Anonymous
Years ago
I heard Brian Goorjian on the radio suggesting that a Boomers medal at the Olympics should get the Australian public back into basketball and should give basketball in this country and the NBL a huge boost just like the Socceroos world cup campaign reviving soccer in Aus. Thoughts?
cringe
Years ago
Ditto.
I think we will be suprised at the Olympics by the European teams. They play the teamwork style of game that works so well at the international level; it'll trump any of the individual athleticism or skill that the USA can bring. Australia isn't hugely athletically talented OR much good at team play. Could get ugly i reckon, any thoughts?
I agree with cringe, it's a bit too optimistic to think Aus getting a medal. European teams are too strong. even if Aus gets a medal the popularity boost is still limited IMO. The fact Aus women is top of the world and hardly anybody knows about it...
Furthermore, I just don't think an American sport will ever be any big in Australia when you look at baseball (although Australian once were #1 as well I think), hockey and american football so I don't think it'd get anywhere. That's strictly my opinion though
PHD in SHot
Years ago
its not gonna happen but yes it would boost it 2 a degree, USA wont medal will be 4th and euro teams will be the top three
Kobe-for-MVP
Years ago
USA gold.
chris paul running the show with guys like melo, bryant and peirce.
peirce is USA isnt he? im sure.
Bully
Years ago
ummm KOBE-4_MVP
you are also forgetting one guy named Lebron James who really should dominate as he would b in the top 3 players in the world atm.
USA would gold it...with proper preparation don't see how they don't win it...kidd,kobe,lebron,melo,dwight...that's hellva starting line up to beat that's not just athletic but smart and experienced. with the deepest bench..wade, paul etc
World Cup exposure was huge for the socceroos. Even if we did medal I'm not sure the same hype would be there as for the soccer - the soccer had only one event; basketball at the olympics will be swamped by swimming, cycling etc.
Kingjames
Years ago
I don't think we are a chance at a medal. I also don't think USA are guaranteed of a gold medal as they are all individuals. All the players their whole life have been the go to player and then all of a sudden they are asked to play as equals. Thats why teams like Spain, Argentina that have played as a team have beaten the US. Also the US struggles against Zone's.
that's true to some extent, the biggest reason though is lack of preparation, US teams in the past simply didn't play together much before events while teams like argentina, spain are decent but have also played together for awhile. USA this time has done that preparation, so there's no excuse to fail this time
Kobe-for-MVP
Years ago
anon got a feeling kidd wont start. cp3 will get the PG.
cp3
bryant
lebron
melo
dwight
Sturty6ers
Years ago
No.
It was the re-marketing of the A-League that revived soccer in Australia.
"No.
It was the re-marketing of the A-League that revived soccer in Australia." - Yes....and the world cup.
It had everyone buzzing and all of a sudden everyone was soccer fans.
Sector 7G
Years ago
Top 8 finish for Aust would be a realistic target. Anything higher than that is in the same league as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.
The USA may have the best talent but are definitely NOT the best team.
Kingjames
Years ago
Also I think other countries (besides Australia) are fearless when playing the US making them play better whilst the US has so much pressure on them and makes them under perform.
i think kidd'd start cos of veteran, he still played well till the trade which made cp3 stood out more distinctively around the league at pg spot. i mean i'd agree but, kidd off the bench make lot of sense too cos it'd mean:
kobe cp3 backcourt start and wade kidd off bench; this rotation will have at least one highly experienced player on backcourt for stability at all time.
but if you go by playing style kidd-kobe backcourt would play better as cp3 and wade is younger and will have a faster paced game. so i'm leaning towards kidd start.
i like usa's chance this year cos unless you can play celtic defence or who's gonna stop kobe? and in this game you can't focus on him since other player has the ability to step up, it'd be a lot tougher to beat usa this time round. plus backcourt this strong and experienced, they have the ability to shut down any opposition guard with their strength and speed. think about it, once your guard gets the in bound pass he'll be struggling trying to get away from kobe or kidd, how his team gonna survive (remember pg is the floor general! if he's locked, your team's 1/2 done!)? backcourt was a big problem in the past few years but this is a big upgrade from the past!
The_Champ33
Years ago
No chance the Aussie Men will win a medal. But if they did it would boost the basketball profile in Australia a little bit. But the basketball people would need to thrive on it and make it more permanent. Better promotion of the game etc.
USA should win the gold. Athletic and experienced. They'll be hungry for gold and to become number 1 again.
Ricey
Years ago
if Aus got gold they would get minimum coverage on news, etc... they wouldnt even show them playing for a medal, so no chance of any popularity boost... plus soccer had a big popularity boost before world cup, and world cup fever just made it that much bigger
twenty four
Years ago
You're not seroius are you Ricey? Of course they would show them playing for a medal.
Ricey
Years ago
mate... they have never shown any full games of theres except for maybe that USA game to my memory... at best would be late night showing of it, if we are lucky... swimming will get all the coverage along with soccer now, and some track and field... basketball will be kept to highlights... girls will get more coverage than guys as well
XY
Years ago
I think that Australia is a significant chance of medalling at the Olympics ... along with about 10 other countries.
And that is why we won't medal unless everything falls our way - which is probably why we won't.
As for whether winning a medal will improve the standing of the sport - I doubt it. Unless it is gold (buckley's), it will be overshadowed by every other event at the Olympics. Even then, it will be lost among the other events and quickly forgotten (it was great watching Australia win shooting, kayaking, equestrian etc gold medals, but it never made me want to go and watch the sport between Olympics).
Yup
Years ago
(#191012) Spot on. Watching swimming is about as exciting as watching thin air.
On it's own, nothing. Even a gold medal won over the US will provide nothing but short term hype on it's own. Soccer had an event to themselves, perfect timing with their re-launch, and amazing organisation/promotion all built up from a couple of years out and ready to go. Basketball has none of that, and I doubt they will. A medal on it's own might gain a slight grassroots movement in interest, but will not translate to anything mass or any greater success for the NBL unless it is backed by a huge amount of work on the NBL/BA's part. I just don't think they're up for it. From what they say from time to time, I think they think it's the opposite. Get a medal, and everything else will naturaly fall into place. If they really think that, they're very, very, very wrong. They'll have 24hrs of hype until some swimmer breaks their 5th record of the event or something, then that will be it.
Isaac
Years ago
Gold or a win over the USA might give the sport a bit more attention but I think the chances of either are very, very low. And the attention boost would be short-lived anyway.
That said, those that write off basketball (too American, blah blah blah) will always be like that. The sport needs to renew interest with those that have come to games in the past. 10k in Sydney and 6-7k in Adelaide last year showed that the fans are still out there.
Forget the Olympics, I think the opportunity this year will be the Melbourne derbies.
Beantown
Years ago
One factor we can't overlook in the success of soccer is that we have a lot more Euro (particularly UK) migrants than US migrants. With soccer the dominant sport in Europe, the audience for that sport is expanding relative to basketball.
On Euro teams being able to put more cohesive teams on the court than the US: I totally agree, Colangelo should have a word with Danny Ainge and put forward the "world champion" Boston Celtics as the US entry!
Those guys sure showed how to fuse 3 all-stars into a seamless team this year. Even better, we actually get to find out once and for all if the NBA should give its champions the "world" tag!
SVD
Years ago
Ricey - just to clear up. Channel 7 have shown every Boomers game for the last 4 Olympics - they actually do a good job covering it.
bron
Years ago
usa will definatly win gold. they are a hundred times better than the rest.
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