EUROBASKET 2011

Dirk Nowitzki's return has allowed Heiko Schaffartzik to make teams pay when they double team the NBA star

By Jeff Taylor

Heiko Schaffartzik is a gifted scorer in a Germany team that's doing battle in Group B at the EuroBasket in Lithuania.

But not that long ago, the 1.83m point guard didn't believe coach Dirk Bauermann wanted him.

"Two or three years ago, I think the coach thought of me as a troublemaker, not a point guard-ish kind of player," Schaffartzik said to FIBA Europe.

"So I always thought until the end, I was skeptical that I would be on the roster.

"When I joined the national team, I was 25 so for me, that's pretty old.

"I was just honored to be there, and grateful."

Does he have the trust of Bauermann now?

"You have to ask him," Schaffartzik said.

"I just felt he was feeling negative about me (before 2009).

"Retrospectively, I guess he just had his set of point guards with (Mithat) Demirel, (Pascal) Roller and (Steffen) Hamann and I don't think he wanted to change that up too much."

Schaffartzik wore the Germany shirt for the first time at a EuroBasket in Poland in 2009 and last year, he travelled to Turkey and competed at the FIBA World Championship.

He handles the ball well and isn't afraid to take tough shots.

In Poland, he made an unworldly 55% (17 of 31) from long range and averaged 12.6 points per game while in Turkey, Schaffartzik hit 40% (12 of 30) from behind the arc and averaged 9.4 points.

With Nowitzki and Kaman back for EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania, Schaffartzik and Robin Benzing have shown an ability to punish opponents when they double-team the NBA players.

Schaffartzik says Germany are completely different with Nowitzki and Kaman.

"They give our team a whole new quality that we didn't have the past two years," Schaffartzik said.

"We really want to bring our 'A' game.

"In the past couple of years, we just came and gave 100% every time because that's all we had.

"But with these two, I think we try to step up our game."

To play alongside Nowitzki is a dream for each of the Germany players.

Schaffartzik watched how the veteran led the Dallas Mavericks to glory in this year's NBA Finals.

"Right now, he has the global fame and it's like he's the greatest player on earth so people are even more excited that he's playing for our national team and are able to see him and walk past him and touch him," Schaffartzik said.

Schaffartzik and all the German players were all smiles after Nowitzki poured in 25 points to lead the team in a 91-64 opening-night demolition of Israel in Siauliai at EuroBasket 2011.

They were even happier after Thursday night's 76-62 triumph over Italy, a game that was much closer than the final score suggests.

Schaffartzik scored 10 points in 28 minutes against the Israelis and had 11 points, five assists and three rebounds in 33 minutes against Italy.

The win over Italy has put the Germans in an excellent position to advance in the tournament with the top three sides from each of the fourth groups moving into the next phase.

Serbia, Germany and their opponents on Friday, France, are each 2-0 while Latvia, Israel and Italy are all 0-2.