Ludwigsburg. Lars Masell usually does his work quietly and on the edge of public attention. The audience in the MHP-Arena usually registers the 40-year-old with the bushy beard as an alert but calm advisor to his boss, John Patrick. During the time-outs or during short meetings on the bench, he gives the coach important information. But if you ask around for the reputation of the native Thuringian, you will quickly find out how much respect there is for the expertise of the assistant coach, who has been working for various Bundesliga basketball clubs for more than ten years. “Cool, competent and personable” is the reputation that Masell usually leads.
When Lars Masell takes his place next to “JP” in the MHP-Arena on Saturday evening, the BBL game against medi Bayreuth (8.30 p.m.) will be a very special encounter for him too. After all, before his move to the MHP giants last summer, Masell was in the service of the Franks for five years. He has an even longer past with trainer Raoul Korner: three years before they joined Bayreuth, Masell and the Austrian head coach worked as a team at the Löwen in Braunschweig.
The move to Ludwigsburg came about through the relationship with John Patrick. “Of course, leaving was difficult for me, but I wanted to develop personally, and the opportunity to work in Ludwigsburg was extremely attractive,” Masell emphasizes. “It’s fun to work together again after nine years, Lars brings a lot of positive energy and knowledge about the league,” said Patrick about the assistant who had already stood by him in Würzburg (2011 to 2012) on the line .
It is undisputed that the move has paid off for both sides. Masell, who grew up in Jena and went through the tough GDR school of competitive gymnastics as a teenager there, followed in big footsteps in the baroque city. After Lukas Varga, Martin Schiller, Joey Cantens and Josh King, who all started international basketball careers thanks to the Patrick school, the challenge was enormous. “But I’m not someone who treads on the spot, I like to tackle new things,” says Masell, describing his motivation.
He once studied sports science in Jena, after which he supervised all stations as a coach for U14 teams across all age groups and even senior citizens. “Even during my time in community service, it was clear to me that you wanted to be a basketball coach,” said Masell.
It is obvious that his ambitions to train a professional club at some point are evident in this vita. And here, too, the 40-year-old, who lives in Ludwigsburg, has clear ideas. “This is not a request concert,” he says, “but there are two sides: Either you always want to remain an assistant coach, or you want more: And with the second, there I am”. So when the jump to head coach will succeed is foreseeable. Lars Masell has a contract in Ludwigsburg until the end of the season, but he doesn’t rule out a further commitment: “I can hardly ask for anything better than working under John Patrick”, he emphasizes and adds: “There is Something new every day, the environment, the team, the players, everything is extremely professional, what more could you want? “
Masell has never lost his contacts to Raoul Kromer and the Bayreuth players. However, he is looking forward to the reunion on Saturday without much emotion. “You know each other, but what matters more is that we currently only have a few spectators,” says the assistant coach. The Franconians got off to an extremely successful start into the new year. After the success in the Frankenderby against Würzburg, the team also won the catch-up game of the 2nd BBL game day against BG Göttingen after a hard-fought match with 75:72 (36:35) and moved up to tenth place.
–
