Vart
Years ago

Some signs of life for the Aussie Boomers

Article from FIBA.com - http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/colu/p/newsid/51519/arti.html

MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - A lot of Australian basketball fans smiled when they saw the draw for the men's Olympic basketball tournament this week.

For those who missed the draw, the Australian Boomers drew Brazil, China, Great Britain, Spain and a qualifier from the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

When I wrote earlier in the year that New Zealand had received a favourable pool at the OQT, a friend asked if I really thought they had an easy draw.

The answer, of course, was no. There is no such thing in a major FIBA tournament, but their draw gives them a chance, and it is no different for the Boomers.

Turn up with anything less than their A-game and they will miss the quarter-finals. But play close to their best when it matters and they could avoid the top team from Group A - most likely the USA – in the first knockout round.

It was a dose of good news that was much needed after Andrew Bogut’s withdrawal from the squad, and follows on from some other signs of life in Australia’s campaign.

Things had been looking gloomy with many of our national team members anchored to their club team’s benches for much of the season.

But firstly Patty Mills got a couple of starting gigs for the San Antonio Spurs and promptly nailed 27 and 34 points. He also dished out 12 assists against the Suns.

Now it is true to point out both teams were resting players and the games counted for little, if anything, but you still have to put the ball in the basket and you still have to create those shots for teammates.

After Mills had spent a month playing in the lower-level Chinese league, then three months waiting for a CBA clearance and an NBA contract, any sign of form against any opposition is most welcome, let alone NBA opposition.

With Bogut gone, Mills will have to be Australia’s main scoring threat, and to see him in the top 10 for points per minute in the planet’s best league should warm any Boomers fan’s heart.

He is not alone in a recent resurgence either.

Brad Newley, after just three double-figure scoring efforts from October to March, has posted a dozen points or more points three times in the past three weeks.

After shooting a woeful 3-of-25 from long range at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship, Newley has made 7-of-14 since the start of April. Small mercies in the big picture, but pray that continues Aussie fans!

Nathan Jawai had 13 points and 13 rebounds for UNICS Kazan against CSKA Moscow in the final of the VTB United League, and averaged 14 points at 64 per cent and 7.3 rebounds a game in the Euroleague quarter-finals against Barcelona.

Now that’s stepping up against quality opposition.

David Barlow moved to the 4-spot for Murcia against Real Madrid and collected 16 points and nine rebounds. It would be good to see him used in tandem with Mark Worthington at the two forward spots for the national team to give opponents a different, more mobile look.

Sharpshooting Peter Crawford averaged 19.7 points at 39 per cent from long range against the New Zealand Breakers in the NBL semi-finals.

Even Aleks Maric got a good run for Panathinaikos in the Greek A1 semi-finals and collected 16 points in 17 minutes in Game 2.

Again small mercies, and yes there have been plenty of other games where these guys, and other Aussie squad members, have been stuck on the bench or not produced, but the picture is certainly brighter than it was a month or two ago.

If you could choose the time your national squad members were producing better form for their club teams you would take the end of the season every time.

A couple of camps, two games against China, three against Greece, two against Spain and a friendly tournament in France will fly by and soon the Boomers will be facing Brazil in their opening game in London.

So a bit of momentum coming into camp could work wonders for a team that still doesn’t quite know where it sits in the pecking order. I hope so anyway.

Of course, this whole discussion brings up the issue of whether Australia is well served by having so many players not only a long way from home, but also on squads where they don’t get a great deal of court time.

But I’ll save that for another time. For now Aussie fans should just smile with relief that something is finally going right for the Boomers’ Olympic campaign.

Have a great weekend.

Paulo Kennedy

Topic #28251 | Report this topic


Mystro  
Years ago

to bad he didn't mention any of the players that the Boomers will be going up against.

NBA Players Luol Deng, Tiago Splitter, Leandro Barbosa, Nene Hilarioe, Anderson Varejão, Pau and Mark Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Serge Ibaka, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jianlian Yi will be all playing in the Boomers group.
China are beatable and so are Great Britain but Spain will walk over the Boomers even without Ricky Rubio and Brazil have a very strong squad that should beat them also. Boomers might get 3rd spot in their group if they play well.

Reply #361304 | Report this post


natwhereyouat  
Years ago

Spain will also have Navarro out. I don't think Spain will spank the Boomers, think it will be close.

Does anyone know if Ben Gordon is playing for great brit?

Reply #361311 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

nat - Ben has stated that he will play for Great Britain in London. Though, he has committed before, and pulled out at the last minute. That having been said, the chance to be an Olympian (playing for the home side no less) will surely get him over the line this time.

Reply #361318 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Spain will annihilate the Boomers. How do you expect anyone to score points in the paint aganst Ibaka, Marc & Pau Gasol?

Reply #361320 | Report this post


Mystro  
Years ago

^ what Mick said.

Reply #361326 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

Why would Navarro be out? I missed that one. Regardless, it would take a massive effort to even get close to Spain, although they do tend to have an off night in each tournament.

Realistically we will lose that one. We have to beat China and GB but will still need to play well, cant have any 'Jordans' from 2010 and still scrape through. Then if we can have a good night against either the qualifier (I am assuming it is one of the European teams) or Brazil we could get third spot, but it will be tough.

Still, it is better than being on the other side of the draw.

Reply #361331 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

The reality is that we need to finish third or higher to have any chance at making the medal round. To do that, we will need a winning record, 3-2 at minimum. So based on that, I would think the coaching staff would be looking at our draw saying we have to beat Great Britain and China, the game against Brazil is 50/50 and we will likely lose to Spain. It could all come down to our final game against the qualifier.

Reply #361334 | Report this post


Mystro  
Years ago

I'd say looking at Brazil's player depth, 50/50 is a tad bit optimistic lol.
Great Britain potentially have 2 NBA players in Deng and Gordon and a fair few of their players play in Spain and Italy and I would also never underestimate the home team.

Reply #361354 | Report this post


ineedmore  
Years ago

Of course it's very important to stay positive.

I liked the comment re Patty taking on the scoring load with the Boomers with Bogut out.

Not sure how well that worked while in Melbourne..

Reply #361370 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

I disagree Mystro. Whilst Brazil might have four players currently in the NBA, I don't think that neccessarily makes them a lot better than us. Their strengths are in their bigs, as are ours. Their best player is a guard, as is ours. It'll really come down to the depth of players 6-12, and who plays their best game on the day.

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Vart  
Years ago

ineedmore - are you referring to the same Patty Mills that played in nine games for the Tigers, averaging 18.6 points per game (equal 1st in league) whilst leading the Tigers to a 6-3 record and equal top place on the ladder before he left for China?

Reply #361374 | Report this post


LC  
Years ago

Nice one Vart on both accounts.

And just because you have a couple of NBA players on your team does not necessarily make your team any better.

Reply #361382 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

You're right about the NBA players LC. Just ask France. They've had more NBA players than most countries for quite a while now, and they didn't even qualify for the Athens or Beijing Olympics.

Reply #361387 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

Boomers can get over GB (and should due to their increased depth). Boomers should beat China.

Brazil will be an incredibly tough game.

I watched them at the 2010 WC's and they were incredibly tough.

They just lost to USA 70-68, and pushed Argentina close (93-89).

Leandro absolutely tears up internationally. Anyone know if he is playing at Olympics?

Reply #361424 | Report this post


LC  
Years ago

And Vart, not to mention the Dominican Republic who have yet to qualify!

I would still love to see the Boomers beat a full strength GB and BRA and take it right up to ESP.

Reply #361427 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

if you talk about NBA stuff as well, people dont mention David Anderson and Nathan Jawais NBA experience.... we have 3 guys who have been in the league and a few who have made splashes in europe and also some who were a bit mediocre. We have a decent team we shouldnt sell ourselves wshort

Reply #361439 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

Check out following link, which is the boxscore from the last time we played Brazil (2006 World's);

http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/game/p/gid/1/grid/C/rid/4742/sid/3507/_/2006_FIBA_World_Championship/statistic.html

We beat them 83-77, and whilst I know that six years is a long time ago, the core of their team was very much the same (Barbosa, Splitter and Varejao all played). Whilst we had Bogut, I would argue that the team we are going to send to London is better, certainly deeper, than the 2006 squad.

I'd put our frontcourt of Andersen, Maric, Jawai, Baynes and Nielsen up against theirs anyday. And the Patty v Barbosa battle is a flip on the coin. It will be a tough game, as all games at the Olympics usually are, but Brazil should not be the outright favourite against us, even without Bogut.

Reply #361452 | Report this post


Mystro  
Years ago

Brazil's ranking doesn't reflect how good they are and I don't think "just" because a team has NBA players they will be good. Brazil has very good NBA players who have improved vastly since 2006.
I think the Boomers should get past GB and China and the other qualifier but Spain will win the Pool with Brazil second.
That's my opinion and I'll be stoked if Australia does well but I believe that is a realistic outcome.

Reply #361457 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

Vart, that is a massive leap you are making comparing the 2006 result, if only for the fact our two dominant players that day (Bruton and Mackinnon) are long gone.

But more for the fact that Brazil has a new coach and have performed at a much high level since. They had a chance to beat the USA on the last play in 2010, and lost to Argentina in one of the games of the tournament in the round of 16.

On recent form Brazil is better than us, but not so much better we cant cause an upset.

Reply #361458 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

Thanks for your comments Paul and Mystro. I do understand what you're saying, and I wasn't trying to 'compare' the result so much in that I was just trying to show that the core of the Brazilian team is similar, and that our team has improved. I probably didn't make that clear, apologies for the confusion.

All I'm trying to convey is that Brazil shouldn't be the outright favourite against us, and that this game should be viewed as a 50/50 contest as per my original comments.

Even with that in mind, it is still going to be tough run for the Boomers. We shouldn't count out the quality of the qualifier that could come into the mix as well. With the likes of Greece, Lithuania, Russia etc, the qualifier could be extremely tough.

Reply #361473 | Report this post


Mystro  
Years ago

regardless of outcomes it should be a good tournament.

Reply #361495 | Report this post


Vart  
Years ago

It's going to be an amazing tournament. For me personally, there is nothing that compares to Olympic basketball!

Reply #361500 | Report this post


sitiveni  
Years ago

Im looking forward to seeing some big hard pics from jawai for patty. i think this 1,2 combo might be a good one

Reply #361598 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Brazil will almost certainly be the favourite against a Bogut-less Boomers.

Reply #361602 | Report this post




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