That's disappointing. I'd like to know too. Perhaps the Euro season starts around September when the Olympic qualifiers are on? We can't just throw any old big men out there and expect to knock off the Kiwis.

So far we are down Bogut, Andersen and Jawai. So who are we looking at playing?

I hope Khazzouh will be available, as I think he is the best centre playing in Australia by a long way and he would be a difficult matchup for the Kiwis, with Pledger not as mobile as him and Vukona too small.

Neville would be another option as he just played in the recent Chinese series and was pretty solid. His size would counter Pledger around the basket, though he might struggle with pick and roll defence a little.

Schenscher would be a like for like alternative to Neville.

Ogilvy would be a possibility if he came back to be part of the squad, but I suspect he might be in the same boat as Ando and Jawai.

I guess Baynes and Kickert played against China recently too, but neither were convincing enough IMO to entrust Olympic qualifying to yet.

Hopefully Wortho and Wagstaff will be available to counter Vukona at PF as well.

Worst case scenario - Australia doesn't make the olympics. Wouldn't everyone be chuffed then?

Are there any other international teams gong into olympic qualifiers that anyone knows of whereby 4 of their top players aren't available?

This is a problem IMO and Australia has to be one of the teams most hard done by.

Is Maric active?

If we lose to New Zealand we enter the pre Olympic qualifying tournament which is played about a month before the olympics and includes teams 6-10 from Eurobasket and a couple from Asia, Americas and Africa so all is not lost if we happened to lose to NZ...

curtley I was reading an article today that spain would have to find over $5 millon to conver the insurance for their NBA players, France could also be in the same situation. It was an ESPN article, but can't be bothered finding it sorry.

Avv NZ had to go through that route to make the WC's last year and still got through so has you said all is not lost, but I still think we can beat NZ

NZ actually qualified for the WCs by beating Australia in the 2009 Oceania champs. Luckily for us, there were two spots available and we got to go too!

As for next year's Olympics, only the host, the world champion US, the top two from Europe and the Americas, and the winner from Asia, Africa and Oceania go through directly. From memory positions 3-6 from Europe, 3-5 from Americas, 2-3 from Asia and Africa and the loser in Oceania go to the qualifying tournament.

Re: Aleks Maric, I think he would be in serious doubt given the injury run he has had the past 12 months. Hard to imagine Panathinaikos risking letting him play for Australia.

So odds are no Bogut, Andersen, Jawai and Maric. Luckily we still have the likes of Khazzouh, Nielsen, Ogilvy, Schenscher and M Knight. There are even guys like Baynes, Loughton, Nevill and Crosswhite. Great depth in the big spots.

As someone said earlier, matching up on Vukona will be crucial, and Worthington, M Knight and Wagstaff are three decent options.

BA just put out a release with the Boomers squad for camp, saying Maric was committed to joining the team in August. No Khazzouh, I assume unavailable, and no Daniel Dillon? That's a surprise given he looked right at home in the China series.

'Golden Star’ Boomers - Gold Coast Training Camp Squad (25 – 29 July 2011)

David Barlow, Aron Baynes, Jason Cadee, Peter Crawford, Matthew Dellavedova,
Anthony Drmic, Adam Gibson, Hugh Greenwood, Igor Hadziomerovic, Joe Ingles, Daniel Kickert, Matt Knight, Steven Markovic, Damian Martin, Patty Mills, Luke Nevill, Brad Newley, Matt Nielsen, AJ Ogilvy, Luke Schenscher, Nate Tomlinson, Jesse Wagstaff, Stephen Weigh, Mark Worthington.

My team out of that squad to face NZ would be:

Nielsen, Worthington, Ingles, Martin, Mills
Ogilvy, M Knight, Barlow, Newley, Gibson, Schenscher, Crawford

Possibly subsititute in Maric for Ogilvy or Schenscher, but only if he is fit and showing good form.

thanks paul was it the previous olympics they had to do the qualifier and didn't make it?

Anyone know if Mitch Creek was available? Strange that he wouldnt get an invite when he was the second best player on the team at the U19 WCs.

Disappointing that Khazzouh is unavailable. I think he would do really well in the international game.

Good news that Matty Nielsen will be back for the qualifiers though. His defence was good last World Champs and he should be able to ensure we don't get burned in the paint by NZ.

Hard to argue with many of your selections there Paul. I think the only spots I'd contest would be the ones at the end of the bench:
1) Crawford - have never really rated him and his shooting against China was just abysmal. Never going to make an Olympic or WC team.
2) Gibson - you can argue he'd be stiff to miss out, but I just don't think there's room for him and Martin in the same team (same skill-sets). You go with one or the other.

After Greenwood's shooting performance at the U19 WCs I'd love to see him get the 11th or 12th spot. Outside shooting is one of the Boomers biggest needs and he clearly meets that. I thought his ball-handling and leadership oncourt was outstanding too.

I think Wagstaff is the other guy from that list I'd strongly consider for an end of the bench role. He'd be a useful body to throw at Vukona/ BJ Anthony if Wortho got into foul trouble and Matty Knight was finding them a bit too nimble.

"Are there any other international teams gong into olympic qualifiers that anyone knows of whereby 4 of their top players aren't available?

This is a problem IMO and Australia has to be one of the teams most hard done by."

Curtley, NZ is always hard done by when it comes to Olympic qualifying.
Because there is only one spot available, we usually always JUST miss out and have to watch the Olympics at home whilst teams like Iran, Angola etc. get to compete at them. Oh and having the top players unavailable for your team is a common problem..The Boomers aren't the only ones that are affected by it. Brazil (Barbosa, Varejao, Tiago Splitter), Italy (Bellinelli, Bargnani, Gallinari), France (Parker, Pietrus, Diaw, Turiaf) all experience the same problems --Hence why none of these teams qualified for 2008 Beijing Olympics.

you would think the lock out and lack of insurance would stop guys like Parker and Diaw playing for France.
great to see NZ are not considered walk overs by the Australian basketball fans