Finding a home across the sea
Easygoing nature helping ex-mule adapt to life in the Euroleague
Seven years ago, Alamo Heights center Ben Lammers stepped to the freethrow line in the first quarter of a road game at Clemens.
Chants of “overrated” echoed through the gym as fans tried to manipulate the mind of the 6-foot-10 senior, whose recruitment included scholarship offers from multiple Power Five programs.
Twenty-four points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks later, Clemens fans shouted a different mantra — “oneman team, one-man team” — as they watched Alamo Heights squeak out a 67-65 victory.
Even as a teenager, Lammers handled criticism and praise with equanimity. His poise was a blessing in tense situations, whether it was at the free-throw line against Clemens, guarding Duke’s Jayson Tatum in college, or adapting to life as a professional basketball player in Europe.
“He takes everything in stride,” said Andrew Brewer, Lammers’ coach at Alamo Heights. “I think that kind of predicted how easily he’s been able to adapt to life in Europe. He never gets too high or too low.”
Lammers’ father, Chris, was a defensive end at Texas A&M, and his proclivity for wreaking havoc on offensive players was passed down to Ben — just in a different sport.
Brewer noticed Ben’s shot-blocking ability as early as seventh grade, when he was 6-foor-2 and showing the potential to become an elite defensive talent. By the time he joined the Mules’ varsity team toward the end of his freshman season, Lammers was 6-6 and ready to make an impact.
“He was effective right away,” Brewer said. “Right away, he started blocking shots. He was not awkward at all, which was the frightening thing about it. He had a pretty fluid shot; he could run pretty well. He never had an awkward stage.”
During his three years as a full-time starter, Lammers led the Mules to a 9413 record, averaging a double-double with five-plus blocks per game. Miami, Stanford, Vanderbilt and other schools from major conferences competed for his services, but Lammers chose Georgia Tech.
“I was able to get, more or less, the best of both worlds,” Lammers said. “I knew I wanted some form of an engineering degree, and Georgia Tech was top five in the nation. Basketball-wise, it was with the ACC, which is one of the best, if not the best basketball conference in the U.S. So it means on a day-to-day basis, I’ll be playing a bunch of future first-round draft picks.”
The only player on the team who chose to endure the rigor of the Georgia Tech engineering program, Lammers worked to adapt to his chaotic new life in Atlanta. Besides the initial shock of living alone in an unfamiliar city, he had to balance the unforgiving academic workload with the challenge of playing against future NBA stars like Tatum, Marvin Bagley, Donovan Mitchell and Justin Jackson, among other ACC standouts.
Then there were other, less significant consequences of living far from San Antonio. Lammers laughed as he recalled a summer school course before his freshman season when his professor asked students to share their names and what they missed most about their hometowns.
“I said breakfast tacos,” Lammers said. “And half the class didn’t know what I was talking about. Like, I almost cried. You know, I grew up in San Antonio, I was raised on breakfast tacos. I just assumed everyone else had those, but apparently not.”
By his junior season, Lammers became one of the top players in the conference. He was the team’s second-leading scorer with 14.2 points per game, and his 3.4 blocks per game were enough to earn him ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
After battling some injuries during his senior season, Lammers wasn’t taken in the 2018 NBA draft, forcing him to make a decision about his basketball future.
Entering the engineering workforce was an option, but Lammers said he wanted to take advantage of his youth and explore his limits as a basketball player.
“My motto for the past three or four years has been, like, I can be an engineer when I’m 70 and can’t really move,” he said. “I can only play professional basketball for five to 10 years if my body holds up, so I might as well see how far I can go with this and enjoy the time I got.”
As Lammers made his decision to continue his playing career, Bilbao Basket of Liga LEB Oro — the second division of professional basketball in Spain — was surveying the globe for talent to help the club earn a promotion to Liga ACB. They signed Lammers, and the former Yellow Jackets center took off for Spain.
The adjustments for Lammers as he began his pro career were more substantial than those at Georgia Tech, from acclimating to a country that primarily speaks a different language to changing a major facet of his defensive approach.
“I remember this one time, in one of the first games of my professional career, I jumped up pretty straight, and I barely touched the dude,” he said. “Then he looked like he got shot and fell around and got a foul called. People will accentuate contact, so I have to make sure I’m doing it legally.”
A solid rookie season prompted Euroleague scouts to take notice of Lammers’ abilities, and the coaching staff at ALBA Berlin was looking for a replacement for its starting center.
“Our Spanish connections told us about Ben,” ALBA Berlin assistant coach Sebastian Trzcionka said. “It was exciting to see how he played defense. That was the first thing that came to mind, how he could defend, not only block shots, but also be able to move his feet. We saw potential with him.”
Playing in the world’s most competitive league outside of the NBA, Lammers became aware of the elevated talent levels he’d face on a regular basis.
“I play against guys consistently who start for the national team (of their home countries), or they were like the 16th pick in the first round of the NBA draft,” he said. “I’m consistently playing against guys who are very talented and very skilled. It’s fun for me, but it’s also obviously a lot more of a challenge.”
The first month of his Euroleague career started slowly, but as the season progressed, his scoring, rebounding and blocking output increased steadily. Lammers notched his first double-double in his 10th game, tallying 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks against Zenit St. Petersburg.
He’s since scored in double figures in 13 of his past 18 games, including a careerhigh 20 points against Bayern Munich in early February.
With the Euroleague season coming to an end, ALBA Berlin finds itself outside playoff contention. The future, however, is bright for the German club — particularly if the 25-yearold Lammers can reach his potential as he enters his prime.
“He’s a very quick learner, and adjusts pretty quick on the things we try to teach him,” Trzcionka said. “He can become one of the top five players at his position in the Euroleague.”
As Lammers pushes to reach his full potential, he’ll do so at his own pace with the quiet stolidity those who meet him find so endearing. It’s the same skill that propelled him to success in that rowdy Clemens gym nearly a decade ago, a strength in the teeth of tenuous circumstances that has laid the foundation for his career abroad.
And, perhaps after reaching the ambitious heights set by his coaches, Lammers can take comfort in the fact a steady engineering career — and a plate of breakfast tacos — await him when he comes home.