Basketball: Hobbs interview:”I still have contacts with the FBI.”

Braydon Hobbs moved from ratiopharm Ulm to Bayern Munich in the summer. In an interview, the 28-year-old US-Guard talks about his love for Australia, his passion for criminal investigation and his very special relationship with Germany. You can find more basketball news on Basketball. com.

basketball. de: Mr. Hobbs, Ulms coach Thorsten Leibenath has said that your move to Munich is an improvement financially, but not necessarily sporty. What prompted you to switch to FC Bayern, though?

Braydon Hobbs: Basketball is also a business and moving to Munich was simply the next step in my career. I want to win a championship and I think I’m in the right place. I was happy in Ulm and I will be happy in Munich. Many players want to play for FC Bayern Bayern and I was allowed to take this step now.

basketball. de: You won the main round with Ulm last season. That should be the target now.

Hobbs: Absolutely. As an athlete, you always try to be the first. However, winning the playoffs is even more important than winning the main round. There is a lot of pressure on FC Bayern, but I hope that we will achieve our goals.

basketball. de: How do you think back on the games against Bavaria? The Ulm winning streak was finally brought to an end last season by FC Bayern Bayern.

Hobbs: Bavaria has always been a very physical team. I can remember many thrilling duels – also in the Eurocup. In my opinion, last season Bavaria played the best defense of the league. We often had massive problems with them. It was clear that our winning streak would end at some point. The fact that it happened against Bavaria in our own hall was annoying, but today no longer a big issue for me.

basketball. de: In Munich you play as Point Guard. The position which was probably the biggest weakness in the Bayern team in recent years. Do you feel any particular pressure in this respect?

Hobbs: No, Bavaria had good build-up players, but maybe they didn’t fit perfectly into the system. As an outsider, I’m not very good at judging this. I don’t feel any special pressure, but only try to fill out my role in the best possible way. I’m more of a pass first player and I think I’m a good match for Stefan Jovic, who is also a great passerby. We will try to bring in our leadership qualities and to fulfill the expectations that are set in us. Personally, I want to organise the game for my team. I have always done that during the last few years and I think the coach expects me to do that.

basketball. de: When you look at your career, you realize that you didn’t take the “normal way” for a professional. For example, you played for a division II college and then signed in Australia.

Hobbs: Yeah, that’s right. The college was only 15 minutes away from my home and I didn’t really want to play professional basketball after college. So I didn’t give much thought to the choice of college. I was able to graduate the degree I wanted. I was able to stay near my home. Everything was fine, although it was certainly not the normal way – if I look back today. Now I’ve seen a lot of the world and played my way up through various leagues. I wouldn’t do it differently today.

basketball. de: Who made you try professional basketball after all?

Hobbs: That was my father and an assistant coach at college in Bellarmine. He had played in Australia and so it came to pass that I went there first. The contact to Europe was ultimately established through my agents.

basketball. de: You didn’t even sign in the highest league in Australia.

Hobbs: That’s right. It was kind of a semi-professional summer league, but the time there was amazing. I love the Australian continent and life there. Everything is very relaxed and you can enjoy the advantages of life. (laughs) The payment wasn’t particularly outstanding, but I was interested in the experience. And it was priceless. The money really didn’t matter, my wife and I wanted to see as much of the world as possible. Today we sit here, let’s see what else my career brings with it.

Page 1: Hobbs about his move to Bavaria and the adventure of Australia

Page 2: Hobbs on his enthusiasm for criminal investigation and his love of Germany