Today, Germany lays claim to a Top-10 FIBA ranking. But the road to trading elbows in the post as one of the world’s finest international basketball teams is more than a generation in the making. Rewind: A desolate scene: German basketball, the final decade of the 20th century rapidly approaching. The country had reunified, sure - but most of its truly elite players were focused on the rigors of making it in the NBA. Like most of the rest of the basketball-viewing world, young Germans were amazed by the United States’ “Dream Team” in 1992. And by that time, a young Dirk Nowitzki was alr ...