Nigeria hanging around , down 6 in the 3rd.
Super long and athletic

They're super naturalised as well.

USA B really giving Team USA a run for their money.

At least this result will shed a lot of light on how ridiculous FIBA are being.

So these cheaters are in our Olympic group and Team USA will be motivated in their next warmup game which is against us. Awesome.

I don't blame Nigeria too much for taking a mile if they're allowed to.

It's like like Bogut said. ​We all know where FIBA's headquarters is.

A lot of tears in keyboards today gentlemen. Cheer up.

Love the instant defensive impact of Thybulle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnc4apih-_4

I love Bryce cotton but anyone putting him on the boomers over Thybulle is daft, at best Bryce is the patty of the B team we put out for qualifiers when NBA guys aren't available

Sobey is looking well out of depth trying to bring the ball up

Ugly quarter from Sobey

Thybulle nice offence.

Not shooting great but Thybulle has been fantastic.

That buzzer play oh my

offense*

See Ingles is continuing his international shooting form.

Also we need more shooting in that second unit.

Very impressed with Thybulle. Reminds me of a younger Exum - I hope those two can get some chemistry going to carve up defences.

Love Thybulle's impact.

Scola has still got it. Respect to the old geezer.

Scola still gonna be playing when he's 80

Have not looked but i assume Fiba website would have something.

Nobody looks particularly good except Thybulle and Exumon penetration. I'm still worried about the regression in Delly and Baynes' shooting. This is where in-form players like Landale and Goulding will be important to pick up their shooting slack. I'm not confident with Sobey at point.

I don't feel like we are playing well at all, but only down 2 with Scola on fire.

Scola got the cheatmode on still.

ARG with the half-court buzzer beating heave which goes in, naturally.

Ouch

Not bad to be down by 5 considering goorj has thrown some whack lineups and some absolute spud play from our guys and Argentina have shot it decently.

Big depth looking somewhat shite out there, Kay did nothing and reath was decent in limited time. A small lineup with ingles and Thybulle out there will have to be an option and maybe throw in mills and exum with baynes, landale or reath could do some damage. Otherwise what else are too early reactions for!

P.s. delly looking like nbl quality out there and surprised no green and a lack of goulding

Yeah, front court a worry, which we knew going in.
Hope Baynes can find some form.
Landale didn't do a lot.

Early days I know.

Poor United stuck with Delly he looks so bad

His remodelled shooting style is miserable shooting in the 20's from 3 abs in the 30’s from the field his last 2 NBA Seasons.

I thought Delly would've reverted to his old shooting style by now.

Man Baynes has been rough.

At this point I would say Sunday Dech is better than Delly

Lemanis a better national coach than Goorj

Poor United stuck with Delly he looks so bad

Baynes looks cooked and it's well done.

No sympathy from me dawg . Sucked in to them haha

Haha, nice.

Brock Motum is the guy that should be on this roster

Green should be in over Sobey. Looking ok in camp should get you a spot in the team.

And I think Delly is really only there because Exum hasn't been able to stay healthy. We aren’t medaling

Delly is still a good floor manager I don't think Exum can run an offence

In an interview with Delly, he was asked about the differences in coaching philosophy between Lemanis and Goorj. He stressed at the moment they are "keeping it simple".

If Goorjian doesn't continue running Lemanis's system, it's a big mistake.

https://youtu.be/Mz29vZEFlGQ?t=727

Link to Delly interview about that.

Somehow we're within a basket now.

Matisse is quality agree

Thybulle!

It's the first warm up game you muppets.

Stats link
https://en.global.nba.com/articles/licensee_widget_boxscore.html#!/1712100002


Agree re. muppets

Is it too late to get some American centre to naturalise for us? Just pick a random one from the G League it'll be better than baynes and landale

They just said baynes was born in NZ to NZ parents and moved to QLD when he was 3. Why can we have he and thybulle? If cotton got naturalised in time we couldn't have he and Thybulle so why can we have Baynes and Thybulle? Is it just a rule for naturalised Americans?

Nice comeback

TB you need to have been naturalised before the age of 16 to play for your adopted country. Unless you're an American wanting to play for Nigeria.

So you can only have one naturalised player, who did so after the age of 16, in your squad.

The rule is (was?) only restricted the number of players who obtained their citizenship after age 16.

Cheers, so obviously Thybulle was naturalised after age 16.
Thanks

What's with the Kay hate? He's done some good stuff today.

Cotton who?

Where would we be without Thybulle today.

Thybulle's 3 blocks all outside the key?

MT trying to burst the ball on that last perimeter swat. Awesome.

It's an exhibition game, and the first one. Probably wouldn't be reading to much into this. They still need to get used to playing together in game situations.

Thybulle has been great, mills and Ingles will find their range and Delly is a floor general not a scorer.

We're up by nearly double digits now so it looks like we'll be medaling after all.

"And some jerks here wanted goulding to be picked ahead of Thybulle"

Who said that? The anon posts above about NBL players and Goulding over Thybulle seem like it's coming from the same person, who I guess also come from the same person that pushed for Adel last WC.

Mills was def passing that

It's exciting to see Thybulle's game transitioning to FIBA play. Are defensive specialists typically more effective in FIBA than NBA?

Yes, defence is played in FIBA not so much NBA

Our ten point lead evaporated way too quickly.

Mills doing some dumb stuff on offence

A lot of Delly slander in this thread. But as soon as he gets subbed out, Argentina go on a 12-0 run.... But he has been a steady hand in this offense… These exhibition games are only going to be good for the boomers. It is generally a new team. With a few core players… and a new Head Coach… Let the boys build during the next few warm up games. Stop being so quick to write them off.

TB, Thybulle grew up here. We don't have any imports on the squad, basically.

We're looking old. Hopefully Goorj goes with plenty of Thybulle and Exum during the Olympics. Would also be good if we could hit some shots...

Would have been nice to have a proper ball handler coming off the bench.....

Agree that Delly is our only competent point guard at the moment, despite his shooting woes.

Thybulle ♡

Twenty-four yes I know he grew up here but we still couldn't have him and a naturalised Cotton.

Dafuq was that. Ugly.

Ugly for both teams there

TB, he's a dual citizen and was one before age 16, so doesn't count as naturalised. I'm 95% sure.

Why's Mills inbounding????

Yeah, this story about Thybulle taking up a naturalised spot seems odd to me. I thought he obtained citizenship before age 16, but it's tough to find confirmation of this.

Thybulle was born in the US to non-Australian parents so had to be naturalised to become an Aussie.

Mills buzzer beater to win!

Patty!

Millsssssss!

Hell yeah!!!!!!

PATTY!!!

Goorj salute to Lemanis with the London Olympics play!!

Millssssss

#813 I know, just providing the back story.

Perthworld so did Baynes, hence my confusion

"Why's Mills inbounding????"

Exactly my thoughts.

Then...

Oh, that's why!

"Goorj salute to Lemanis with the London Olympics play!!"

Sorry Brett Brown. That was yours.

Patty!!!!!

PATTTTTTYYYYY!!! Great ATO action, SIMPLE & EFFECTIVE

Thybulle only obtained citizenship after the age of 16 by virtue of having grown up here. He only got it in 2020, hence he used up the slot for an over 16 naturalised player.

Pretty promising that we could look so bad in the first half and still get the win. Would be nice to see some Reath during these games, his size could be pretty handy if we go with Ingles at the 4.

Also, for a guy who was only picked because he's an NBA player and wouldn't be anything special in the NBL, Exum looked pretty good once he found his groove.

Thanks Perthworld, but is that really a thing? Citizenship offered while not living in Australia just because he grew up in Australia?

Mills is the man

Patty for PM

Matisse Minister for Defence

Delly can't throw a pea in the ocean but he played much better in the 2nd half . Thyble is a revelation

perthworld, do you have a source for that? Everything I've read seems to suggest that he became a citizen when his family was here.

rjdngood question as that scenario doesn't sound right but it has never been made 100% clear exactly when Thybulle received his citizenship so if Cotton wasn't injured would he be on the squad or is the over 16 slot officially taken?

Patty!!!! What a flag bearer!

Impressed with Thybulle and Exum tonight.

rjd*

twenty four - various accounts say different things re: timeline but it would make more sense that he received it while living here.

See above comment in regards to the over 16 slot. Perhaps it simply hasn't been used since Cotton is injured?

After some googling, it was mentioned in a 2019 article - unrelated to any Boomers stuff - that he was a dual citizen. I'm assuming that means he got it as a kid.

Patty Mills hitting that three point shot is a great omen for Australia. Everyone knew he was getting the ball yet no one could actually stop him.

As for the game as a whole, well, it wasn't good. It's not the kind of performance you'd want to dish up against Team USA on Tuesday, that's for sure. And it's not the kind of performance you'd want to follow up by carolling on about gold medals.

But if we are fair, Australia played poorly yet still beat the 2019 silver medallists who are coming in at a similar point in preparation - and we arguably played more poorly than they did. Our main guys shot at around 30 percent for the game and we were more rescued by Thybulle's play than we were Patty's last second shot.

We've played this poorly in warm up games before, losing to Canada by 20 in 2019 before going on to make drastic improvements just a week later to beat Team USA in Melbourne. The way we played isn't (necessarily) a concern as far as medal prospects stand - for now.

What I did see though was a lack of penetration and activity inside. We seemed inable to penetrate and we did seem undersized. I think Reath earned himself more minutes than he got out there. I think line ups with three of Kay, Reath, Baynes and Landale may need to be looked at when coming against the Spains and France type teams of the world.

Anyway, with warm up games we never have the full story. They could walk away from that game because they ran through certain sets they wanted to run or they tried X or Y thing. Chances are the Boomers we saw today and the ones we see at the Olympics are a totally different beast.

Well... I hope...

Anyone know if you can bet on the USA not winning gold without picking a team to win it?

Kay didnt suck at the world cup. I think it's unfair to take the first game a team has played together in two years while throwing in new players into the mix and say someone sucks because they didnt excel in the situation.

I'm sure Goorj knows to not give a away too much in warm-up games, so I'm hoping the disjointed offense was a sign of that.

I think we'll miss Bogut more than we know. Shame we couldn't get one more tilt out of him.

I don't think we have the offensive flow or firepower so may have to rely on a defensive grind it out style coupled with some streaky shooting to get by the stronger nations maybe? I think Cotton would help this but i feel like Exum is going to have to be the X Factor type off the bench.

I thought Argentina looked the more organised side but only an exhibition game.

Thybulle is such a bonus!

"I think line ups with three of Kay, Reath, Baynes and Landale may need to be looked at when coming against the Spains and France type teams of the world."

No.

I think it's early to judge our offensive abilities. It's early to judge anything.

Legend Luuuc, was going to ask for one.

Not giving up on Sobey or anyone else yet. He had a poor game and looked nervous and low on confidence. As it is just the first exhibition game so there is no reason he can't play his way into some form in the next few outings. Depends how Goorj feels about giving him minutes.

Thanks for stats Luuuc.

Shows me that there's good news ahead. Our shooting %'s: Field goals @ 38%, 3-pointers @ 32%. We ARE better than that.

Thybulle a revelation. Who knew that his offence was going to be that useful, 15pts @ 67% and 3 from 3 x 3's?

Folks, we may have got ourselves Cotton's offence and Thybulle's defence in Thybulle.

Delly bashers note. No points (not good!) but 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals (that's pretty good).

Not saying "here comes Gold", or any other colour but it's still a good scalp and a good sign that we can perform with this group.

Unfortunately, I agree that Goulding and Sobey were way below par and (my) expectations. I expect to see Cooks and Green in a subsequent game or 2.

*I notice that we have 14 names on the stats. 11 players got court-time. How many can we actually nominate and are all 14 still eligible (as in our actual Olympic's team)? For eg, are teams allowed emergency/injury replacements?

"Reath had 4 pts, 3 rbds and then was taken off and not see again." ... and that was in just 4 and a half mins.

I wonder if Gurujian kept Reath up-his-sleeve, not to give too much away.

We beat the World Cup silver medallists in a pretty poor game while they're also at that same point in their preparations, and we did it while playing awfully, so let's put that in perspective there. Way too early to talk about medals at this stage but also way too early to completely throw those hopes away.

I'd like to see more of Goulding. His scoring punch is required. His perimeter shooting threat is also required. Right now we have just two players that can hit the 3 reliably, and one has a history of going missing for the Boomers. Thybulle was 3/3 from 3. Promising, but we can't expect him to be such a threat consistently. We aren't going far if we are a sub-33% team like today, and frankly, I don't see us doing much better than that reliably.

Delly is the only floor general out there, so if he can't shoot, we just need to accept it and take all the other ways he contributes that make those around him better. Exum played well, but he doesn't lift up other players the way Delly does. Forget about Sobey at this level. I would love to see Giddey at this level, but his handle probably isn't there yet.

We miss Bogut, for sure. He has a history of impacting the team massively in terms of chemistry. Landale is there as a stretch 4/5, He was 1/4 from 3 in this game, but I trust his ability to fill that role.

I hate to say it, but Lemanis might be the one we miss most. I'm hoping Goorj is saving the real playbook for later.

Just so we are clear though, we were here before the 2016 Olympics watching the warm ups saying the same thing. And before the 2019 world cup. We're following a pretty well established trend. In 2016 we played a warm up game against Lithuania and we got smashed by about 30. It looked like there were all these insurmountable holes in our game. I remember watching that and thinking we'd be luvky to get out of our group. The first game of the 2016 Olympics we beat France by 20.

Then there were the games we played against Canada in 2019. They were frankly terrible. I remember thinking "oh shit, we'd better get it together quick or we're not going anywhere this year!" Obviously we finished that as one of the top teams in the tournament.

I am not sure if it's a specifically Australian thing, but there does seem like some gamesmanship is played before these tournaments. They try things out and hide most of what they'll be doing. Of course there is no excuse for poor shooting but the fact remains that this has all followed a trend and I am sure the Boomers we saw today wont be the ones who line up in Tokyo.

A lot of our 15 didnt get a look today and I think they will if height or shooting presents itself as a real issue. Could we see a situation where Nick kay and Nathan Sobey are knocked out for Cooks and Motum for both length and shooting?

Kay was one of our best players at the World Cup, and Thon Maker has never achieved anything at any level.

You are an idiot.

NBA does not equal achieved a decent amount. How did NBA player Deng Adel do this year in the NBL....the defence rests

Not this again.

Agree with 929

Kobe is comparing Kay with Thon which is laughable.

So what you're saying is that the Olympics won't feature basketball games, they'll just add up the salaries of the teams and give the medals to those who have made the most money?

I never mentioned Adel.

Judging by the comments above we all want Sobey to break an ankle or something that keeps him out of the Olympics but doesn't impact his preseason too heavily OR we can show him footage of how he kicked arse in an NBA X NBL game and perhaps get the spark off the bench that he would have been selected for.

Way to go Boomers, very pleased that you can grow some confidence from this result

#940 The amount of money Thon made is irrelevant to whether he has achieved anything. There are plenty of guys who have signed big $$$ deals in the NBA that were bums.

Not only is the amount irrelevant but this anon doesn't seem to understand Thon as a first-round pick had a guaranteed 3 year deal with options for a further two years. Of course he at times he got playing time with the Bucks they wanted to try and get something out of their investment.

A truer indicator of his value outside the hype of being drafted was when the Bucks gave up on him and traded him to Detroit. The Pistons picked up his 4th year but declined to pick up his 5th year of his rookie contract.

Tail between his legs with no other NBA interest four years in he had to accept a lowly training camp invite from the Cavs, made the team but only lasted 8 games before being cut with no other NBA team willing to throw him a lifeline this season.

I'm not trying to put shit on him but his NBA career over is now you could make the argument he was never NBA caliber to begin with but all it takes is for one team to take a punt on you and you can be set for life. Good on Thon and his advisers the guy never has to work again.

Kobe, any chance you could cool it with the language and insults? It seems like every second post of yours includes something childish.

Basically, stop being an idiot.

The only people who didn't select Thybulle were those that picked Cotton instead, assuming he obtained citizenship.

@ anon #954, my point is that Sobey scored 23 points against NBA calibre guys and we have to put up with commentators bang on about CG43 and the swagger that he has and all that crap, so I'm questioning how Sobey can look so inept at international level and have comments like we get above when we know that he has the pedigree along with Goulding to at worst be helpful on this team... if Sobey isn't going to bring the confidence and be an asset off the bench then I'd rather bring in Giddey who atleast brings court vision and someone that won't over dribble the ball... but he isn't the answer for a spark off the bench

New team, new situation, higher stakes. That is why Sobey looked scared out there. Some of these guys will take time to adjust. International basketball simply is a level above NBL and it takes guys a minute to get used to. Some go on to thrive in it and others do not.

If Sobey gets the minutes in the warm ups I think we'll see a different Nathan Sobey by the end of it. And that goes for all players who looked undercooked out there.