The German club made history by facing the Portland Trail Blazers, but how did the game come about?
Ulm and its basketball program attracts NBA attention
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10 Mins read
Last night, ratiopharm Ulm took on the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. Yes, you read that correctly.
Many people must have been wondering why Ulm, currently playing the BKT EuroCup, received an invitation to play the Blazers in an exhibition game in the United States – a contest that saw Portland come up on top, 110-100. Euroleague.net’s Javier Gancedo decided to throw a little light onto it by talking to Ulm sports director Thorsten Leibenath.
It has been a process that started many years ago in a very simple way: Ulm wanted to do things differently and its owners encouraged management to think outside the box. Leibenath joined Ulm as head coach in 2011 and became the club's sports director in 2019. Since then, Ulm has invested in young players, Brazilian talents and low-profile college players that have gone on to become Turkish Airlines EuroLeague stars.
"Ulm was known for going in an unconventional way even before I started there. Credit goes to my bosses, who always felt: 'Let's try to be unique in our approach.' And back in the days when nobody was investing into German players, my bosses hired Robin Benzing and Per Guenther. And back then, their approach paved the way to where we are now," Leibenath told Javier Gancedo before the game against Portland.
"We would always go with young and unknown players and would be willing to take bigger risks. We also signed [future EuroLeague and NBA center] Daniel Theis when he was really young and gave him a big role. So, this is nothing totally new."
Its young players program did the rest. When Ulm introduced its Orange Academy, things got even better, up to the point of winning the German League title in 2023.
"When we were able to take the next step is when we knew we would have our practice facility. And with that, we had another good reason to convince young players to come to Ulm,” Leibenath continued.
“And I think the latest success in the past years has a lot to do with our infrastructure, having the campus and having better opportunities to develop players. And then obviously, once you have success with one or two guys... we had success with [NBA guard] Killian Hayes, we had success with Cristiano Felicio, then the next things fall into place. Then we got the next young talent, we got the next Brazilian player, and those things happened as a logical consequence because some of the pieces of the puzzle really worked out."
Why did the Portland Trail Blazers invite Ulm for a game?
Portland's invitation came, in large part, due to a couple of Ulm youngsters who are doing very well this season and are projected first-round picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. Born in 2006, Ben Saraf – viewed by many as at least a lottery pick – averages 14.5 points, 6.0 assists and a PIR of 14.8 in four EuroCup games. Then there is Noa Essengue – likely a mid-to-late first-round pick – who was also born in 2006 and has posted 12.2 points on solid shooting (66.2% 2FG, 40.0% 3FG), 5.8 rebounds and a PIR of 17.5 in four EuroCup games.
Understandably, the Blazers wanted to see them both up close and personal – and there were many scouts from other NBA teams in attendance on Monday night, too. Asked about why Portland called Ulm and not any other team, Leibenath agreed on the fact that the club's policy regarding young players made it happen.
"I was curious. I had to ask the question, 'How come you're interested in having us over there?' and this was one of the reasons that they explained to me: ‘It would be nice to see your young players that are in the program,’" he revealed.
"So yes, that's why I believe it definitely has to do with that. And it also gets to a point where they are super cooperative with other NBA teams as well. So there will be a lot of teams coming to Portland and watching us practice, watching us play the game, so they get a live idea of some of our talents."
But from Portland, what was the opinion on Ulm as an organization, particularly one that has such a reputation for bringing through young talents?
“They’ve turned themselves into kind of one of the premier prospect-laden clubs, I would say, outside of the U.S.," Portland assistant GM Mike Schmitz told Rip City Radio, the Blazers' pregame radio show. "I’ve gone there multiple times over the last handful of years just to evaluate guys who ended up being drafted in the first round.
"I was there in December 2023, have a friend on the staff who runs kind of their youth program there that gave me a tour of the facility, watched some prospects in practice, and then I mentioned to him, ‘Hey, I think we’re looking for another international opponent.' He connected me with their sports director who I’ve known for a long time, we started talking, and ultimately, we landed on this.
"I know initially, they were searching to play multiple teams out here, it didn’t work out scheduling-wise, so we’re really thankful that they made the trek over, I think they landed yesterday [Tuesday] at like noon in Seattle, took a bus, had a practice and they head out tomorrow [Thursday]. So, a short trip, but hopefully a productive one for them and really cool how it all came together.”
The only setback was flying to Portland in the middle of the season, but there was no other way. It has forced Ulm to be in the middle of a tour de force with six consecutive road games around the globe. Ulm beat Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius in the Lithuanian capital on October 8, played against Brose Bamberg on the road in German League action on October 12 and registered a loss against Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul on Monday, October 14.
After facing Portland, Ulm travels to Oldenburg, Germany for a German League game on October 19 and then faces Dreamland Gran Canaria in Spain on October 22. Its last home game was a German League showdown against MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg on October 5, and its next game at ratiopharm Arena is scheduled on October 26.
"I think Portland didn't really check our schedule, they just reached out to me and asked: ‘Are you interested in playing a preseason game?' And I have to be honest, I was pretty surprised when they approached us,” Leibenath said.
“And we were even more surprised when they then said, 'Well, we would like you to come to the States.' Then we had to check if this is logistically possible. And after checking, we felt OK and said, 'Let's do this.' This would be a huge opportunity for us as an organization.
"We were in no position to say 'no' to that opportunity. Like, I felt going to the players and telling them: 'Well, we were asked to play an NBA game but our schedule is tight, so we decided against it.' I don't think that's an option. Everybody would love to get an opportunity like that. And for us as an organization, it's also a big accomplishment. It's a huge honor and we simply felt we cannot say no to it."
Ulm has achieved unprecedented success with its current policy, and losing players to bigger budget teams every summer doesn't seem to be an issue. With Leibenath leading the operation, Ulm seems to be ahead of everyone with its next-guy mentality.
"For some clubs whose only goal is to win the championship, it might be negative to lose a player who really developed well. For us, it's positive," Leibenath added. "It's something really satisfying that a player will leave home because we kept our promise. And this is the exact reason why we will get a new talent like that. We helped them to really make the next step, and these are some of the promises we made when we sign somebody."
Finally, Ulm's trip to the States was seen as an opportunity to get even better. Not only did NBA teams come to check the team out, but Ulm also did its homework.
"I'm sure a lot of people will go to NBA.com, see Ulm and need to check again and try to find out who that is. So it's cool that we can bring Ulm basketball to the States, even though it's just for one game," Leibenath commented.
"We are super excited and one of the motivations behind it is learning from this experience. We can see a setup of an NBA game. We can see the arena. We can see how they organize everything around [the game]. We might check out their practice facilities. So for us this is also a great opportunity to learn, and that's why we're thankful for it."