Tim Ohlbrecht, one of the hottest prospects in Germany, had an interesting Interview in the German edition of Vanity Fair. Yeah you read it right, in the Vanity Fair magazine.
Already that such a magazine is interviewing a German basketball player who is not in the NBA surprized me a lot. And then they went to interview Tim Ohlbrecht, who is by far not the biggest star of the German league amazed me even further. And that journalists are often not that well informed is a common thing, but this interview had quite interesting questions for a non-specialized magazine.
In a first part, Ohlbrecht talks about the differences between his hometown Wuppertal and Bamberg which is in Bavaria. He tells that he had some trouble in the beginning to be all alone in his own apartment but they he managed quickly to get used to it.
Then comes the more interesting part of the interview when he talks about why Basketball has never become that big in Germany. The complexity of basketball may be one of the reasons why soccer is still more popular and soccer is also by far easier to play. But Ohlbrecht is of course against a change in the rules to make them easier in order to attract more people. If the rules are too complex, just to to play soccer, he says.
And then of course, basketball has to fight against clichés. And the dumbest cliché following Ohlbrecht is that Basketball is a sport for pussies. What is interesting is that the interviewer asks Ohlbrecht about his softness, and if he is not a too soft player to play in the paint. Ohlbrecht admits that he is not used to play with dirty tricks and illegal stuff but he also tells us that he works a lot with his individual coach to become nastier on the court.
And finally, the interviewer asks Ohlbrecht about the Nowitzki comparisons which of course come up because they are so easy to do (similar height, versatility, German,…) . Ohlbrecht directly stops the interviewer by telling him that these comparisons are the stupidest things he is hearing. he looks different, he works different, and there is nothing that make him similar to Dirk.
All in all, this interview shows already great maturity for such a young man. And to all the Fantasy junkies, take a look at Ohlbrecht, he is worth a try as he is pretty cheap.
