One of Germany’s biggest talents, Paul Zipser, has been named in the squad for the country’s last two European Qualifiers against Israel and Greece.
Zipser, playing at San Pablo Burgos in Spain after being sidelined for 10 months while recovering from a foot injury, will be with the team when it travels to Israel (February 21) and then hosts Greece (February 24) in Bamberg in a battle for Group L supremacy.
Greece won the first encounter in Patras, 92-84, to hand Germany their only defeat in the European Qualifiers.
Zipser, back in Europe after a spell in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls, last featured for Germany in the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers when he was the joint-leading scorer at 13 points per game. He was also in the squad that played at FIBA EuroBasket 2015 in Berlin.
Many of the players named in Henrik Rodl’s 16-man squad have played in multiple games for the national team during the European Qualifiers.
Bastian Doreth and Karsten Tadda, who have appeared in all 10 of Germany’s European Qualifiers, are in the side as well Joshiko Saibou, the 28-year-old guard who featured in all six of the First Round games but did not play in the first couple of windows of the Second Round.
Another of the standouts in the German side, Niels Giffey, is included. The 27-year-old small forward is a sharpshooter, something he’s shown in eight European Qualifiers games by drilling 50 percent (10 of 20) of his attempts from 3-point range. He is 25 of 48 (52.1 percent) overall from the floor and perfect (7 of 7) at the free-throw line.
Germany have already qualified for this summer’s 32-team World Cup and are now playing for their seeding in the finals of the tournament.
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