Great to see Longley in there.

Interesting that there's no Bevo.

Doubt Bevo would consider being an assistant after being overlooked for the main job.

Great to see Luc back and involved.

I think these appointments are quite smart!

Longley can offer a lot, whilst Downer has the skills needed...

And of course, none of these guys will have a knife in their back pocket!

Appointments are definitely smart LC, and really great to see them not going over the top with heaps of assistants. This will give Andrej a real opportunity to implement his system over the entire team, both offensively and defensively. Luc will be a great assistant, and in particular will look to exploit the strength we have with our current bigs. If he can help guys like Jawai, Maric and Ogilvy the way he has helped Baynes, we'll be in a great position come Spain 2014.

No room for Marty?

What development are they talking about during the Olympics? I only saw a team that for half of the tournament were afraid of their own shadows, and unable, unwilling, or not allowed, to back themselves and take the game on. 8th was a poor performance. But then that's the problem with our program from the bottom to the top - happy in our mediocrity.

It will be a good experience for Luc to be able to finally learn so much from a guy like Bogut.

thechief - Firstly, we finished 7th, not 8th. Considering the 7th place finish and 3-3 record matched our performance in Beijing, despite the absence of our best player, then most would suggest that would be worthy of a pass mark. Secondly, the development 'they' speak of would be in relation to our bigs whom Luc worked with, in particular Baynes whom Luc mentored closely, and you'll most likely recall that he went on from his London experience to be a Euroleague star and is now plying his trade in the NBA.

thecheif... have a look at the nations who placed higher then us.. USa, Spain, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, France.... Its basically a whos who of international basketball.. Yes, we were lacklustre early in the tournament but by the time we beat china we were actually the 'in form' team those last 3 games and We looked very respectable our first 3 quarters with the USA.

So Marty Clarke goes from having a job, and a spare one also....to having nothing (that we know of).

Seventh is a credible performance. With the way the basketball landscape has changed top 8 is almost as strong as finishing 4th in the 80s and early 90s.

Having said that thechief does make a valid point about the team looking lost early in the tournament. After four years preparation there is no excuse for that.

Some players have spoken of not knowing what the team's identity or their roles were and that's the key thing Lemanis has to get right. Players need to feel comfortable in the style and the consistent roles they are given.

Given the way the breakers have played under the new Boomers coach, I think he can handle assignining roles and responsibilities to the players...

A gold medal should always be our aim. Im sure Spain thinks that and we used to beat them back in the day.

The statement Longley made below is exactly why we are going to fall further down the table of international B Ball.

"I grew up in the Boomers with (Mark) Bradtke, (Andrew) Vlahov and (Shane) Heal, and I had (Phil) Smyth and (Larry) Sengstock as the guys I looked up to," he said.

"I didn't grow up wanting to be like Karl Malone in the NBA."

I think maybe you should have Luc. Having Smyth and Sengstock as the guys you looked up to is the reason why you where constantly yelled at by Jordan. The Mailman is one of the best power forwards to ever play the game.... and you looked up to Phil F##king Smyth and Larry Sengstock ?!?!?!!!

My advice to the Boomers....don't even bother suiting up.

F##king Smyth ?!

Anyone got any early mail on what sort of game plan Lemanis will likely run for the Boomers?

Seriously... Shut up Glenn. Most pessimistic asswipe on the site... I was surprised you didnt throw Ingles in?

And yes, I dont think Luc Longley was all that great, but hes Ok and does have experience.. could turn out to be a better advisor then he ever was player, we already see the fruits of that in Aron Baynes emergence

Geez.....vote 1 for the banning of Glenn. What a knob.

Im gonna lay this down and then not post again.

If you want to try and be the best then you have to play like the best. At the moment the Boomers arent coached and arent playing anything like the best. They use to have heart and grunt. But now.....nothing.
They rely on the hope that Bogut will lace up but more often than not due to commitment or injury he can't. They need to prepare and train like he isnt going to be there. And when he is there.....they cant put the teams hopes on him anyway. It isnt fair.
Having someone coach you who grew up watching mediocre players like Phil isnt a good thing. He needs to take what Phil Jackson taught him and try and use that.

My point to all this is that you will not win if you teach the players how to play like the South Eastern Melbourne Magic circa 1991.

At least they arent being coached by Rob Beveridge. HEY ROB !!! IT"S CALLED TRANSITION....IT NEEDS TO BE QUICK AND SURGICAL !

Glenn, I think maybe you should've taken what Longley said about Smyth and Sengstock v Malone with a pinch of salt? He said what he is supposed to say, so that noone accuses him of disrespecting Aussie ball. That way he can get on with actually trying to help our current Boomers get better instead of getting into a pointless flame war in the media!

I think if you actually talked to Luc, he would tell you all about how much he has learned from Jordan and Pippen and Jackson and other NBA greats.

Having said that, there is no doubt that the quality of local basketball has gone backwards and coaching must have something to do with that. We just don't produce many players with the skill level to match the best American and European players.

This is never more obvious than when you look at the complete lack of shooting ability amongst elite players in this country. Why don't we produce any Gazes, Heals, Mahers, Pearces, etc anymore?

Beanstown has hit on a point about world class shooters, there is no heal/gaze or even Maher any more. I have to disagree on one fact, our ability to make world class players... We have more players scratching at the NBA's door then ever... The fact that very few may make it is irrelevant I dont remember a time where so many Aussies were spoken of as even outside NBA chances.

What I will say, is I think Lemanis is all but too aware of this need to get world class shooters, this is why Cam Gliddon, Clint Steindl, Ben Madgen are in the squad right now. We all know none of these kids are Boomers A grade material right now, However, we sorely need one of them to become it... Or we need Ryan Broekhoff... We sorely need credible outside shooters as all we had in last olympics was very streaky.

What I saw at last Olympics was a team that was really only a few elements away from being a medal threat. Those elements however arent easy to get.... We need someone, a go to guy who can get a bucket when the whole system has broken down.. and we need a few 3 point threats that are consistant. Defensively, we were one of the best teams in the tournament... Lock those elements in and We can trouble the best teams. Until then, we will be the best of the rest.

What I will also add, is looking at the quality of some of the college kids making the camp, it is a little alarming how far we fall off after our 1st and 2nd teams. When you start looking at Daniel Johnson, Cadee, Mitch Norton etc.. It is obvious that outside our top 20 or so.. we dont have many guys you would trust on an international court. I think this is why the camp is happening, they want to mould these guys into more then they already are.

YouknowME - good thoughts there.

Some of the college kids being looked at will be our go-to guys pretty soon, as well as our outside shooters, so I'm getting really excited about 2016 and beyond.

Outside shooting has long been a concern, and I've quite often questioned (including on this forum) how the AIS system continually churns out players that cannot shoot the basketball. It would seem to me that if you spend 2-3 years on a basketball scholarship, practicing twice a day most days, then you should be a GREAT shooter, not just a good shooter, but a GREAT shooter. However, its just not the case. I don't understand why they do not employ the services of a full time shooting coach. If our nations elite cricketers can have batting and bowling coaches, then it would make sense for our elite basketballers to have a shooting coach. I recently watched a youtube clip of Emmett Naar breaking an AIS record on the yugo drill, and whilst thats great that he broke a record, his jumpshot is fatally flawed, and I doubt under intense pressure (eg. defence all over you at the end of a close game) whether it would stand up. I implore Andrej Lemanis to rectify this, not only as Boomers coach, but as head of the COE, his first priority should be to appoint a full time shooting coach.

I completely disagree Anon^. The entire purpose of the AIS program is to develop players that show the potential to represent the Boomers and Opals at Olympics and World Championships. Surely one of the main points of emphasis of the program should be the proper development of sound fundamentals and skills in order to play the game the best that you possibly can.

Vart is completely right. I think the AIS as good as it is tends to churn out Basketball robots that are all around solid players but generally not experts in anything in particular... offensively unimaginative, and over all average shooters. It makes sense to me that they should have shooting coaches. I also dont un derstand how professional basketballers could get poor free throw percentages when I play simply social ball and I am up around 90%

I agree with Vart.

Sometimes you get freaks, sometimes it takes a lot of hours of effort to be as good as a Gaze or a Heal or a Grace. The AIS is supposed to pick out the talent and make it easier for the players to improve their skills.

Did the AIS concentrate too much on structured offence and handling the media and eating healthy instead of just fine-tuning the skills?