Ulm has big ambitions for the new Eurocup season
Ulm has big ambitions for the new Eurocup season
A new coach, a new roster, that`s this year motto for Ratiopharm Ulm. Last year was an average one for them, managing to get in the German league play-offs and also in Top-16 of Eurocup. In German play-offs they had no chance against ALBA Berlin in the first round, losing the series by 3-0. In Eurocup, they finished on 3rd place in a group with ASVEL Lyon, Lokomotiv Kuban and Frankfurt.
From last season, they kept only 3 Germans players in the team, Gavin Schilling, Per Guenther and Maximilian Ugrai. Despite having six Americans players and other two foreigners, Ulm did not live up with the expectations. With such a big roster, everybody in Ulm hoped for bigger result or at least a semifinal. In order to achieve that, they began a reconstruction. First, they get rid of all foreign players like Dwayne Evans, Javonte Green, Katin Reinhardt, Patrick Miller, Ryan Thompson or Isaac Fotu.
Then, at the beginning of the season, they made a big announcement: They offered Jaka Lakovic the head coach position for the next three-years. It`s his first experience as head coach, being only assistant before this opportunity. Lakovic was one of the European greats, having a 20-years career as a player. He won the Euroleague with Barcelona in 2010 and he was also named Greek League MVP in 2005 when he played for Panathinaikos.
After this announcement, the market opened for Ratiopharm. First, they added big man Grant Jarrett, the 40th NBA pick from 2013. He played some games in NBA for different teams and now he arrives from Bosnian team Igokea. After him, another big man was added from league rivals Gottingen, Derek Willis. He averaged last season 12 points and 5 rebounds per game. Then two young German players were brought in, Nat-Sidi Diallo and Andreas Obst, who played in Spain last season.
Now, it`s time to focus on some very interesting addition. I will start with the youngest player in the next year`s roster, Killian Hayes (1.96m, SG). He`s 18 years old and comes from Cholet. He has a big future ahead of him, being already named the 2017 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship MVP when he helped the French team to pick up the gold medals. Next player is a known German player, Patrick Heckmann (27 years-old, 1.96m, SF) who came from Brose Bamberg, where he won two German league titles in 2016 and 2017.
Seth Hinrichs (28 years-old, 2.01m, SF), from last season league sensation Vechta, was another big addition for Ulm. He averaged 12.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists, helping them to reach the German league semifinals. And the last player added, with 105 Euroleague games under his belt, is Zoran Dragic, brother of Miami Heat`s Goran Dragic. He played before for some big European teams like Unicaja Malaga, Khimki Moscow, Armani Milano and Anadolu Efes. He`s seen by Ulm coach as an absolute leader, praising his offensive skills and defensive quality.
There are some big ambitions for Ulm for the upcoming seasons. Giving to Jaka Lakovic a three-year contract, notes that this is going to be a long-term project, with big hopes during those seasons. I like the changes they`ve made to the roster, now we must wait and see if the chemistry can be built quickly in order to be able to deliver some nice results this year.
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
