Would you blame him in a contract year or negotiating max deal? I wouldnt. Too risky at a world cup. But i cant help but wonder if an agent or team influence here also.
IMO world cup just dont have appeal as say an Olympics or NBA Finals.

I doubt Simmons will ever play for the Boomers.

Delly
Mills
Bogut
Baynes
Ingles

Sobey
Goulding
Landale
Bolden
Creek

Adel
Motum

He already has played for the Boomers but I don't think he will ever play for us again though.

Some players just don't care to play for their countries either at all or all that strongly. He's 'half American' anyway and basically grew up in the US he's been there for years and maybe doesn't even see himself as an Aussie anymore. I don't really think of him as one of us and have never counted on him to really be a part of the Boomers program.

Whilst he has a legitimate excuse this year there will likely be some other excuse next year too we've seen all that before with guys like Bogut & Longley who each went 7-8 year stretches without playing for the Boomers.

I don't think it's fair to make the assumption he wouldn't want to play. He's walking into a 200 million dollar deal and I'm sure the 76ers and his agent don't want him getting injured. There is also the fact that some think he hasn't developed at all since his first season in the league. A lot of factors that are out of his hands and go way beyond just whether or not he wants to play.

But the situation is pretty shit for Boomers fans. I've gone from ultra excited to go to those Melbourne games to feeling like whatever happens there is going to be essentially meaningless. The World Cup takes on a bit of a different tinge for me. Yeah, we actually should have a better team than we did in Rio, but we are suspect at the guard spot. Ben Simmons was going to be the X Factor that plugged a lot of holes for us. Now, we look 'good' but do have some glaring weaknesses in our personnel.

With things apparently going well with Broekhoff, his wife, and the newborn, there could be a chance that he decides to make himself available if the Boomers should make the call, and I expect they will make contact. I think you could possibly slot him into the "maybe" pile over Deng Adel or one of the guards. But at the moment I'm going to have to roll with:

Dellavedova/Sobey
Mills/????
Ingles/Adel/Creek
Bolden/Motum
Baynes/Bogut

Landale would be in the mix, but it's hard to cut Adel at this point given the types of skills we lack.

Grew up in the USA? Nah. Grew up in Aus.
Went to final year of high school and one year of college over there.
Had American accent within first week of arrival to the USA.

Well, his father is American. Your accent often is influenced by your parents and immediate surroundings. I don't think things would have gone this far if Ben had absolutely no want to represent Australia.

Grew up in the USA? Nah. Grew up in Aus.
Went to final year of high school and one year of college over there.
Had American accent within first week of arrival to the USA.

Look, there's no evidence that this has anything to do with his national allegiance whatsoever. There are more people making this decision than just Ben alone.

On another note, I did notice that promotions for the Boomers series never included Ben in their posters, even after he announced his availability. Did the guys up top know all along this would end this way?

Disappointing for Boomers fans, but I understand it from Simmons point of view. He's got a maximum contract extension on the table and with Butler out of the picture, his team is depending on him as the primary play-maker to lead them to the East Finals at minimum. Next season is a huge opportunity for him to make a name for himself, so if he wants to devote his Summer to improving his jumper instead of playing for the Boomers, I can't blame him really.

Our medal chances take a huge hit with him out, but we still have a lot of experience, good size, defence and shooting, so I think we can still be in the mix for a top 4 finish. I really hope Food For Thought is right and Broekhoff makes himself available. His combination of shooting, defence and rebounding would be invaluable for the Boomers.

"What a stupid knock. I'm disappointed too but you're talking about 200m"

So you're saying the same thing as the OP. Just putting an amount on how much money before country, and saying it’s okay. To each their own. Who needs more than $100 million to live a fabulously well off 80 years of life anyway? I could’ve done just fine on a quarter of that.

No-one’s raised the insurance issue. Wasn’t that the reason for Bogut missing one of the World Championships? Is that the same here? i.e., can BA afford the insurance premium on such a massive contract? Or is it not an issue if he hasn’t signed yet?

I understand what everyone is saying about his jump shot and contracts and all those other things but what is stopping Simmons from being around the boys and working on those aspects of his game that he needs to work on in the Boomers environment ?

If we do have him for Olympics then you want him being more familiar with his team mates and coaching staff.

Yeah, the whole "work on my game" thing is a bit ridiculous. It's one month of the off-season. What, he wasn't working on his game the past three months? Just laying around with the KarTRASHians? He can't work on his game while actively playing at a high level? If anything the World Cup gives him an opportunity to work on his game and actively implement the things he works on into a game environment.

I can accept it if they're talking about the ramifications of his contract causing him to be cautious, but "working on my game" is a cop out.

He never said he's doing it to "work on his game," word out from Rich Paul (not Simmons himself) was he was staying in the states to "continue his preparation for the NBA season," which is pretty much saying he's focusing on NBA over NT.

This wouldn't be an easy decision for anyone to make, both for personal reasons (I truly believe he does want to play for Boomers), and knowing the reaction he would get from everyone in Australia.

Also, it hasn't been confirmed yet.

Don't think we'll need a specific back-up PG. Will just be best player available, which still could be Sobey. With Delly, Mills and Ingles we have enough PG ability.

I'll go

Delly/ (Mills)
Mills/ Goulding/ Gliddon
Ingles/ Creek/ Adel
Bolden/ Motum/ Kay
Baynes/ Bogut

"He's been over there with his dad since he was 15 which is why I said grew up there."

I would say that shows he grew up mostly in Australia?

Well, with or without Simmons we're going to have a better team on paper than we had in Rio.

Delly/Martin
Mills/Lisch
Ingles/Broekhoff/Goulding
Baynes/Motum/Bairstow
Bogut/Anderson

vs

Delly/Sobey (upgrade offensively, similar defense)
Mills/Gliddon (more length, more dependable shot)
Ingles/Adel/Creek (less shooting ability, more athleticism and grunt)
Bolden/Motum (Bolden is a clear upgrade athleticly on Bairstow)
Baynes/Bogut/Landale (Landale can probably play a similar role to Anderson, Bolden can slip down to Center in small ball situations).

The 2019 team should have more length and athleticism and go deeper than the 2016 team, but still, not having Simmons is a big knock.

Also, has anyone else noticed that the talking heads of Australian basketball have shied away from the issue of Ben's availability? Nothing from heal, Homicide, Wortho, Boti, or really anyone with any official link to the NBL or Basketball Australia on the topic, save for the limp statement released last night. Why are people tip toeing the subject? Santamaria literally interviewed Lemanis today at Summer League and made no mention at all about it.

He's just signed his max extension so there's a chance that he now becomes available for the Boomers. We should know pretty soon I suspect if he cancels or chooses to proceed.

Perhaps the last hurdle to signing the max was an assurance that he won't play for the Boomers this year?

But yeah we should find out either way soon

76ers have always been supportive of Ben playing for the Boomers so it would be surprising if that was a condition of the contract. They may have asked he work on his shot and maybe they are going to find a way he can do both

https://www.sportsradio.com.au/gaze-supports-unique-simmons-boomers-backflip/

Gazeys thoughts

Tristan Thompson has announced he's out as well. Another Rich Paul client. Rich Paul is single handedly fucking over the World Cup.

Well, looking at this world cup omission issue from a different perspective, here we go......

The world cup of: soccer (football), rugby, cricket, so on and so on are all so highly regarded and positions among athletes to represent their country in a world cup (Olympics also to a large degree) are also considered at a premium I believe.

So, do we consider the world cup of basketball in this elite field, as spectators, media, the players and of course the corporate sponsors??

I am certain many players want this above almost anything else, but for basketball, is the world cup the pinnacle, is it as much an incentive as the world cup of soccer (the other world game)?

Just throwing out the idea that while we are lovers of the game and I for one am also sad not to see our very best possible team, I do wonder if it is some stigma or something other than a player just deciding other things are more important?

It isn't just the player perhaps that thinks this way..........perhaps!!

I think the biggest problem for the world cup is it is a year before the Olympics. if it were two years before I think more players would put their hands up. But most people see Olympic glory as more important than World Cup glory in basketball.

I can't remember the rules around who can play in the Olympics. Can all current USA, Canada, Boomers, who can play in the WC also play in the Olympics?

Is it only soccer where it’s limited to some degree by age?