Matty Knight and Ben Allen are 2 guns deserving of a mention also.

At the moment, Andersen is probably the only one you could label 'Eurostar' unless you are talking about how they travel around the continent by train.

We do have great depth in the big stocks though, it's amazing how that has changed in the past decade or so. I wonder if it is a case of the AIS putting more effort into developing big kids, or immigration meaning there are more big kids in the country?

Maric won a euroleague mvp, that makes him a star. Also I heard Baynes was putting up good numbers in a good league?

That was three seasons ago. He is not currently a star, in fact he has averaged five minutes per game in both the last two seasons. Baynes has had a good year in Greece (not the comp it once was due to the economic woes there) for one of their lower clubs. He is definitely not a Euro star though.

Paul, I reckon our bigs are doing so well because our shorter players can't match the speed and skill of the NBA or Europe.

Our players tend to also be fairly unselfish, which is why they fit into most teams even if they don't dominate the scoring.

"Nevill- NBL star/nba role player possibility"

um, what?

This is definitely the most depth we've had in our big man stocks. You forgot our captain, Matty Nielsen!

It would appear that this depth will be tested in London as Bogut and Jawai may not play.

Im not sure about 'the speed of Europe' comment. Imports who come here from Europe have talked about the players here being quick. Certainly from watching a lot of it I wouldnt say players are quicker in Europe on average.

But what I am talking about is the amount of 6'10 plus guys we've had in recent times. The sheer numbers of big guys who can actually play a bit have gone through the roof in the past 10-15 years.

It probably just has a lot to do with the huge increase in participation that peaked in 2000 and has been fairly steady since. The more people playing the game the more big guys will come through I suppose. And then the AIS focus on giving them all-around skills probably accentuates that.

Ben Allen does NOT deserve a mention!!!!

Of course, I knew I was forgetting someone and Nielsen it was. Where is he at these days? Spain?

Nah Lollipop. Nielsen was in Spain three seasons ago with Valencia (where Ogilvy and Newley currently play). He spent last season in Greece with Olympiakos, and this season is in Russia with BC Khimki who have made the Eurocup final four.

Yeah I think we are throwing the term "star" around a bit too much.

It's all well and good to be on a great team's roster in europe or the NBA for example but if you are hardly playing then you may as well be playing at the local weeknight league really.

Andersen is the only guy in Europe constantly averaging decent minutes and thus his numbers look OK.

Newley has hardly played at Valenica, same goes for Ogilvy.

Ingles could get more minutes on a different team, he's just on a loaded roster unfortunately.

Jawai has shown glimpses but foul trouble always brings him undone it seems. He has shown good agression this season though on offense which is positive.

Maric definitely was a star after being named best centre in Europe following his last season with Partizan Belgrade. Unfortunately he got injured early in his first season with Panathinaikos, and hasnt been the same since. I wouldn't be surprised to see him make a fresh start at another club next season, and hopefully he can get his game back to where it was.

Ben Allen...? Ahh, no he doesn't deserve a mention.

Both Barca and Valencia are loaded, so it's not a surprise Newley, Ogilvy and Ingles aren't getting much minutes.

Ater Majoj??

I've stated this previously in other threads...

Where once the Boomers' strength was out back court, it is now firmly our front line that is our strength and where we have the most depth.

The pick of the big men in my opinion are:

Bogut
Andersen
Maric
Jawai
Baynes
Ogilvy
Nielsen
Kickert
Nevill
Khazzouh
Schenscher

We have never before had souch great depth in any position IMO...however without being able to consistently threaten from the perimeter, my fear is that our strength may well be negated on the world stage as opposition teams "pack it in"...

That is an impressive list of players vying for a place and able to stake a claim to being in the mix for London.

However, I think a little perspective is required. Ranking our best front court above against other teams around the world (USA, Spain etc), our front court is far from a standout. Probably at best you would call it 'competitive' on a world stage. Certainly not a world beater.

That is before you assess our back court prospects, which, on pure talent alone, are well below the competition.

So it will still come down to Aussies playing with passion and teamwork to compete with better (and in many cases more well-drilled) teams if we are to get anywhere in the tournament. We have done it before, but even with our best front court all available and firing, IMO we will overachieve if we reach the quarter finals.

Other then Bogut, i would rather Bradtke in his peak then any of the current big men we have. he could rebound with the best of them in the world. i find our big guys are a but soft and arent good rebounders. O'gilvy has been a dissapointment in the last couple of seasons. i really thought this guy was going to be the next best thing. Would be nice to find some great outside shooters for us.