Anonymous
Years ago

Who is Australia’s greatest Boomer?

Greatness beyond most skilful: Appearances, contribution, loyalty etc.

For me Patty Mills

I feel he has been in every campaign since he was 18. A highlight was when he led scoring of all countries in the London Olympics.

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Aussie  
Years ago

Patty is awesome but it's Andrew Gaze for me.

Stats speak for themselves.

Isn't he the second highest scorer in Olympic history behind Oscar Schmidt?

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Zodiac  
Years ago

Gaze easy.

Five time Olympian and second all-time leading scorer in both Olympic history & FIBA WC history.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Gaze easy.

Reply #756886 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Bradtke

Reply #756889 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Shane Heal

Reply #756898 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Sobey

Reply #756899 | Report this post


Andrej  
Years ago

Cadee

Reply #756903 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Moller

Reply #756906 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Bolden was but not now

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Lemanis

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Gaze.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Pat Reidy

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Perthworld  
Years ago

Gaze. The only Australian in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

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Lemonass  
Years ago

Cadee

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FM  
Years ago

Brett

Reply #756920 | Report this post


Dave  
Years ago

nic kay

Reply #756921 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

John dorge

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Ed Palubinskas

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Anonymous  
Years ago

1.Gaze
2. Davies
3. Palubinskas
4. Mills

What do these guys all have in common ?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

927....Scorers. I think that is the top 4, and hard to argue with the order. Perhaps Mills just over Eddie for longevity, but very subjective.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

It has objectively has to be Gaze.

Mills is certainly the best of this era though and very much up there all time, ahead of guys who have perhaps had more heralded individual careers in the NBA. His longevity and performance across time in Boomers colours should be hugely respected. A terrific ambassador for the game.

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Cram  
Years ago

Yeah Gaze....EASY.

The second highest scorer at both major FIBA competitions all time. Australia's first 5 time Olympian. Australia's first basketball household name.

The only Australian to have a signature move in "Team USA Basketball" from 1992.

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Anon  
Years ago

Gaze by a significant margin, for all the reasons stated above. Palubinskas doesn't get enough love because he played in an era where basketball was an afterthought in this country, but that guy was an absolute superstar for his time. Mills has been tremendous without a doubt and Davies is one of the best shooters and scorers this country has ever produced. The next line would be people like Longley, Bradtke, Borner, Sengstock, Heal and Vlahov.

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Cram  
Years ago

I think Andersen deserves a mention with that last group too.

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Tiger  
Years ago

Ca ee

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Anon  
Years ago

You're right Cram, my bad. Dave has been terrific.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Lindsay Gaze.

Player at 3 Olympics, Coach at 4.
FIBA Hall of Fame.

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rjd  
Years ago

Gaze.

As for the greatest active Boomer, I instantly thought Mills, but I realised that I might be underrating Ingles. There were tournaments where Ingles was arguably our best player, such as in 2012 and 2014. It's worth pointing out that Ingles has been to 5 major international tournaments, compared with Bogut and Mills 4 each. Although Mills has made himself available for 4 Oceania tournaments, compared with 3 and 1 for Ingles and Bogut respectively. As for Bogut, imagine without his injuries, we might've seen prime Bogut playing for the Boomers in 2010, 2012, and 2014. If Bogut played in 2012, and assuming he suits up next year, Bogut could've matched Gaze as a 5-time Olympian.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Phil Smyth

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Anon  
Years ago

Second leading scorer in Olympic Games history it has to be Gaze.

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OldManHoops  
Years ago

Gaze, by a mile.

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PeterJohn  
Years ago

"Australia's first 5 time Olympian"

Bill Roycroft competed the five Summer Olympics from 1960 to 1976, as part of Australia's equestrian team. I suspect some other Australian athletes had competed 5 games before Gaze achieved that number in 2000, but haven't checked.

Nonetheless, Gaze remains the Australian men's basketballer to have participated in the most Summer Olympics.

" The only Australian in the FIBA Hall of Fame."

No. Not even the only Boomer. His father, Lindsay was a Boomer (player and coach) and is in the Hall of Fame as a coach. Michele Timms is in the Hall of Fame as a player. Al Ramsay is in the Hall of Fame as an administrator. I reckon that's all of the Aussie HoFers. I think Ramsay might have been the first Aussie into the FIBA HoF but can't recall for sure.

While I'd pick Andrew Gaze as the greatest Boomer, I'm surprised Smyth hasn't been mentioned by any posters, given suggestions such as Andersen, Longley and Vlahov.

Also agree with the wraps on Davies and Palubinskas. Wish I'd had the privilege of seeing Palubinskas play. I was fortunate enough to get to see Davies grace the court.

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Perthworld  
Years ago

You know what I meant - he is the only Australian male inducted as a player. Lindsay is in but as a coach.

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D2.0  
Years ago

I don't see how people get to the conclusion that "it has to be Gaze because he's the highest scorer" like that's the only stat that counts.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Peter John just owned Perthworld lol.

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UseTaHoop  
Years ago

PeterJohn

Agree with Davies and Palubinskas. Smyth and Oscar Schmidt was a great rivalry too. I didn't get to see Eddie Palubinskas play. I did see Gaze and Smyth live.

Different eras, different styles of play (but I think Smyth and Gaze did play 1 Olympics together, or did they?)

Vlahos and Bradtke are interesting inclusions in the mix. They both played out of position, or at least not to their natural games for that era. Bradtke was a Centre in the NBL, but slid to pf in international ball for most of his minutes. Vlahov was a natural pf, but was undersized at international level. Both of them really battled hard against bigger, stronger bodies (Vlahov most of the time, Bradtke when he played Centre to rest Langley etc). They were both warriors for Australia, and played with huge commitment.

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Gus3232  
Years ago

Kudos to Ray Borner and Larry Sengstockn also. It was comical how overmatched they were at times against the massive European teams, particularly the Soviets. Those two blokes were absolute warriors for Australia.

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