PIESTANY (FIBA U18 European Championship 2017) - He is only 17 years old and not in possession of a driver's license yet, but Germany point guard Jonas Mattisseck has already been handed the keys to the team's second unit at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2017.

The 2000-born Alba Berlin prospect has done well to justify coach Harald Stein's trust and has largely delivered on every opportunity he got in Piestany. In spite of picking up a pair of losses against Turkey and Montenegro in Group A, one thing the fairly-balanced Germany side can take positives from is the off-the-bench production.

"The depth of the team is definitely a strength of ours. It is a long tournament and seven games is a lot. We need to keep up that intensity and keep everyone involved in the game. That can help us going forward."Jonas MattisseckJonas Mattisseck

Leading all other teams in the tournament by a substantial margin, the reserve unit collected 41 points both in the tournament-opening 70-61 defeat to Turkey and the 81-73 loss to Montenegro that came the next day.

"The whole tournament is like a roller coaster ride so far, but we need to get up again and win the next game. I think everyone feels pretty comfortable," Mattisseck, who was among the individual standouts on both occasions, told FIBA.basketball.

Having carved out a 20-minute role for himself at the FIBA U18 European Championship, the up-and-coming playmaker is averaging 11.0 points and 4.0 assists in the first couple of games and has done a fine job of scoring the ball and running plays for his teammates.

Missing a couple of the generational players in Isaac Bonga and Nelson Weideman, both of whom played at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017 in Cairo earlier in the summer, Germany extended the rotation of evenly-matched players by bringing in three more 2000-born talents for the tournament in Marco Hollserbacher, Matthew Meredith, Hendrik Drescher.

"I took confidence from last year’s FIBA U16 European Championship. That’s why I have played like this in this summer’s tournament. In spite of being a year younger than the other guys, I also think I play a little bit of a leadership role on the team as well."Jonas MattisseckJonas Mattisseck

"I think that's a great opportunity for me as a younger guy to get that role as one of the leaders. We have a great team, our team spirit is very good. Everyone is involved and everyone is a key piece of the team, with an important role to fill," Mattisseck looked on the bright side of the situation.

"The depth of the team is definitely a strength of ours. It is a long tournament and seven games is a lot. We need to keep up that intensity and keep everyone involved in the game. That can help us going forward."

After a stellar showing at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2016 in Poland last summer with all-round contributions of 9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, the 2000-born guard has transitioned seamlessly to the U18 level.

"I took confidence from last year's FIBA U16 European Championship. That's why I have played like this in this summer’s tournament," the player said. "In spite of being a year younger than the other guys, I also think I play a little bit of a leadership role on the team as well."

A fearless competitor on the court and a terrific shooter and a recent Basketball Without Borders camp invitee Mattisseck sees the summers with the national team as an opportunity to take his game to the next level and become a better all-round player, especially with the coaching staff making plenty of time available for skill training.

"I've worked a lot on becoming a better scorer this summer. Not only in terms of shooting threes, but also improving on getting to the basket and finishing in a variety of ways," the player explained. "We practice a lot as a team, but the coach also puts big emphasis on individual training during the summer, so we also get to improve skill-wise during our time with the national team."

And when it comes to winning, Germany will have another opportunity to get on the board at the FIBA U18 European Championship when they face Russia in their final Group A fixture at the Diplomat Arena in Piestany on Tuesday.

FIBA