Brose Baskets Bamberg guard Dan Dickau has been a major topic of discussion this season for a couple of reasons, ranging from his strange departure from Air Avellino because of a bad back, to doping allegations and to playing for the Poland national team this summer at EuroBasket 2009.
Dickau cleared the air in an interview with BIE’s David Hein, which was published in German basketball magazine Five.
Here an excerpt from the interview:
This summer is the European basketball championships in Poland. There are conflicting reports on your status with the Polish national team. Are you eligible to play for the host nation this summer and do you think you will play?
Dickau: They came out to L.A. last year and expressed their interest and I told them I was interested in it as well. It’s something that I haven’t totally committed to. I’ve let my agent kind of handle the information and they have been going back and forth as of now. So I haven’t actually spoken directly to the Polish federation in a while. But I haven’t completely shut that out of my mind. If they’re still interested and it’s still possible then I may do that. It’s really kind of hard to say because I don’t know all the final dates. I don’t know how long this season is gonna last. Those are all different considerations as well in making a yes or no answer.
But are you eligible to play for Poland right now?
Dickau: As far as I know yes.
So you do have a Polish passport?
Dickau: I do not have a Polish passport as of now. But we’re in the process of getting one.
There were also conflicting reports early this season regarding your departure from the Italian club Air Avellino, ranging from cortisone shots for back pain to a refusal to take a test for illegal substances, to problems with housing. Could you clear the air on this issue so that everyone knows what happened?
Dickau: I’ll clear the air on some of it. I had some back spasms and some issues, I had to sit out a couple practices and they took that as I wasn’t healthy. Well, that doesn’t make any sense because two days later I’m in training camp with the (Golden State) Warriors. So my back obviously isn’t that bad. After a couple days where my back was sore or stiff with spasms, they wanted to give me a shot in my back. I said no (laughing), this is my back. I’ve never had any problems with it before. I don’t need a shot. I’ve never been a guy who takes Advil or anything for pain. I’ve always just done it naturally. So that’s what that was. To the day, I haven’t had any other back pains. So it was really interesting.
As far as the housing, sometimes when guys come over to Europe, things are set up how they’re used to. That wasn’t the case. Nothing was ready. So my family and I were in a hotel for two and a half weeks. With three kids that’s not easy. I’m not pointing fingers or blaming anyone. I just don’t think it was the right situation for us as a family at time. We moved on. We haven’t said anything negative to Avellino or about Avellino because I don’t think it was their fault and I don’t think it was our fault. It’s just something that didn’t work out.
Dickau was also asked about an incident in 2005 when he slammed a door on the fingers of Dirk Nowitzki during his short time together with the German superstar at the Dallas Mavericks:
It seems kind of ironic that you landed in Germany after playing a short time in 2005 with Dirk Nowitzki. What do you think when I say: “‘Dude, open the door. My fingers are in there.”
Dickau: (Lets out a big laugh) Aah, that was one of the funniest experiences I have ever had – whether it be family, friends, teammates or whatever. And it happened to be with one of the 10 best basketball players in the world. A few of us were going out to dinner. I just closed the door and the next thing I hear he’s asking me to open it back up. And I’m thinking what the heck is going on. I look back and his fingers are sticking in the door. But it didn’t matter. I think it helped him the next day. The next night I think he had something like 42 points against Miami. So maybe he needs to have his fingers shut in the door more often.
