american coaches on some teams. Giessen had Giessen High school coach Charlie Toth the stars and stripes High school basketball coach of the year three times in a Row running the show this year. Lov Crusen had Jim Kelly Barking orders from the Bench. Bamberg had Terry Schofield a disciple of the master John wooden As their coach. Schofield played College Ball Wilh Lew Alcindor now known As Kareem Abdul Jabbar under wooden Al Urcla before moving to Germany 17 years ago. Habegger understands harm s Point but disagrees. Bringing a coach in to bring the players along lakes too Long he says. I think it s going to come about through television and publicity. If our role is to get on a Par with Italy and Spain then the Only Way is to get better american players Here to do it. Italy has the Bob Mcadoo the Micheal Ray Richardson. The names. That s what s going to happen Here. It lakes Loo Long Jorg s Way. If your goal is to develop belter German basketball players then what Jorg is saying is right. I see that As two different goals two different part of the problem Habegger says is the teachers and coaches Germany has on the youth level. I taught at a German University in Bayreuth this year and i talked to the professors and kids there. Their answer is what the kids got in school Here depends on the teacher. The teacher comes in and he has played soccer and the biggest part of that physical education curriculum is going to be soccer because he knows very Little about basketball. You need More teachers who have a wednesday
