>>150720381 (OP)
Before Schrempf, nobody even knew this sport except from TV shows
Then Dirk appeared and actually got people hooked for the first time. That's when kids started playing and sponsors started funding the sport. That generation is now playing for the national team. It's up to them to grow the sport further so that the talent pool grows and the structures become more professional
Interest in the German league is somewhat rising as well, but there's a lot to improve. If everything goes well, this is only the beginning. If they fuck it up, we'll be mediocre again in 10 years and will have to wait for another Dirk to kickstart the cycle again
There are like 200,000 active basketball players in the entire country. Handball has 750,000, football is in the high seven figures. The sport still is mostly limited to the big cities and a few dedicated smaller towns that got hooked early on and now have to defend their position as bigger locations get involved
It's a neat sport for the most part, I hope we can improve further. After from ice hockey, it's the sport I want to see growing the most here