Crailsheim Merlins

Hakro Merlins Crailsheim

Leagues

Basketball Bundesliga

Founded

31 January 1986; 38 years ago

History

Crailsheim Merlins
(1986–present)

Arena

Arena Hohenlohe

Capacity

3,000

Team colors

Blue, Navy, Silver

Main sponsor

Hakro

President

Martin Romig

Team manager

Ingo Enskat

Head coach

Jussi Laakso

Championships

1 ProB

Website

crailsheim-merlins.de

Home

Away

Third

The Crailsheim Merlins, for sponsorships reasons named Hakro Merlins Crailsheim, is a professional basketball club based in Crailsheim, Germany. Established in 1986, the club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the highest professional league in Germany. The club is a part of the multi-sports club TSV Crailsheim. Home games are played in the Arena Hohenlohe, which has a capacity of 3,000 people.

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History

The club was founded on 31 January 1986 by a group of students. Until 1994, the team was only active at the lower local leagues and had problems in finding a hall to play at. A year later, the club found a new home in the barracks of departed American armed forces. In 2001, the Merlins managed to promote to the German second division, now the ProA, for the first time. A new home arena was found again, in the form of a renovated market hall.

In the 2013–14 season Merlins promoted to the Basketball Bundesliga, by reaching the ProA Finals.^[1] The club managed to avoid relegation in its first season in the league, because Artland Dragons was relegated the club received a wild card. However, in the following 2015–16 season the team was relegated once again after finishing last. In the 2020–21 season, coach Tuomas Iisalo guided the Merlins to their first Bundesliga playoff appearance in club history.^[2] Iisalo left Crailsheim at the conclusion of the 2020–21 campaign, Sebastian Gleim was named the new head coach.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2021–22 season, Crailsheim made its European debut as it was placed in the regular season of the FIBA Europe Cup. On 13 October 2021, the Merlins recorded an away win over Bakken Bears in their debut.^[3] The same season, the Merlins also reached the final of the 2021–22 BBL-Pokal, its first final appearance in the national cup. The Merlins eventually lost to 86–78 to ALBA Berlin.^[4]

Sponsorship names

Due to sponsorship reasons the team has been known as:

Proveo Merlins: 2007–2009
Hakro Merlins Crailsheim: 2018–present

Honours

BBL-Pokal

Runners-up: 2021–22

ProB

Winners: 2008–09

Players

Current roster

Crailsheim Merlins roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Age
SF	1	Cook, Keandre	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	85 kg (187 lb)	26 – (1997-05-01)1 May 1997
SG	3	Stuckey, Maurice	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	90 kg (198 lb)	33 – (1990-05-30)30 May 1990
SG	4	Baggette, Elias	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	70 kg (154 lb)	21 – (2002-04-28)28 April 2002
SF	6	Wulff, Luis	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)	90 kg (198 lb)	19 – (2004-03-14)14 March 2004
C	8	Oduro, Prince	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	113 kg (249 lb)	25 – (1998-10-27)27 October 1998
SF	9	Bleck, Fabian	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	105 kg (231 lb)	30 – (1993-03-19)19 March 1993
PG	11	Kindzeka, René	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	76 kg (168 lb)	28 – (1995-06-05)5 June 1995
SF	12	Murry-Boyles, James	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	95 kg (209 lb)	26 – (1997-09-01)1 September 1997
PG	19	Westermann, Leo	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	89 kg (196 lb)	31 – (1992-07-24)24 July 1992
C	21	Žejdl, Matěj	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	107 kg (236 lb)	20 – (2003-03-30)30 March 2003
C	30	Smith, Galin	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	107 kg (236 lb)	25 – (1998-12-29)29 December 1998
PF	10	Darden, Tremmell	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	100 kg (220 lb)	42 – (1981-11-17)17 November 1981

Head coach

Jussi Laakso

Assistant coach(es)

Daniel Herbert

Athletic trainer(s)

Marcus Linder

Legend

(C) Team captain
Injured

Roster

Updated: January 12, 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Head coaches

Period	Name
1986–1989	Dieter Wolfarth
1989–1990	no head coach
1990–1993	Markus Schmidt
1993–1994	Zoran Borovnica
1994–1997	Zlatko Nikolić
1997–1999	Matthias Braun
1999–2002	Zoran Banozic
2002–2004	Velibor Balabanović
2004	Marian Thede
2004–2008	Arne Alig
2008–2012	Ingo Enskat
2012 – November 2014	Willie Young
November 2014 – March 2016	Ingo Enskat
March 2016 – May 2021	Tuomas Iisalo
May 2021 – May 2022	Sebastian Gleim
May 2022 – November 2023	Nikola Marković
November 2023 –present	Jussi Laakso

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	German Cup	European competitions
2009–10	2	ProA	6
2010–11	2	ProA	6
2011–12	2	ProA	4
2012–13	2	ProA	11
2013–14	2	ProA	2
2014–15	1	BBL	18
2015–16	1	BBL	18
2016–17	2	ProA	2
2017–18	2	ProA	2
2018–19	1	BBL	16
2019–20	1	BBL	10	Round of 16
2020–21	1	BBL	5	Group stage
2021–22	1	BBL	9	Runner-up	4 FIBA Europe Cup	QF
2022–23	1	BBL	13th	Quarterfinals	4 FIBA Europe Cup	2R
2023–24	1	BBL		First round

References

^ "Crailsheim schafft sportlichen Aufstieg". Handelsblatt (in German). 27 April 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
^ "HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim – Historisch! HAKRO Merlins schlagen Bonn und qualifizieren sich erstmals in der Vereinsgeschichte für die Playoffs! Freitag kommt der MBC". hakro-merlins.com. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
^ "Tsmoki-Minsk survive fightback for OT triumph; Crailsheim, London enjoy debut road wins". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
^ "ALBA comeback from down 16, beating Crailsheim Merlins for the German Cup". basketnews.com. Retrieved 2 March 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crailsheim Merlins.

v t e Basketball Bundesliga
Seasons	1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Playoffs	1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022 2023
2023–24 clubs	Brose Bamberg Alba Berlin Telekom Baskets Bonn Löwen Braunschweig Niners Chemnitz Crailsheim Merlins BG Göttingen Veolia Towers Hamburg USC Heidelberg Riesen Ludwigsburg Mitteldeutscher BC Bayern Munich Baskets Oldenburg Rostock Seawolves Tigers Tübingen ratiopharm Ulm Rasta Vechta s.Oliver Würzburg
Awards	Most Valuable Player Finals MVP Coach of the Year Most Improved Player Best German Young Player Best Offensive Player Best Defensive Player All-BBL Team Most Effective Player Top Scorer
Other articles	Basketball in Germany German Cup German Supercup List of German basketball champions BBL All-Star Game German League System
Category

v t e Crailsheim Merlins current roster
0 Pritzl 1 Cook 3 Stuckey 4 Baggette 5 Townes 6 Wulff 8 Oduro 9 Bleck 11 Kindzeka 12 Murry-Boyles 19 Westermann 21 Žejdl 30 Smith
Head coach: Marković Assistant coaches: Herbert Linder

This page was last edited on 10 March 2024, at 22:08

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Transcription

History

Sponsorship names

Honours

Players

Current roster

Notable players

Head coaches

Season by season

References

External links