Early in his second professional season and first in the Beko BBL with the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg, Chris Kramer was part of the infamous Justin Gray buzzer beater loss in Frankfurt quietly led his team in scoring with 16 points and showed his versatility in so many other aspects of the game as he retrieved 5 rebounds and dished out two assists as well. If it hadn´t been for his strong play in the fourth quarter where he led the s.Oliver Basekts back on a furious come back on a 10-2 run where he scored in the penetration three times looking like a second Dashaun Wood who was returning to haunt Frankfurt in a new uniform, it may never have come to the last possession play where Frankfurt was able to win the game. In many ways, he was the best Wurzburg player on the court in this loss. In basketball language, that game seems like a very long time ago, but since then Kramer has achieved very much like helping Wurzburg kick out 8 time Beko BBL champion Alba Berlin in 2012 in the playoffs and last season his first with the EWE Baskets Oldenburg help them reach the 2013 Beko BBL final losing a hard fought three game series by not more than seven points combined to Bamberg. In a way, Kramer is like a John Goldsberry of Bamberg, a floor general that knows how to run the offense, but doesn´t need to score to make the team win. It doesn´t matter wherever the Indiana native has been, he has always been a winner. At Purdue, Kramer played a total of 133 games and never averaged more than 7,2ppg which he did his freshman year, but he was the quintessential quarterback that got the offense going and just was able to help all over on the court. At Purdue, Kramer led the Boilermakers to the NCAA tournament all four years and was always good for making something memorable happen on the court like hitting a shot from his knees against Arizona at March Madness in 2007, or his vibrant dunk over a Penn State player sparking Purdue to their first ever Big Ten Tournament win. Just like Justin Gray did against Kramer and Wurzburg in 2011, the American took matters into his own hands not dishing the ball to Jujuan Johnson on a 2-1 break, but heading to the hoop alone and sending the 14,000 plus fans into ecstasy with a thunderous dunk. “Kramer is my boy. He was a tough player. He played injured as a freshman. He was an incredible defender. He was tough and ferocious like a bull dog. He was responsible for a lot of the success that Purdue had which got them back on the map”, stressed ex Purdue teammate and 2010 Beko BBL top scorer David Teague who is the cousin of Atlanta hawk Jeff Tague. Since coming to Oldenburg, he has matured very well and been an important player and has shown despite many stars like Rickey Paulding or Julius Jenkins, he has no problem adapt playing with big name players something he was used to at Purdue where he had teammates like current NBA players like Carl Landry, Robbie Hummel, or Etwaun Moore. Last season for Oldenburg he played 37 BBL games averaging 10.0ppg, 4.3rpg, 3.1apg, Steals-4(1.7spg), FGP: 50.7%, 3PT: 22.6%, FT: 77.6%; EuroChallenge: 16 games: 8.3ppg, 3.9rpg, 4.7apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 50.0%, 3PT: 30.0%, FT: 72.5%. This season, he averaged 19,5ppg in two Eurochallenge games and currently is averaging 9,8ppg, fourth on the team, top rebounder at 4,5rpg, second in team assists at 2,7 and first in steals at 1,4. Especially on defense, is where he prides his game on where he is a pest. His never die attitude on defense has been irritating opponents in the Beko BBL since his arrival in 2011. Many see him as the best point guard duo in the Beko BBL with Lebron James friend Dru Joyce. Most little kids crave ice cream after getting their tonsils out or for desert and all beko BBL teams crave a player like Chris Kramer for their team.
Chris Kramer
Chris Kramer Hustles The EWE Baskets Oldenburg Past The Fraport Skyliners 63-61
It is always a special pleasure when Fans are able to see former teammates battling against their ex team again. This season the EWE Baskets Oldenburg have two ex Frankfurt Skyliners on their roster with Germans Konrad Wysocki and Dominic Bahinese De Mello who combined played seven seasons and 260 games. De Mello played from 2005-2011 and was primarly known as a shooter and didn´t always have an easy time under head coach Murat Didin, but seemed to forever escape his basketball shell in Frankfurt under Gordon Herbert. Konrad Wysocki played at Ivy league school Princeton getting Ivy league rookie of the year in 2001 and when wearing spectacles could be seen as a young Russell Crowe from the movie A Beautiful Mind and could always hold his own in a conversation about architecture. In his only season in Frankfurt in 2008-2009, he played under Murat Didin who wanted him to play more the position four even though he has his advantages at the position three. That season was n´t the best experience for him as he averaged only 6,0ppg, 4,3rpg, 1,4apg and shot only 29,3% from downtown. The nicest memory of the ex ratiopharm Ulm player was prior to him coming to Frankfurt when he was allowed to guard NBA superstar Lebron James at the 2008 Olympic games in Bejing. Wysocki then departed Frankfurt in 2009 and went a bit further east to Poland where he played three seasons for PGE Turow and played Eurocup and hit very prosperous the lats two seasons at 41% from the parking lot. Wysocki wasn´t able to play, because he was suffering from a charley horse injury, but spent some time before the game saying hello to friends that had made the trip form Frankfurt. De Mello was looking to break the 1-1 record form last season where he helped crush Frankfurt in the home opener on the road, but then lost at home near the end of the season. De Mello was as focused to beta his old team as OJ Mayo of the Dallas Mavericks has been being on of the better players so far, Rick Adelman of the Timberlakes keeping a competitive team there despite nagging in juries or Damien Lillard showing he has been a solid rookie for the Portland Trailblazers so far and the young German was able to help the EWE Baskets Oldenburg grind out a tough 63-61 win. “I was excited to play against my former team and see many friends especially seeing Klaus Perwass and Quantez Robertson was nice. It is always special to play against Frankfurt stressed Dominic Bahiense De Mello. De Mello also is thrilled to be reacquainted again with Wysocki. “He is a good friend of mine. We understand each other very much. He plays the kind of style I play. He does so much for the team and has become such a good player and developed in his time in Poland”, added Dominic Bahiense De Mello. “Wysocki learned very well at Princeton. I always know that I can find him cutting to the basket. He is a leader and always fights until falling down”, said EWE Baskets Oldenburg center Jannik Freese. Purdue almunist Chris Kramer that got the deciding steal and hoop to win the game just uttered a huge smile when talking about the German boys. “De Mello is a clown and always joking around. He was struggling a bit rushing his shot this season, but when he is open and has his feet set, then he is one of the best shooters that I have ever been around. Fis hilarious. He is a Princeton boy and sometimes he makes comments that you would never expect from him. He is a huge asset to the team and very versatile. He is one of the bets offensive rebounders that I have ever seen. He is like a magnate getting those rebounds”, warned ex s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg guard Chris Kramer.
Chris Kramer(s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg) Is Mr COOL With That All Business Touch
40 minutes after Justin Gray had sent the s. Oliver Baskets Wurzburg home with a beautiful fade away buzzer beater giving the
faithful Wurzburg fans brewing nightmares on the horizon for consecutive days to follow, Chris Kramer departed the locker room with a hat on seemingly trying to hide his face as if he had been responsible for some cheap shot on the court, not covering Gray on the last shot or having dove into the first row and doused a fan by mistake with their coke. He had not been responsible for any of that, but that was just the spur of the moment nature of the American who had quietly led his team in scoring with 16 points and shown his versatility in so many other aspects of the game as he retrieved 5 rebounds and dished out two assists as well. If it hadn´t been for his strong play in the fourth quarter where he led the s.Oliver Basekts back on a furious come back on a 10-2 run where he scored in the penetration three times looking like a second Dashaun Wood who was returning to haunt Frankfurt in a new uniform, it may never have come to the last possession play where Frankfurt was able to win the game. In many ways, he was the best Wurzburg player on the court and after a bitter loss like that it is only understandable that players will be down have problems finding the right words or even not wanting to speak, but the second year professional was Mr cool, but with that business touch as he answered the questions as if he had been playing for 10 years. He has showed his scoring skills early since the Frankfurt loss leading the team to a win against BBCBayreuth and being second top scorer in a tough loss in Artland.
German Hoops 