Once we are at full strengh we take Penny...and maybe Adams in a few years if he continues to develop.

Mills/Dellavedova
Penney/Abercrombie
Ingles/Newley
Vukona/Andersen
Bogut/Baynes

for me.

Mills/Dellavadova
Penney/Webster
Ingles/Newley
Vukona/Anderson
Bogut/Adams

with Baynes and Abercrombie just missing out "last cut".

For me, Vukona beats Newley. He'd give us a bit more mongrel at SF which Newley and Ingles don't give us, and could guard PFs better.

I like the look of
Delly/Webster
Mills/Penney/Exum
Ingles/Vukona/Simmons
Baynes/Andersen
Bogut/Jawai

hoopie: Baynes and Andersen are not PF's and definitely not mobile enough to play this at International level.

Baynes is better that Adams at this point in time.

I would stick with the team Isaac selected.

how would vukona go in a european league or nba? Too undersized for the 4, not athletic enough for the 3?

"Baynes is better that Adams at this point in time."

based on? opinion?

Probably based on Baynes being a five-year pro, who was dominant in Euroleague play, and who has Olympic and World Championship experience under his belt, compared to Adams who is coming off his freshman year, which really wasn't all that impressive.

I disagree on Baynes not being a PF @LC, he can play the 4 behind the likes of a Bogut or Jawai for instance, no problems for me at all as he moves better than you may think...

He is so strong that he can play a 5, but at 6' 10" he is absolutely a lock for the 4 spot if the Aussie coach wants to go that way, IMHO!

A big power forward who can defend the 5 spot, gotta love that combination.

The only thing other international 4's may have on him at this time is a longer range, but he can improve his mid range game if he needs to. With a slightly longer range on his shot it changes everything I believe...

LC, I agree about Baynes & Andersen but I wasn't convinced we had any really strong PFs anyway.

I also don't like putting Patty at PG, or Vukona at PF.

I know Abercrombie plays Swingman for the Breakers, but I'm not convinced about his ball-carrying skills to play SG in internationals.

"Probably based on Baynes being a five-year pro, who was dominant in Euroleague play, and who has Olympic and World Championship experience under his belt, compared to Adams who is coming off his freshman year, which really wasn't all that impressive."

are you just quickly comparing numbers on google from last years box scores or have you compared their play?
I could make the argument that Baynes has been pro for 5 years and has only just cemented a spot at the tail end of an NBA bench compared to Adams who only played a single season of College and was drafted as a 1st round Lottery Pick by a Title Contender.
I do tend to agree with you that Baynes as of today may be slightly better than Adams but IMO he will be better than Baynes come the WC's in Spain.
He's a very quick learner.

"Abercrombie has hit his limit.

He wasn't even in the top 4 for the TB during the latest series with the Boomers."

he's short on fitness and conditioning currently and hasn't played a great deal of Basketball lately (much like Pledger) as he didn't get much court time in the NBA summer league.

Penney is the only legit NZ player right now who would make it onto a Boomers team. Vukona might get picked if the coach was looking for a player to play a particular role, ie. to bring hustle, offensive rebounding etc.

To the people picking Webster, really? Maybe if you were picking a team solely from the two playing lists in this series. In that case Webster and Vukona would probably make the team.

But on a team based on the best talent available I'd have a guard rotation of Mills, Dellavedova, Penney and Exum.

"Baynes and Andersen are not PF's and definitely not mobile enough to play this at International level."

I do think Anderson could play some minutes at the 4 Internationally and create match up issues with his length and he is pretty mobile.

"To the people picking Webster, really? Maybe if you were picking a team solely from the two playing lists in this series. In that case Webster and Vukona would probably make the team. "

so you are happy to rest all your hopes on Patty's shot dropping?
Webster managed how many points with the whole Boomers squad full knowing he was the one who was going to shoot it?
The Boomers are weak at SG and are forced to play Mills who is a PG at SG and if his shot aint dropping , you aren't winning.

I'm also a big fan of Abercrombie and hopefully his timid play in this series is just a result of fitness/conditioning. But it is a little sobering to realise that Abercrombie, who still gets tagged as a guy with "potential", is actually a few months older than his direct opponent for much of this series Joe Ingles, who is many would already consider to be a seasoned pro.

Mystro: "so you are happy to rest all your hopes on Patty's shot dropping?"

that's why I picked Penney. I personally wouldn't pick a squad with Mills, Penney AND Webster

I wasn't quickly comparing anything on google Mystro, just looking 'at this point in time' as the question was posed.

Adams 'might' be better than Baynes in a few years time, but 'at this point in time' I don't believe he is.

"so you are happy to rest all your hopes on Patty's shot dropping?
Webster managed how many points with the whole Boomers squad full knowing he was the one who was going to shoot it?"

- As opposed to the Tall Blacks focusing on Patty and him delivering 20 and 21 points respectively?

"The Boomers are weak at SG and are forced to play Mills who is a PG at SG and if his shot aint dropping , you aren't winning."

But it did, and we did, twice.

I also think Abercrombie could've gone on to bigger things but hasn't quite.

I don't agree with whoever had Penney off the bench though the alternative is Mills as PG, Penney as a SF or Mills off the bench. After the first half in game one, Mills was great for the rest.

Penney is the only legit NZ player right now who would make it onto a Boomers team.

The Tall Blacks don't have anyone with enough footspeed to stay in front of Mills so yes he got his.
That alone unfortunately isn't going to get Australia a medal at the WC's.

Who is going to provide the offense when Mills shot isn't dropping or he doesn't have a NZNBL player defending him?
Spain, Argentina, America and a number of other nations have guards who do have the pace to defend Mills so what is Plan B if the plan is to Medal?

Your points regarding Baynes are fair.

Plan B, in terms of winning a medal at the World Cup, would involve Bogut manning the middle. I can't really see us winning a medal in Spain without Bogut.

I like Webster as a player and he appears to have markedly improved over the last year or so. But you seem to be suggesting that if Mills' shot isn't dropping, an imagined Australasian team would have to turn to Webster to pick up the slack, when Penney is already a much more accomplished and better sized SG. Also Ingles has proven himself on the world stage to be a capable scorer, even if he wasn't dominant in this series.

And if you're going to advocate for Webster because of his scoring ability, shouldn't we first consider someone like Goulding who is more proven at NBL level?

Also on the 'Mills is an undersized SG' thing, this is going against the Hoops.com.au orthodoxy here but I'm not convinced Mills couldn't be a good PG if he was given an extended chance. I seem to recall he did alright in the 9 or 10 games or so he played with the Tigers in the NBL when he was playing as the PG. The first few games he scored a lot, had a pretty high usage rate and turnover rate, but seemed to iron out his game and become a more efficient PG nearer the end of his short stint. If memory serves me correctly he was second in assists behind Cedric Jackson I think??

I'd go,

10 man roster

PG - Dellavedova/Mills
SG – Penney/Exum
SF – Ingles/Newley
PF – Vukona/Andersen
C – Bogut/Baynes

Depth Chart

PG – Dellavedova (25)/ Mills (15)
SG – Penney (25)/ Mills (15)/ Exum (DNP)
SF – Ingles (25)/ Newley (15)
PF – Vukona (20)/ Andersen (20)
C – Bogut (30)/ Baynes (10)

I think Delly has to start at the 1 with Penney in the line up. Will really help Penney get shots. Mills could be used as the spark plug off the bench, probably his best role, and sub for either Penney or Delly according to game day form.

Vukona and Andersen split minutes according to defensive match up and game day form.

Exum is just a young excitement machine who probably gets DNP just through lack of minutes in a 40 minute game.

Yes, but you wouldn't have Exum and Simmons in there in a hypothetical strongest-right-now team. Agreeing with you in case that isn't clear. They're in the Boomers squad today because it's a largely meaningless series that gives Lemanis a chance to blood these players of the future.

For the anon further up - Worthington might have Vukona covered with range out to the three, but Vukona's hustle combined with speed would give Australasia something different. Heart is one thing we sometimes seem to lack. The other is reliable outside options. If Newley/Barlow could hit at a higher clip, they'd be very handy there. Same with Abercrombie in this hypothetical.

Wonder if that last game would've done anything to hurt Exum's stock? Would any teams/scouts look at his game or Simmons' with too critical an eye? Or are few minutes and that raw aspect just par for the course?

Me if I was scouting at that last game I'd wanna look more at Exum.
Simmons didn't do it for me.

Vukona played pretty good.

Don't understand why there is even a debate about Vukona. Superb proven player at international level. Winner.
He is even better at this level than he is at NBL. Who gives a shit about his size. He is Rodman like in his effectiveness and can defend almost any position. He doesn't need to score and look at how well he helps relieve pressure when advancing the ball. IMO after Bogut, Mills and Penney he would be the next player I would pick.

There is no other player in either team who brings his unique skill set to the table.

Vukona is consistently the guy "I wish was on my team".

Most NBL Coaches also

Oceania Allstars?

Nice idea, that would be awesome, if we could ever manage to get around the scheduling of the NBA/NBL etc... it would be a dream event for sure!

Who wouldn't want to host a tournament of sorts with the senior men/women of say Team Oceania/Australasia, Team USA, Team Europe in a tri-series like the Tri-Nations of the Rugby Union, wow I'd go see that...

@Isaac, I don't think it would hurt the stock of the young kids playing a few minutes in a couple of games like that because any coach who hangs his/her hat on spare parts play in the Boomers team isn't worthy of their credentials as a coach IMO.

If a prospect coach (either NCAA or NBA) gets hold of highlights for the two of the young guns from this game or the first, it would just confirm their potential to the coach without drastically changing any possible decision based on only a few minutes I would think.

They both had their moments anyway, so if you were to focus on Ben's steals & fast break dunks or Dante's put back dunk/vision and ball handling skills you would be more than happy to say they are gonna be there, remembering how young they actually are of course...

Bear, if they had such an Inter-Continental Cup today, I reckon they'd finish
1. Team North America
2. Team Europe
3. Team Oceania
4. Team South America
5. Team Africa
6. Team Asia

If you went by Region instead, then I'd add 'Team Middle East and North Africa', and 'Team Central America and the Caribbean' to the bottom of the list.

I think we can forget about Team Antarctica until they get some good draft picks.

Brazil and Argentina produce some pretty decent athletes so I wouldn't be so quick to right off the South Americans.

I agree Mystro.

Team South America would have the likes of Ginobili, Scola, Delfino, Prigioni, Barbosa, Nene, Splitter, Varejao and Vasquez.

And that's just naming some of their NBA guys, let alone all the South Americans that play in Europe.

Agree mystro infact alot of there players are NBA or euroleague calibre. Ginobli,Barbosa,Scola,delfino,Nene to name a few

Ha, Antarctica, that's quite funny actually...

Still, it would be a nice spin on the world championships and to maybe level the playing field a little you could divide Europe into East/West and the USA into North/South!

(Please don't think I am being politically incorrect here either, this is nothing to do with the Berlin Wall or Gettysburg).

Are you sure anon'?

If they are serious about promoting the game and could find a sponsor (Nike perhaps), wouldn't this be exactly the type of event needed to give the game a lift in places like Australia, New Zealand especially?

Would be great for us here, really give the NBL a huge recognition boost I would think...

Yes, the yanks already have plenty of basketball exposure, so we don't play over there, we play this here or in another land (perhaps not Antarctica).

The USA would have everything to lose, they want to preserve their no. 1 position .. but I guess they are 'north america' so they could blame the one canadian if they got beat - having said that Andrew Wiggins might be a starter on that team in years to come, can play

1. Team North America
2. Team Europe

3. Team Oceania
4. Team South America

Turkey is a member of FIBA Europe

So many options:

P Gasol/Noah/Ibaka
Kirilenko/Nowitzki
Batum/Deng/Khryapa
Navarro/McCalebb
Parker/Teodosic

Could make another super high quality team or two from Europe.

M Gasol/Pekovic
Turkoglu/Diaw/Kleiza
Fernandez/Bogdnanovic
Dragic/Gelabale
Spanoulis/Calderon/Rowland

I think M Gasol and Noah are considered by many NBA fans to be in the top tier, alongside Howard and Hibbert-at-his-best, largely due to defensive abilities. P Gasol often rated a rung lower?

Office argument just now. I said Europe could beat NA, likely to be fairly even at worst. QZ says NA would win, unless LeBron sat-out, in which case Europe would get them.

Pau Gasol is ahead of those guys in the international game, one of the absolute elite in that sphere.

Tier 1: Team North America then Team Europe, 30 points better than

Tier 2: Team South America then Team Oceania, 30 points better than

Tier 3: Team Africa then Team Asia