A new team in a new country, but DeAndre Lansdowne is still a Lion.
The 30-year-old professional basketball player from Albuquerque announced Thursday he had signed a new one-year contract with Basket Brescia Leonessa of Brescia, Italy. It is in the top league in the country, the Lega Basket Series A, also known as the LBA. The all-time leading scorer in the history of Fort Lewis College, Lansdowne had spent the last two seasons with Basketball Löwen Braunschweig playing in the top league in Germany.
The 6-foot-2, 193-pound guard announced he was leaving Braunschweig, which competes in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) last week and made his new plans official while back home in the U.S. this week. The opportunity with the Italian team was extra enticing because his new team competes in the EuroCup, the second-highest level of international competition amongst European club teams behind only the EuroLeague.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for me to take another step,” said Lansdowne, who was named an All-BBL Second Team shooting guard after the 2018-19 season. “Going into the EuroCup and international play was very important for the next step of the career I wanted.
“For me, it’s just part of the journey and all the goals and dreams I’ve put out there for myself. I’m looking forward to getting on the court and playing a whole new style of basketball in Italy with a new coach, new team, new environment, new city, new country and new fans. I love something new and am ready for a new challenge.”
Lansdowne’s new team already has a strong sense of the player they acquired.
“With a growing career in recent years, Lansdowne has a great shot from outside but, thanks to his physical skills, he can also attack iron,” said coach Vincenzo Esposito in a team news release. “He has a great predisposition to work and sacrifice for the team, to which he will give a big hand also in defense and rebound. Again, this is a person who puts the concept of team first, despite having very important offensive characteristics.”
During the last two seasons in the top German league, Lansdowne has been a star. During the 2017-18 season with Braunschweig, he averaged 14.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. That was up from 12.3 points and five rebounds per game a year earlier with the Hamburg Towers.
Lansdowne broke through even further during the 2018-19 season in which he averaged 18.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game on a team that went 17-17 overall and qualified for the playoffs before losing to top-seed FC Bayern Munich in a postseason series in which Lansdowne was unable to compete after sustaining an early ankle injury in the opening game.
“I think I’ve grown quite a bit,” Lansdowne said. “It’s partially from playing in the top league in Germany and being in that setting with so many big-name players. It’s a very high level of basketball. Also, my age allows me to come into a better understanding and feeling for the game. Every year I’ve been in the top league, I’ve gotten better as a basketball player, and the game feels slow to me right now. I’m confident in every area of the game from outside shooting, mid-range shooting, attacking the basket, making reads, finding open guys and guarding three positions. My game has grown, and I’ve grown as a person.”
Late nights, early mornings, sacrifices, extra hours for moments like this... pic.twitter.com/baZHBDLBjA
— DeAndre Lansdowne (@djlansdowne8) April 21, 2019
Lansdowne has played in Europe since 2015 when he joined Hertener Loewen Basketball in the second-tier German league. He immediately proved he could play in Europe with 22.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in 27 games.
A stellar four-year career at Fort Lewis College from 2007-11 saw Lansdowne score 1,861 points on 682 made field goals and 392 made free throws. His scoring record and made field goals record remain the best in FLC history, and his free-throw record was surpassed only by Alex Herrera (547) of Ignacio, who has followed Lansdowne’s footsteps in Germany in recent years.
“I definitely look up to him. I always have ever since college,” Herrera said. “He’s hit another couple levels higher, found a gear and just works and works. DeAndre is somebody kids should look up to.”
Lansdowne returned home to Albuquerque for four years after college before he received his first chance to play professionally in Mexico in which he put up eye-popping scoring figures. His long journey hasn’t always been easy, and he has blown away his peers with his work ethic to get where he is now.
“A quote cannot summarize how much work and effort Dre has put in to get to the point he is at in his career,” said FLC associate head coach Daniel Steffensen, a former teammate of Lansdowne’s. “Watching DeAndre over the last five years, it’s been more than hard work. It has been a transformation of a human. He has changed the details of his life. He’s been an inspiration, and I have been grateful to be part of it. I cannot wait to see what he does in Italy.”
Always a fan favorite, German fans showed their support and love as Lansdowne announced he was leaving. He is eager to entertain new fans in north central Italy and across all European boarders. He is also ready to play a different style in Italy that he described as more up-tempo than Germany.
“The Italian league has a lot of big-time scorers,” he said. “The German way is a little more methodical and maybe a slightly slower game, except for some teams. The Italian league is a little more athletic with more firepower. I’m comfortable with that and showing my athleticism.”
Herrera has played the last two years in Germany, as well. He has been with the Phoenix Hagen team in the second-tier of German pro basketball. He is currently a free agent and hopes to play in the BBL and continue to follow in Lansdowne’s footsteps next season.
Herrera, a 6-9, 255-pound center, is in the best shape of his life and is coming off a season in which he averaged 13.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game. He averaged nearly 28 minutes per game in 30 games played. That came a year after he played nearly 29 minutes per game and averaged 15.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots in 33 games.
“I’ve learned a lot these past two years in Germany,” Herrera said. “I’ve been around a great team with similar chemistry to what I had in college at Fort Lewis, which is hard to find over there. To finally have success in back-to-back years and show consistency has been good, but I definitely know I need to hit another level to get to the top league. I’m not satisfied.”
Herrera played at FLC from 2010-14 and is also the program’s record holder for blocked shots. After college, he played a year in Australia and then went to Finland for a season and then onto Spain before landing with Phoenix Hagen. Now, he is looking for his next opportunity to continue climbing the European ladder.
“I feel great physically and am confident,” the 2010 Ignacio High graduate said. “When you get paid to be a professional, you start to be a pro and do the extra little things you didn’t realize maybe you needed to do in college. This is a job, but it can’t last forever. I want to take care of my body and make it last as long as I can and go as far as I can take it.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
