Hamburg big man Dziewa is thriving in first stop outside of Poland

Making the jump between countries is rare among Polish players, but Hamburg's new big man has been everything the team wanted.

Aleksander Dziewa was ready last summer to make a move. The Polish center had accomplished just about all he could in his homeland, and he was looking forward to heading abroad. Landing in neighboring Germany with Veolia Hamburg Towers, the 26-year-old has thrived in his first taste of club ball outside of Poland.

With Hamburg's BKT EuroCup season coming to a close, Dziewa looks back positively on what he was able to do with his new club, one that he had come to know – and had come to know him – as an opponent in the EuroCup.

Dziewa spent the last seven seasons with Slask Wroclaw, helping the club jump from the third division to its EuroCup return in the 2021-22 season. The 2.07-meter center faced Hamburg in both of his two EuroCup campaigns with Slask.

In the first, he picked up 18 points and 10 rebounds in one game against Hamburg and posted 21 points and 7 rebounds in the second. Last season, Dziewa dropped 17 points and 15 rebounds in the first game versus the northern Germans before being limited to 8 points in their fourth game in two seasons. Despite Dziewa's strong performances, Slask was only able to win one of those games, a Round 6 home encounter in 2021-22.

"It's always my goal to give my best performance, but as an athlete it hits your ego when at the end of the day you go home with a loss," said Dziewa, who signed on a one-year deal with Hamburg. "I also vividly remember the crowd energy in Hamburg and I get to experience it as a part of Towers family this season."

Producing in Hamburg

Those games against Hamburg were not the only highlights of his EuroCup career, which consists now of 50 games total. He has impressive EuroCup career averages of 11.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 13.5 PIR. Those averages rank in the top 20 in the league for players since Dziewa made his EuroCup debut.

Wearing Hamburg's uniform this season, he poured in 28 points against London Lions in Round 2 on the road and also scored 23 points versus Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv in Round 13, as well as 21 points versus Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul in Round 6. All three opponents have since clinched playoff berths in Group A.

"It feels rewarding to see the hard work I put in everyday paying off on the higher level," said Dziewa, who is averaging 13.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in 16 games this season, "But it's always a bittersweet experience when in the end your team loses the game."

Moving to a team like Hamburg in a league like Germany seemed a natural step after Dziewa had helped Slask to top-three finishes in Poland over the last three seasons.

Abroad but close to home

Heading abroad "was always on my goals list in terms of planning my professional steps, especially after those last three seasons," he said. "It gave me the confidence so that, when I got the offer from Towers, I knew it was the right time to try myself abroad. I didn't hesitate to sign."

On why he chose Hamburg, Dziewa said: "I found their game style appealing. After a few talks with Coach Benka (Barloschky), he reassured me that I would get a leader role and potential to develop as a player even more. Hamburg is also within a car drive from Poland so it makes it easier to travel here with our two pugs for my wife."

Wroclaw is located about a two-hour drive from the German border and Dziewa says he actually took German lessons in school.

"I'm not too proud to admit that I learned German for six years back in school times, but it was a pretty long time ago, and since then I had no opportunities to use it, it sadly vanished from my brain," said Dziewa, who gets by a lot with Danke and Bitte – thank you and you're welcome. "Germans speak English at an impressive level. The rest I feel taken care of by the club, which I appreciate a lot."

Focus on improvement

Dziewa hasn't been able to take too much of an advantage of the cosmopolitan Hamburg as he lives more in the suburbs. Instead it's spending his free time on dog walks in parks or woods. He also has taken a trip to the local seaside. Dziewa has naturally been more concentrated on his job with Towers, and it was an adjustment going from the Polish to the German League.

"It's much more physical here. The game also happens much faster, so that forced me to put extra work in condition training to keep up with it. I still got some things to focus on, but I think I'm starting to adapt to that tempo," he said.

Hamburg is currently on the edge of the play-ins for the German League playoffs, so the postseason is his number one goal.

"My goal is to get better and better as a player, so I get to stay consistent on a higher level, test myself in European action and hopefully get some good results there," he said.