Tell us a little bit about growing up in Germany. How was your experience just growing up in Germany around basketball? You know, you were always very, very competitive. Where did you get all of that from?” Dennis Schroeder “I mean, in Germany, nowadays it’s so easy — I would say, as a black kid growing up in Germany, it’s easier now than back in the day when I was growing up. I had probably like three Black friends. That was it in the whole city, you know, and we had 250,000 people in my city. So, yeah, growing up, all these kids asking you questions, all these kids trying to get under your skin sharpened me. The mentality of it was, ‘Hey, it’s me against everybody else.’ It didn’t matter what we were playing — soccer, ping pong, basketball, skateboarding — I wanted to win. I wanted to be the best because I wanted to show everybody that I belong here. And, of course, my family — my wife says I got it from my mom because my mom is really competitive as well when we play card games or board games. And, yeah, I think I got it from growing up in Germany and from my family, of course — the same DNA: trying to win, trying to come out on top. And, yeah, that mentality sharpened me along the way.”

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: So, yeah, growing up, all these kids asking you …