Prospect Highlight: Janne Müller 2006 GER Bonn
Janne Müller is one of the top 2006-born prospects in Germany as a good sized point guard who can score. He has already excelled at the third division ProB while playing sporadically in the U19 NBBL.
Janne Müller will play the entire 2023-24 season as a 17-year-old and the Telekom Baskets Bonn point guard prospect has already shown he can more than hold his own in the third division ProB while also helping out - and dominating - in the Regionalliga fourth division and U19 NBBL.
Janne Müller was born in Bad Godesberg in the outskirts of Bonn and began playing basketball when he was 7 years old and started playing with BG Bonn 92 when he 9. That is the same club where his older brother Tim Müller (currently a youth coach with BG Bonn) and mother also played.
Janne in 2019 began playing with Bonn’s team in the U16 JBBL at just 13 years old. By the end of the main round, Müller was a critical part of the team, averaging 10.4 in his final four games before the Covid pandemic broke out in 2020.
Müller played in three games in the JBBL in 2020-21 and averaged 29.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists at 14 years of age. Against Mainz, Müller drained 8 three-pointers and scored 49 points to go with 8 rebounds and 3 assists.
In the 2021 summer Müller was selected to play for Germany at the FIBA U16 European Challengers 2021, where the team went 3-1, losing only to Poland.
Despite playing a year younger with teammates such as Martin Kalu, Joshua Bonga, Esli Edigin, Declan Duru and Johann Grünloh, Müller totaled 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal in a combined 32 minutes.
Back in Germany, Bonn jumped the scoring guard talent to the U19 NBBL team in 2021-22 - he had turned 15 in August 2021 - and he collected 11.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.0 steals per game in the regular season and those numbers increased to 16.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 0.6 steals in the relegation round.
Müller did play in the JBBL playoffs in 2021-22, totaling 56 points, 18 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals as Bonn/Rhöndorf beat Young Tigers Tübingen 2-0 in the first round. In the Round of 16 against PS Karlsruhe Lions, Bonn/Rhöndorf lost the first game on the road with Müller unavailable to play with an injury but bounced back to win Game 2 at home.
Müller collected 28 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists in Game 2 and he had 31 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals in Game 3 back in Karlsruhe. But Bonn/Rhöndorf and Müller had their hearts broken as Julis Baumer put back his own miss at the buzzer for a 77-76 victory to end Bonn/Rhöndorf’s season.
Müller in 2022-23 mainly played for Bonn’s second team in the fourth division Regionalliga though he also appeared in 16 games in the NBBL.
Müller in the youth league averaged 25.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals in the regular season, highlighted by his 45 points and 10 rebounds against Südhessen, a loss which cost Bonn/Rhöndorf a chance to stay alive for the playoffs. In seven relegation round games, Müller averaged 26.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals, including a 37-point outburst against OrangeAcademy. Müller shot 40.3 percent on three-pointers in the regular season and 32.7 percent during the relegation round.
In the Regionalliga, Müller was given plenty of playing time to work on his game and gain confidence of playing against older players - he played the whole 2022-23 season at just 16.
For the season he tallied 12.3 points on 32.7 percent three-point shooting, 3.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.6 steals and 1.9 turnovers. He scored 28 points with 4 three-pointers in an early November game and picked up a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds against Münster in early January.
In February 2023, Müller was selected to play on the Next Generation Team Patras at the Adidas Next Generation Tournament in Patras, Greece. Despite being a year younger, Müller collected 3.3 points and 1.0 rebounds in almost 14 minutes per game. He missed all four of his three-pointers and picked up 7 points against Bassano.
The performance with and against some of the best on the continent clearly gave Müller a boost in confidence. In his final 7 Regionalliga games following the ANGT, he averaged 15.0 points - albeit on 28.2 percent three-point shooting, 3.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.7 steals while committing only 1.0 turnovers per game while playing almost 30 minutes a contest.
This season, Bonn has used Müller with three different teams: the U19 NBBL, Regionalliga and ProB third division with Dragons Rhöndorf.
He has appeared in just two games in the Regionlliga fourth division, totaling 33 points with 5/5 three-point shooting, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers in 31 minutes and 38 points with 5/10 three-pointers, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 turnovers in 36 minutes.
Müller played in only five of Bonn/Rhöndorf’s 10 games in the regular season of the NBBL in the Group B West. He averaged 26.6 points on 6/17 three-pointers (35.3%), 5.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.6 turnovers in nearly 26 minutes.
His first four games were from early October to mid November and he sat out nearly a month for the team, but played the team’s important game against Metropol Baskets Ruhr on December 10. He poured in 34 points on 2/2 three-pointers and 12/15 free throws and grabbed 7 rebounds with 1 steal and 1 turnover in 37 minutes as Bonn/Rhöndorf won 87-83 to lay the foundation to reach the promotion stage of the season, remaining in the running to reach the playoffs.
Most of Müller’s playing time this season has come in the third division ProB - as a 17-year-old - for Dragons Rhöndorf, who are leading the south division of the league with a 12-3 record.
And he showed right away that he could hold his own with 12 points in just 14 minutes in his first game. After picking up just 4 points in the next three games, Müller again tallied 12 points against Oberhaching and collected 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists versus Ludwigsburg.
Müller’s best game of the ProB season came a day before the NBBL game against Metropol as he tallied 24 points with 3/9 three-pointers, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and just 1 turnover in 32 minutes versus Breitengüßbach.
Through 15 games, Müller is averaging 9.2 points on 29.7% three-pointers, 2.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.5 steals and 1.2 turnovers in 18 minutes.
Müller’s performances earned him Athlete of the Month of November for the Bonn General Anzeiger newspaper.
The newspaper article dated December 20, 2023, quoted the club’s youth teams director Francesco Tubiana as saying Bonn is looking at bringing Müller to the professional team. “Coach Roel Moors is already keeping an eye on him. We want to write this great story about a youth player who made it to the professionals.”
Tubiana added: “We are very proud of Janne. He is currently one of our biggest talents. … He practices a lot, never gives up, is well versed in the game and tactically and is a leader. On top of all that, he is a super guy.”
Müller is attending the Tannenbusch Gymnasium school, one of five elite sports schools in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. And he is looking forward to finishing his high school equivalent Abitur.
In an interview with the General Anzeiger newspaper, Müller said he wants to play for Germany at the Albert Schweiter Tournament in March and April in Mannheim and Viernheim.
“And then after that maybe college in the United States,” he said.
Müller said in the article that he would rather watch EuroLeague games over the NBA. And he always watches what the point guards do. Müller witnessed first hand guards like TJ Shorts and Parker Jackson-Cartwright while watching Bonn games in the stands.
Müller also said in a video interview that he likes to watch Luka Doncic and Devin Booker in the NBA.
“I like how calm Luka Doncic plays. He plays his own pace and controls the game. I still have to improve a lot because sometimes I am too hectic, too fast. I really like that about Luka Doncic,” he said.
And about Booker, Müller said: “I like his mid-range game. How he creates his shots and gets the best of his defender.”
In addition to the Albert Schweitzer Tournament, Müller has his eyes set on the FIBA U18 European Championship 2024. Germany should have a strong team with 2006-born talents Christian Anderson, Ivan Kharchenkov, Jack Kayil, Eric Reibe and Hannes Steinbach all returning from the team that finished third at the U18 European Championship in 2023 - the country’s first-ever U18 continental medal.
A top-five finish at the U18 European Championship in Tampere, Finland this summer would guarantee Germany a spot in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025 in Switzerland. Germany have not qualified for the U19 World Cup since 2017 with the 1998 and 1999 generation with Oscar Da Silva, Isaac Bonga, Louis Olinde, Richard Freudenberg, Nelson Weidemann, Ferdinand Zylka and Philip Herkenhoff.
That was a great opportunity for those players to show the world what German youth basketball is capable of. And it would another great stage for Janne Müller to showcase himself.
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