Hopefully Lemanis can play his golden child Cadee more than 30mpg thus reducing the risk of injury to Norton.
Feel free to overplay Hodgson too.
Brandt like Goulding should've been given the opportunity to rest for these games.

Food for thought. Make no mistake, there's no way in the world the Boomers will lose to Iraq in these qualifiers. They're playing Iran.

;)

Why doesnt Bogut play in these games ???

Personally id swap Cadee and Hodgson out for Drmic who is having a better season than Cadee (or one of the young guards like Naar, Wilson or Grida) and Froling (who puts up basically the same stats in 7mpg less than Hodgson and is in hot form at the moment and has NBA potential.

Other than that I dont mind the rest of this team.

Moller, it's not April 1 is it :)

Yea, but Cadee brings nothing imo and Froling is a talent upgrade on Hodgson

Drmic has also played on these boomers teams previously

So it would only be Froling and Moller who are new to the team

Isn't having 10/12 guys who have played for the Boomers system before enough??

Best case scenario is that Spudee suffers a season ending injury, forcing Lemanis to actually play Holt in Brisbane.

Spudee.

Frohling is certainly going nicely in a struggling team, but maybe give him a chance to stabilise a little first. And Hodgson pretty much dominated the 36ERS in his recent game in Adelaide.

As for Cadee - I struggle to see what he brings but it is old news, or at least an established pattern.

The Bogut question is a good one though, although some of the behaviour and attitudes he displays in the NBL environment makes me wonder just how much value he would actually be, 'culturally' at least.

And yes, I know his reputation, and that he is big and can definitely play when he wants to, but some of his carry-on, and the fact that NBL refs seem to let him get away with almost anything [presumably because of 'who he is'] really makes me question how useful he would be on all sorts of levels.

But maybe he would 'rate' an international game more than an NBL fixture and eliminate some of his rubbish. If he didn't I suspect he'd spend most of the time on the bench anyway. But then he'd feel he could help out the coaching staff, I guess.

Froling 10p4r in 13mpg

Hodgson 10p6r in 20 mins

Almost the same stats in significantly less minutes than Hodgson

Froling has had more than 1 good game for sure and is already better than Hodgson with way more upside and potential.

Its a no brainer to me.

I'd be happy with a depth chart along these lines, although there is no way Cadee is playing 0 minutes.

1 Gliddon(20)/Norton(20)
2 Sobey(20)/McCarron(10)/Gliddon(10)/Cadee(0)
3 Blanchfield(20)/McCarron(15)/Barlow(5)/Moller(0)
4 Kay(25)/Johnson(15)
5 Hodgson(15)/Brandt(20)/Johnson(5)

#5. Lemanis buys into Heal's ramblings of Cadee is the G.O.A.T

Froling should be in the team.

Get him into the Boomers program, a series like this is the perfect opportunity to get him feeling comfortable in Green and Gold. His ceiling appears higher than Hodgson's (and probably Brandt's too).

Can we naturalise Bryce Cotten yet & claim him?!

Apart from Cadee, I love the squad!

The reason you keep Hodgson is that he is the one big man on that team who will alter and block shots. Yes, Froling appears to have higher overall skills and upside, but he's not a shot-blocker.

Agree Beantown, they play very different roles. If Froling was going to be in the team it would be probably have to be in Johnson's place as a stretch big, and DJ is ahead of him.

Froling's time will come as his understanding of both ends improves, I suspect he's been earmarked for the post 2020 era, starting with the Asia Cup qualifiers.

Agree Paul. Look at Froling, Hodgson and Humphries post 2020 as our possible 4's & 5's along with current, [by then] veteran bigs.

As for Hodgson, I knew him first as a [very] raw tall, just learning the game. He was around 15/16 years. His potential looked unfathomable. Went off my radar during college, then, he was in the NBL. Up 'til now, he had not progressed like I'd hoped and expected. Certainly, not in Adelaide. Then Lemanis gets him and, IMO is starting to show what he can do. 2 more years under Dre [may only be 1 at the Bullets??] and he might be ready for a bench role, even at 2019 or 2020.

Maybe horses for courses, as in players and coaches. Conversly, Holt has not performed for Lemanis like for other clubs/coaches so he probably won't make the Boomers then or ever, eh!?

I'm not sure how much team balance matters when we're talking about players at the bottom of the rotation, in games the Boomers will win easily.

Don't be so sure. We believed we'd beat Japan easily, we lost. USA went into the 2004 Olympics thinking they'd be undefeated and lost multiple times. I don't think you take risks with these important games. Iran are Asia Cup Finalists. They're really not 'that bad' that they absolutely could not beat us in the right situation.

"I'm not sure how much team balance matters when we're talking about players at the bottom of the rotation, in games the Boomers will win easily."

I don't think they're taking the Iran game lightly, and I think they'd treat every game as a continuation of the Boomers program and game plan.

The long term Boomers plan should be blooding youngsters who can *potentially* contribute in the World Cup or Olympics one day.

Froling has shown significant upside this season, and he's only 20 years old.

Hodgson will never make a Boomers team for a major tournament.

At the other end, I don't think they should take a guy like Barlow. Yes, based on NBL form he absolutely deserves to be there, but what's the point of taking a 35 year old?

Although you could make an argument for Barlow on the basis that he knows the program, and brings a stable, professionally minded veteran presence.

That's a reasonable argument so I'm not totally unhappy with his selection. I wouldn't necessarily pick him myself, but I understand why he was selected.

But I think leaving Froling out is short sighted.

Froling was included in the squad wasn't he? Lemanis would have spoken to him about areas of improvement needed. He will be be blooded, make no mistake about it, but he needs to get to a certain level and earn the place first. Playing 3-4 good NBL games at one end shouldn't get you in the national team.

Barlow is someone who could potentially play at the WC if there are injuries or unavailabilities, I think his inclusion was a must. As for Hodgson, he has performed solidly for the Boomers and knows the system, so if there were a few outs to our thin big man stocks he could also be in contention. He is also crucial against Ehadidi if he plays.

Most of the NBA guys are expected to be available for the world cup aren't they?

Yes, Moller has tantalizing potential.

He's only been back playing basketball for about 3 years, so he's a very young 24 if you like.

When does Lemanis Boomers coaching contract end?

Hogwash, Boomers coaching contracts are usually on a per Olympiad basis so presumably his contract will end after the 2020 Olympics.

Thanks Zodiac

Yes, they're always contracted for full Olympic cycles.

As for any World Cup line up, I think we'd have to fall foul of a fair few untimely injuries for Barlow to make the team. But it is not unthinkable and he wouldn't be the worst guy in the competition by any stretch.

If there are no injuries the only guy whose attendance I'd question would be Simmons.

bogut?

Jawai in to replace Brandt

Who picks the team? Is it only Lemanis? If so, is he under certain directions?

Cos I have to agree, I think he should be trying to give experience to young guys who might actually be part of the future.
But instead its more like an NBL allstars team.

I'd certainly be looking at Froling, maybe even Naar, possibly Vague, etc. (and that's assuming we can't get any of our young stars from elsewhere.) I'm not saying pick all of them in the final team, but at least look to the future.

Personally, rather than fielding an exclusively NBL team in such games, I'd rather we used Emus.

NB: If Lemanis starts Spuddee, he should be sacked. Bad enough he's even in the team. Norton has to start, simple as that.

Andrej,
Feel free to play Cadee, DJ and Moller plenty of minutes wouldn't want injuries to Kay and Norton .

Spuddee isn't even worthy of starting in the NBL

Boomers need to schedule games in states when a crowd will turn up, saw a 40% off ticket offer recently.

Friday night in Melbourne tough night to get a crowd your major demographic are all playing junior basketball or coaching junior basketball.