I think they would happy with 5 to 8.
I believe we are a pure shooter away from a probable chance of 5-8 IMO.

Not sure how it works but I assume its pooled like the world championships?
If so, has it been announce who we have in our pool? Might be able to sneak through abit higher if we can get a few big wins at the start?

Based on Wayne's comments about a pure shooter, does anyone think a guy like Oscar Forman has any chance to be in the squad purely for his shooting ability from long distance? The old 'zone-buster' theory!

I think if Bogut is healthy and Irving plays then top 4 is a chance.

As far as the placing goes, finishing outside the top 8 would be considered a failure I believe. To finish that low would mean a bottom two finish in the first round pool of six.

Even if Irving plays we'll have a team not particularly used to him playing against extremely talented teams that have been together for years.

Top 4 would be extraordinary. Top 8 would be realistic but with question marks over Bogut and so many Boomers riding the pine for their club teams it will definitely take some doing.

Is anyone really that confident of Irving even playing for us?

I think that Team USA would be putting a lot of pressure on him not to play for anyone else.

Ive said many times that I dont think the USA will release him without seeing him in camp, meaning he wont be available for Australia this year.

Given his NBA form, it would be a long shot they would release him at all.

Irving if you can get him is more than capable of knocking down the 3 ball, didn't see him miss in the Rookie Allstar game the other day

I reckon we have been riding on the coat tails of the women for quite some time.... think back to the 2001 disaster.

I understand the ASC takes a reasonably sensible view of performance and ranking. Qualifying is a major issue and we get rewarded for that for example.

Then I think they "get" that being #9 at the olympics in basketball is more meritorious than being #4 in the Olympics in Hockey.

To finish in the top 8 would be a great result right now I would say...top 4 would be sensational but probably unrealistic.

Looking at those which have already qualified, I reckon we could get into the top 8.
http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/who_is_in/p/men.html

Power-houses: USA, Spain, Argentina
Middle: Brazil, France
Weaker: Great Britain, Tunisia, China
Likely qualifiers: Lithuania, Greece, Russia, Puerto Rico

so what about some Olympic line-up predictions

Peter, I posted a 15 man squad last month. I don't think too much has changed since then;

Patty Mills
Brad Newley
Joe Ingles
David Barlow
Mark Worthington
Matty Nielsen
David Andersen
Andrew Bogut
Matty Dellavedova
Adam Gibson
Damian Martin
Aron Baynes
Nathan Jawai
Aleks Maric
Peter Crawford

Irving is having an amazing rookie campaign in the nba right now. If he continues wouldn't he be a lock for team usa in 4 years?? Highly unlikely he will suit up for Oz.

Just had a look at the countries already qualified for the Olympics and the teams competing at the FIBA Omympic qualifiers. We have:

USA
Spain
Argentina
Brazil
France
Australia
China
UK
Tunisia

Then through the qualifying I think Lithuania, Greeca and Russia will get throughg. Potentially NZ has a the slightest hope, they should make it to the semis (they have possibly the greatest draw ever) but then will have to knock off either Lithuania in their semi, or the loser of Greece and Russia.

So after all that, I would pick only the US or Spain chances for gold, with maybe Argentina or France as long shots (france is loaded with NBA players, but traditionally can't manage to do anything as a team).

I think the Olympics for Basketball is kinda like the world cup in soccer where it only takes one slip up and your out or one lucky/great game and you can go a long way. And because of this any team can beat anyone? except maybe for Spain and the USA. So I think Autralia should fit in with France, Argentina, Lithuania, Greece, and Russia for a spot between 2-8. And I definitly think that a bronze or a fouth place is possible given a good run, the team geling, and a lot of luck

Now that Lebron and Wade play on the same team doesn anyone really have much chance of beating the US?

Our team does not impress me at all, and so I would be stoked with a top 8 finish. (Assuming Kyrie tells us to GGF and Bogut is below his best, which I think are both fair assumptions)

For sure US are far and away favourites, but Spain has a bunch of NBA guys, and not just bench warmers but all star or all star near standard...and they play the euro style ball which until 2008 was the reason the US kept falling over on the international stage. Anyway can't wait to watch the gold medal match.

As for our chances, can't see Irving playing, but If Boguts doesn't injure his hearstrings and plays with some passion I think we can make some noise. IMHO Brett brown must run everything through Bogut like Utah did before he got drafted, and the Bucks did for a half a season just before he f@#ked his elbow up. Then we need guys stepping up and knocking down open threes when the defense collapses down on Bogut and guys like Mills, Newley and Barlow attacking the basket from the weakside on the rotation...really everything depends on Bogut and Browns use of him. Good bigs go a long way in Euro and international ball

Also a few Mills-bogut pick and rolls could be pretty nasty too

does anyone actually know where they are at with Irving. are basketball Australia pursuing him.

because i swear he has stated before on his twiter about the boomers...

BA are keen, but if Irving decides that's what he wants they still need both USA Basketball and FIBA clearance.

BA are definitely pursuing Irving. He said he'll make a decision soon. I know BA want to announce the Boomers squad in April, so hopefully something happens before then.

The FIBA clearance will be a formality, the USA Basketball clearance not so much! But the first step is Kyrie has to decide what he wants to do.

Kyrie Irving is AWSOME, definitely a Top 10 NBA pg, but in the next 8 to 12 years will he better than;

Derrick Rose
Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Russell Westbrook
Rajon Rondo
John Wall

he may get to a level where he is "on par" with the bottom 3, but he won't be ahead of Rose, CP3 or D-Will and if you wanna play for Team USA as a PG you need to be in the top 3.

Now that I've decided he's not gonna play for Team USA, what's the likely hood of Irving and his people seeing it that way, THEN deciding to play for Australia? not likely but possible.

If he plays for Team AUS this year - WOW, Amazing. But if he doesn't I think he may end up choosing Australia in 2016 - unless 1 if CP3, D-Rose or D-Will fall over, but even then he's gonna have to be better than Westbrook, Rondo & Wall.


What do people think?

I reckon he'll hang onto the dream of playing for the US, but will never actually get to the Olympics because of all the good PGs ahead of him.
By the time the batch of outstanding PGs ahead of him become too old, the selectors will be looking at the guys coming up behind him. He'll get lost in the middle.
His only hope is to become better than Wall, Westbrook, Rondo, Williams & co, which I can't see.

Im not sure Rondo is considered amongst the USA's best for international ball.

i don't think kyrie will get lost in the middle at all. dot forget who the coach of team usa is. and leading up to the draft coach k was explaining how he changed his whole duke offence to suit this kid. he plays like a veteran and judging by his shooting numbers this year he could even play off the ball at international level.

he's in his first year and he's already better than wall i would say. he plausible like a vet and he finishes unlike the last bloke we had playing for the cavs .

he has plenty of comparisons to Chris Paul especially before going to college. so i think in 2/3 years i think he will be in that top 3 area. especially as the cavs get better with him.
so i don't think hell got lost. i just honestly believe he wants to play for aus . he said it so himself i swear. he probably just wants the challenge.

Jacob, it would be SOME challenge to carry our team. If we got him, the news media would start talking about us playing in the final, and anything less than that would be made to be a disgrace.
I can remember the way our ability was over-hyped before the last soccer World Cup, and the hatchets that came out after we lost the first game to a very good German team.
They're almost as feral as the English media.

Few players can carry teams at the international level. Not even Nowitzki. Durant did it, but he had an awesome defensive unit behind him.

i think it would be more of a challenge to take Australia to a final four then to take America to gold. your right it would be a hell of a challenge and your also right in that not many players can do it. but nowitzki and durant aren't point guards. no matter how good they are they're not running the show like kyrie would be for us. heck some would say durant isnt even running the show at okc ... he'd also have a very good surrounding cast. heck look at spain jose calderon had a good front court and now they're playing at an elite international level. we have bogut and other pieces put with kyrie we should be aiming for that medal.

Yep comes down to a fit Bogut and Irving, if both play we can challenge for a medal. Without them, no chance. I really believe Irving wants to play for Austrlia, guarenteed starting PG in an olympics should be hard to refuse. 4 years would seem like a lifetime to wait if he was to represent team USA

Jacob, Spain have been great with and without Calderon. I struggle to think of a PG whose carried a team internationally. Nash was great in 2000 but Canada finished 8th from memory. Parker is a top notch PG but hasnt been able to carry France to great success despite having a good supporting cast. Maybe this year will be different? We will see.

For me, basketball is such a team game no one player can succeed without a very cohesive team around them.

paul, what about Shane Heal..

; )

Canada and France ? exactly there one man teams. wed have bogut and irving two first picks are you kidding...

and add mills and Anderson to that list nba players. ingles barlow newley.

safe to say wed be alot better than France and Canada

.