Elias Harris of Brose Bamberg has been struggling with injury bad luck for the past two years, now the German international is fit again. In an interview with SPOX before the start of the BBL season, the forward talks to the game in Würzburg on Saturday about his time of suffering, the changed conditions in Bamberg, the dismissal of coach Andrea Trinchieri and the new task of the Basketball Champions League.
Harris also looks back on his time with the Los Angeles Lakers and talks about his missed chance in the draft.
SPOX: Mr. Harris, for the past two years you have had unbelievable bad luck with injuries and had to have two knee surgeries. Now you are fit again for the start of the season, you have fully rewound the program. How’s the knee?
Elias Harris: I feel really good. Sure, after a ten month break I had to find my way back in and get a rhythm, but now everything is as I had wished and hoped for it to be.
SPOX: How was that for you last season? They just came back from a meniscus injury and had to be operated again after a few games. At the same time, Bamberg was no longer sporting as usual.
Harris: It was very annoying because it was the same place again. Then, of course, you ask yourself whether you started too early again. On the other hand, I had no more problems at that time, I felt fit. That was all already very exhausting and annoying, also because it didn’t go like that with the team. I was desperate to help and condemned to watch. Unfortunately, that’s the way it is in the life of an athlete. I wasn’t the first one to have something like this happen and I won’t have been the last.
SPOX: Could you at least draw some lessons from that time?
Harris: That sounds a little trite, but you must never stop thinking positively. This attitude has helped me extremely during the time, even if it was not always easy. I have therefore tried to look only at myself and my health so that I can attack again this season. At the same time, I now have a completely different appreciation for sport. I know it myself from the past when I got up and didn’t feel like preparing or playing a game. Such an injury opens one’s eyes to how short and precious this time is in which one is allowed to turn one’s hobby into a profession.
SPOX: Sounds like you’re up to something this season.
Harris: Oh, yeah, I’m really in the mood. It used to be that one or two weeks more holiday would have been quite nice, this time it was just the opposite. I could have started a month earlier, but now it’s finally starting and I’m really hot.
SPOX: I’m sure your team likes to hear that, considering there were some changes over the summer. The budget is smaller, the average age is younger, and with Ainars Bagatskis there is a new coach. How do you rate these moves?
Harris: There is never a guarantee for success. When you looked at our team from last season on paper, you thought it was going to be a success. That was not the case, as you know. That’s why I’m always very cautious with such predictions, even though I think we have a good mix of young players, veterans and some boys dangling in the middle this year. After our preparation I also think that the characters fit well together, which is essential for a good season.
SPOX: You’re talking about last season, when you ran the risk of missing the playoffs before the release of coach Andrea Trinchieri. You were able to observe this from the sidelines. What conclusions did you draw?
Harris: That’s hard to say, but we showed character when we were in ninth or tenth place in February. The train seemed to have left and yet we finished third and played a good playoff, considering how low the expectations were. But you have to be honest and say that the spark never really jumped.
SPOX: Was there also a certain wear and tear between the team and the coach noticeable? You have experienced Trinchieri all the time in Bamberg and can confirm that he was always very demanding.
Harris: In any case he is extremely demanding. But I have learned a lot from him and owe a lot to him, but that there were signs of wear is quite possible. But that varies from player to player, as does how you react to a coach like Trinchieri. He’s very spirited and it can happen that you can’t reach certain players anymore. I can’t say whether that was the ultimate reason for such a season. There were certainly even more factors that played a role that the club decided to pull the rip cord.
SPOX: With Bagatskis the complete contrast programme is now on the side line, a coach who appears much more introverted than Trinchieri. What are your impressions of him?
Harris: I’m honest, I didn’t know him before and like everyone here I was very curious what his idea of basketball was. And you said it, he really is the complete opposite of Andrea. In the first two weeks he didn’t even get loud and brings a lot of patience with him. I can’t really compare the two, they’re so different. This is also further proof that a new era is beginning in Bamberg. We have to be open to new things, especially older players like me, that will be very important.
SPOX: Another new development is that Bamberg will be competing in the Basketball Champions League for the next five years. How did you take that on board, especially considering that you probably extended your contract in Bamberg for a long time when the EuroLeague perspective was still there?
Harris: Of course everybody wants to play EuroLeague, because there are a lot of well-known teams there. But we have to accept these new challenges. Nobody played Champions League here, nobody knows how good the opponents really are. We shouldn’t be fooled, there are also enough teams in the Champions League who know how to play basketball. We must not underestimate this under any circumstances and we must not think that it will be a success just because we come directly from the EuroLeague. Because we haven’t won anything yet, instead we have to be very careful.
SPOX: Can the Champions League also be an advantage for Bamberg? Keyword load. In the EuroLeague, the BBL was joined by 30 guaranteed matches in the Regular Season alone. In the BCL, there will be a few fewer.
Harris: Anyone who has ever played in the EuroLeague knows how many grains it costs. It’s incredibly heavy, so the Champions League load will be a little less. But I have to warn you once again: we have to be careful there. There’s no blind people walking around. We have to take this and not look at it and ask: ‘Champions League? What are you doing now?’ I am certainly looking forward to it, also because I had to watch long enough, and will fully accept this competition.
Page 1: Harris about his serious injuries and the Bamberg problems last year
Page 2: Harris about the season, the development in German basketball and his time in the NBA