So would there be any chance that your view of the way the team played is prejudiced by your general view of Brian?

Or is that a question you asked of yourself before this little rant?

HO if you can tell me you like what he has done and were impressed with anything about the played and the squad he has picked then your as big an idiot as him. The results and the way they played speak for them selves. You clearly dont know what your talking about so stick to posting about the socail comp you play in and let the big boys talk about the serious stuff

Brian

so anyone who doesn't agree with you is an idiot, and isn't entitled to an opinion, and only plays social ball.

Interesting - you are a bigot then!

No just anyone who cant see that Goorjian is butchering the Boomers and it is evident in his results and the way he plays and would challenge anyone to say that he has done a good job which both you and the other idiot I notice can only talk about the fact that I fell so strongly about it and not jumping in with anything to suggest what I am saying is wrong. I dont care if you dont like the tone of what I am saying the point is what I am saying about Goorjian is accurate. Dont be mad at me coz your insecure in your basketball knowledge. You sound like a scrubber who dosnt play either so maybe you should but out to and let someone with some common sense talk about the fact that the boomers stink. If you are going to disagree with me come up with something supporting Goorjian and the Boomers I would love to hear it

Would have been nice if Phil got a few more games as coach before being persecuted though.....
and what is wrong with having your own asst coach group, Goorj has his whole bloody team out there half the time!

At least we beat NZ this time..... better than last time we played them for Worlds Qualification.
Who coached the Boomers then?

to some players that went to camp they do alot of basics and fundamentals that not only do the players not enjoy

Heaven forbid he wants players with sound fundamentals..... he obviously has to go.

"Dont be mad at me coz your insecure in your basketball knowledge. You sound like a scrubber who dosnt play either so maybe you should but out to and let someone with some common sense talk about the fact that the boomers stink. "

where is your credibility?

we have underachieved over the past decade, Barnes played favourites with Heal & cost us higher than 4th in Sydney (and by the way i was there in an offical capacity so i ain't a scrubber) Phil wouldn't have done any better, and love him or hate him Goorj is the best coach in Australia atm. And even if you think he is a foreigner and we deserve an aussie coach.

What about the socceroos what about countless other sports and sports people who have 'forgeiners' as coaches.

Don't let your bias get in the way of fair and reasonable critism. Is it the best team we can put on the floor, no not by a long shot?

Catallini was only ever a fringe international under 3 coaches. I wouldn't expect him to do any better under Phil.

Overall - IMO the Australian men have underachieved since 1976, bout time they reversed that but I don't think they will improve on their Alanta postion.

DB5 thankyou for saying something inteligent. "Back to my social Comp" hey. Dont change your name HO or forwantof. We know its you. You prove it with another stupid comment, lets just say if we are worried about our national players fundementals by the time they are at that level then we are in trouble. A wise man once told me "its better to say nothing and be thought of as an idiot than say something and remove all doubt" You both should rememebr that. Go away now scrubbers

"No just anyone who cant see that Goorjian is butchering the Boomers and it is evident in his results and the way he plays and would challenge anyone to say that he has done a good job which both you and the other idiot I notice can only talk about the fact that I fell so strongly about it and not jumping in with anything to suggest what I am saying is wrong"

That is some of the worst grammar that has ever appeared on this forum. I hate Brian might be able to play ball, it just surprises me this poster can operate a computer...

I didnt know this was an english workshop. Thank you for your help. Cant talk hoops so you have to resort to speeling leasons. Nah your not a looser I dont care what anyone else says

Offical cappacity hey? Floor wiper stats guy, what ever volunteer position you ahd does not count. As for me played state leauge 12 years played collegein USA, coached ABA

The thread is degenerating. THe topic is important and deserves reasonable comment. Its ok to hate the way Goorj has the team playing - there's a lot to hate. Its ok to love him too - and you dont NEED a reason. Just opinion is ok. Personally, I hate it. I'd rather watch a women's game. I don't understand his strategies and, yes, his team selection doesn't appear to be objective.
Interesting Q - Hands up who felt like barracking for the Kiws during the Comm Games final?

I Hate Brian,

By your own words you have 'removed all doubt'

Between all the ranting and raving you have made some pertinent points about our National team. Its just a pity that you have to stoop to name calling and derogatory remarks to try and back up your arguments when they are questioned.

For the record I thought that the game against NZ was a little dissappointing - but it was the first game with the new group together against resonably good opposition. Ill be interested to see how the team inproves in their future games as they become more familiar with each other on court and the coaching staff get their rotations sorted out.

not me sector 7G
I hate Brian - you'll never know will you.

Now the standard of some ABA coaches now there is a topic

Hey Sector 7G, my hands up!!

nah, 7g, would never support the kiwis, even if goorj was running the point for us!
On a positive spin, at least we are not running that stupid shuffle offence that Barnes had us running in Sydney where Longley would get the ball at the three point line and be our main passer.....

"I hate Brian", did you go to any classes whilst you were at College in the US? If so, demand a refund for any expenses - they taught you nothing!

Your in-depth knowledge of the game is astonishing. Your "give the ball to Bogut" tactic shows why you were once an ABA coach. Is so obvious the opposition would never expect it. It's the basketball equivalent of the Jedi mind trick. Well done.

I do believe you need to lay off the crack though - Rillie in the Boomers squad? Please - maybe 4 seasons ago, but he stunk last year apart from a couple of freaky shooting displays.

The boomers teams have been selected poorly for many a year . barry " i look bonkers " barnes played far too many veterans for far too long , hindering our younger more world game suited players . Then we chuck a handful of them in without the necessary experience and expect miracles .
Phil never had a chance to prepare and with a squad he did not even select .
Then we have the " gorgemeister " who plays his own and only then , heaven forbid leaving his nbl program .
Look at the last olympics for example . We had the two most selfish i need the rock in my hands can't play a lick of defense guards playing in tandem the majority of everygame . Just cause you can break down an nbl defense does not mean that will happen on the big stage .
You can't tell me the intangibles and basketball IQ of maher and rillie woul'd not have done a shite load better , and Cat has a perfect game against the europeans which went unutilized . There are so many more examples .
Then Brainless Brian comes out and says that heartless heal kept us in most of the games , mate he keeps the other teams in the game 80% of the time with his me first attitude .
I will end this by asking why did the second best ever australian guard in Brett Maher , sorry phil , never get a fair run and consequently pulled the pin on his national team ? pure frustration .

I hate Brian = Brad???

I would think with Phil coaching Maher and Bruton would probalby want to still be playing

Just a question, is there anywhere we can see a boxscore?

Boxscore - Hoop Addict posted it in the game thread.

Different that was very well put and true. Statman your right this topic did degenerate with talking crap and got off point. But I have had my fun stiring the pot so to get back on point I would agree that there is no way Phil was given the opportunity to succeed, and differents point of having the right combination rather than the percieved most talented is absolutely correct. People like Maher, rillie, bruton, saville even a matt campbell do bring an intangible that you cant keep a stat on as such but they just know how to win and get the most out of team which is Phils strength as well and it is certainly lacking in the current group all around. Its this crap of blooding people or considering someone to old at 28 or even 30 that gets in the way. A Matt cambell who does not do all the flashy things would be better off in than team than most of them guards for the exact reasons mentioned above, but me just mentioning his name will make people scoff beacuse he is not a attention grabbing allstar type player. Chemsitry and balance is needed to win and there are probably 10 other campbell type players in the league that did not get a look in but could give us what we need as a collective group

I think people are being a little critical of the first game this team has EVER played together. Yes when i watched it I was a little miffed about it, but truth be told we won against a DECENT international side on our first game. The Kiwis can shoot the shit out of it, .... Gorjian has a way of picking his own players... but lets be honest, hes got some of the best young aussies in the league playing under him.... I think we couldve taken Caporn for point over someone but Caporn isnt much of a scoring threat. I think we should reserve judgement of the team til game 4, at a point where we should see the beginnings of team chemistry... because there are some good signs, and also yes, there was some bullshit play. I predict Australia will win game 2 by 10.... and then each subsequent game will bring an ever increasing margin. I expected this, as it is the teams FIRST EVER GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,

Does anyone know how someone in Aust may be able to see the televised games in the up coming FIBA world champs in Japan

I followed the Cannons throughout the 80s and pretty much has been a huge Phill Smyth fan, was very sad to see him axed, however coaching wise Goorjian has a good record and Aust did win the commonwealth games... Until he fails at a major meet I think it's pretty harsh to criticise a coach on game to game basis.. btw, I have no credentials apart from following the NBL/boomers since Smyth moved to Canberra from St Kilda (I know he's a SA native)

I'd expect most of this if Aus would have lost. I. H. Brian, your comments aren't going to help the Woddies women in any way shape or form.
Gorj. has a history of changing his line up. Maybe he likes new faces? Maybe he likes the challenge? But a better alternative to Gorj aint in this country. Give Guus a call.

The talent on the Aussie team is way too good to be even troubled by the Tall Blacks, its just the way they played last night, they didnt gel particularly well on a first hit out, and nobody played particularly well (atleast by their own standards)

I hate Brian. What college did you go to?

Whilst NZ have a good group of players; I belive their biggest strength is how well they use the ball and defend. This comes from a coach that I believe is VERY underated and should be given a lot of credit for how they have overachieved on the International stage.

I am just going to float an idea on the reason why Coach Goorj has so many Kings in the Boomers.
1. The Kings roster would be significantly disadvantaged with the Coach away on National duties.
2. Good recruiting ploy being able to say. "come play with the Kings and I will get you on the Boomers"
3. He has a certain way of coaching that using his players to "show others on whats expected"

I believe Coach Goorj is a very good coach. But I believe that Coach Tad Baldwin better.

pg, I think the Olympics is a pretty major meet. And he failed miserably there!!!!!
different, I think that you are 100% correct...why else would Maher not be there!!!!
Shane Heal...kept us in 80% of games....ba ha ha ha ha

The biggest problem goorjian faces is the lack of time the squad has together to gel.

It is the same with football over the past 32years, except now the FFA has moved to the Asian confederation so more games at a higher standard will be played giving the team the chance to get together on a more consistent basis.

With little prep time, and only 1 or 2 really competitive games before the world champ's how can Goorjian be expected to get anything out of the team?

Both the South American and European countries have a extensive qualifying and other regional tournaments to put their team together and get a feel for each other on the court. This is what we are lacking!

We need a more consistent calender of matches for the national team to really start acheiving something at international level.

T Bombs right... and we need to look well and truly above the tall blacks for that. look at who our rivals are playing.... brazil is playing USA in pre worlds.....

hurley, some of those NZ guys are young and new to the International scene also. A couple of their players are off in Europe, they also have guys that don't have a big impact in the NBL (Casey Frank or Paul Henare, for example). I read an opinion on OzHoops that I think summed up a bit of my opinion - often a few of the Boomers seemed to just pass on the ball so they could avoid the opportunity of making a mistake - I had the same feeling during the CG and the Olympics also.

I don't think Goorjian especially did a bad job though with Bruton out he is one experienced PG short. If we can take care of this series with those young PGs, then the experience they gain will be useful. Which selections in the team are questionable? Kendall? What's the alternative - another young guy with one good NBL season under his belt like Caporn? Rillie who had a pretty average 2005/06? Maher has retired from international competition.

Other young guys that might get questioned would be Newley and Barlow, and I think they're both justified inclusions in the absence of Nielsen. I really think Barlow will surprise people in the NBL this year if given the minutes. I don't think he's far off Newley's pace.

DB5, sure you are correct that the Olympics is a pretty big tournament but they kept Goorjian on for the Commonwealth games, meaning they weren't that unhappy with his performance or they simply didn't think there is a suitable replacement..

So even in realitt if Goorjian stinks.. surely people are not silly enough to say we should change coach between now & the FIBA worlds ?

In fairness, missing from Goorjian's first choice team (or at least in strong consideration) would be:

CJ Bruton (US trialling for NBA)
Schencher (Similarly..)
Neilson (Can't afford insurance)
Anderson (Injured)
Maher (will never play for Goorj again/retired)
Black (injured)

Bruton, Black (& history aside, Maher) would start before Kendall or Markovic warmed the bench, and would start before Bruce.

b.t.w. I notice Bruce started, but still only got 8 minutes. Any more to that story?

Neilson & Anderson would also be starting 5.

Australia has more depth than it once did, but we are far from feilding our strongest possible side.

I agree with 'I hate brian', the bloke clearly knows his hoops and has some great thoughts about how the game should be played. I bet he was a great player in his day...........

The thing with brian or monkey bum as some call him is that he is a good developmental coach, infact probably one of the best there is, much better than phil 'mini bus' smyth anyways but at international level he might as well be called ronald mcdonald as he wears big red floppy shoes, a yellow wig and a big red nose cause he is a joke. Phil is better at coaching at the international level.

I was at the olympics in 2004 and having seen him coach at international level here in oz and overseas I firmly believe he is a complete clown. Some of the subs he was making and the offence he chooses to run is how you say 'rediculous'!!!

As 'i hate brian' said, he is biased, why else would everyone be going to sydney, because they want a shot at playing for the boomers. You play in sydney you get a shot at the boomers.

Two things need to be done..........Phil needs to get the axe from the sixers, brett maher needs to be put in as player coach to get experience and then in 2 years time he should not only take over the sixers fulltime but be the boomers coach as well.

Pg, no I don't think that they should change before the World Champ's, however I believe you said it right when you said there is not a suitable replacement for Boy Goorj, now...
Makes you wonder why they stick with him after poor showings when all Phil got was a few games...
Maybe a bit of kissing up to the hierachy, something Phil would have said no way to....

Bombo you sound like you know what you are talking about. I would hazzard a guess that you too were a great player. In particular in under18s and I would think you know what it takes to win. I think your smoking a crack pipe with Maher theroy butI still have alot of time for you

I hate brian,

Just so you know, the masses would say i held my own at aba level as well..........

I tell you something, Phil has been on the craic pipe the last few years but especially last year when he looked like he was in a daze, sinking into his seat, thinking about when he had hair, whilst the sixers were down 30 and he didnt do anything about it........Call a freaking time out phil and make a sub, it aint that hard fella!!!!!!!

We need to hop on the brett maher 42 seater if the sixers ever want to get back to titletown........cause the mini bus phil is driving ran out of petrol when Mee left town........

AJ Majstrovich could be the saviour the sixers need, that brudda is legit, just needs the time to prove it.......

Gorjian is the best coach we have.... and i think that we wouldve sh it all over NZ if we had a full strength line up

Bruton
Smith
Mckinnon
Anstey
Bogut

Bruce
Newley
Barlow
Alex Maric
Kickert
Schenscher
Saville

a win is a win but a loss would have been more helpful. the intense scrutiny that a loss brings could have brought about some changes. i havent seen the game but the stats seem to indicate that they were using an inside game and were using the twin towers?
i hate brian, you may be surprised that there are other knowledgable people on this forum...not as 'in the know' as brad and sixers33, but still pretty good, so pull your head in a little.

Some good points stated above and yes we have a very talented pool of players to choose from .
I just think over the last twenty years we have either been rebuilding or overplaying people past their international use by date , even though we could have been choosing well balanced teams with a suitable game to mix it with the world .
IMO too many players that really could have made a huge difference have been left by the wayside completely frustrated so coaches can fulfill their own fantasy .
This is the past so i won't judge this new outfit and therefore coaching panel until after the 2008 olympics . But brizer you better deliver cause there will be no excuses .

Off the topic , but how many times has brett smoked the hammer in big games at the dome .
Some of the finest memories any sixer fan can have .

In any sport, the probability of coaches getting fired is proportional to the difference in actual result vs expectation, so you can either manage it by having high results or lower expectations, or both, but it is hard to do.. When Phil was fired, NZ was not considered strong opposition hence the public/admin had high expectations..

Hurley - Gorjian is the best coach we have...

Nearly everyone on here seems to say that Smyth can coach a team of already established players brilliantly but cant develop younger guys. (I dont nessecerly agree)
Looking at that list you posted Hurley

Bruton
Smith
Mckinnon
Anstey
Bogut

Bruce
Newley
Barlow
Alex Maric
Kickert
Schenscher
Saville

That is a team in need of very little individual development.

Why wouldnt Smyth be a better option than Goorj?

True, since then NZ beat China, full strength Lithuania (god knows how! must be the shooters) and serbia montenegro.

It was true what someone said about international use by dates... we did that alot! its mainly because (and i dont really wanna compliment him but) we never had a player blooding young guns like Gorj, however when we were using oldies... we did better. 2000 team was the best boomers we have ever had, with the crop of talent comming thru, we could be as good in 08 or better....

i remember getting annoyed when boomers lost bronze in the olympics and blaiming all the players.... today id give alot for Australia to have players like (but not actually i dont advocate keeping oldies forever) Gaze, Bradtke, Vlahov, Ricky Grace, Brett Maher, Catalini, etc. not Longley,.... Bogut is well and truly better then longley in my estimation.

Go Ray Borner!!!!!
all jokes aside, imagine if we still had Gaze with the team that played last night....
Bogut flipping it out to Gaze and Smith on the wings...

What did happen to Kickert?
Hurley, you've got him in your squad, I would've put him in my own team and I know that lots of others would've too.
I really hope Hinder wasn't picked ahead of him, especially after I read that Kickert turned down summer league offers to come to camp.
If this is the case, it absolutely sucks that Hinder got in, clearly just 'cause he is a King.

Kickert didnt make the final 12 due to play as he made the final 19.

about having Gaze, while he sucked defensively he could put points on the board no doubt.

Another previous Boomer is Alex Loughton, currently playing in the Summer Leagues. But really, we have Bogut and Anstey to chew 30-35 MPG at the 4 and 5, and the main deficiency is PG by far.

Sorry "brian hater",

Haven't been online since this morning. Didn't realise I'd upset you this much or how much over-reaction this would stir up.

I don't have an opinion on how the team played, I didn't get to catch the game. I didn't express an opinion on the game or on Brian. I did however ask you a question.

Any chance you could answer my original question intelligently and without emotion?

thanks

I think with the PG, Bruce will get going soon.
I know he didn't show alot last night, but he was on debut and also got into foul trouble so he didn't play much in the first half and then Goorj went with Kendall (for some reason...) in the second half, resulting in just 8 mins on court.
His best attributes are his shooting and his floor leadership, both of which he didn't get to show.

Markovic, Hinder and Barlow are not international standard, and should barely get in the squad let alone make the final team. You'd think Sam Mac is on his last legs - but keep him on for leadership and veteren guidance - he certainly shouldn't be logging 38mins.
Why is New Money (our next great NBA hope) only getting 8mins ??!! with kendall getting 32 ?? Could anyone honestly justify this?
BG also seems to coach in a negative manner - reactionary rather than pro-active, and doesn't adjust the Kings game plan to become and international game plan.
He failed at the Olympics, only just got thru at the Commonwealth, and i'm tired of watching him destroy Australian basketball - especially when he stated himself he has very low expectations for the boomers at the worlds !

As much as Newley is better than Kendall - he isnt up to the PG role . Brad needs time to develop his own game as SG , not worry about running a team .

We do need a Maher-type player who can control the tempo of our offense and be settled enough to let guys get into position and make their rotations offensively.

CJ can fill this void obviously, but he is still more of a shoot-first PG (although looking at his summer league stats ... hmm???)
Let Bruce play some more significant minutes and let kendall fight for a spot at the 2 - where i think he is more naturally inclined to play given his propensity to shoot from way down-town.

You know, just looking over some posts in this thread, and does anyone else think that I Hate Brian posted under the name Bombo as well, just to try and make it seem as if he was getting some support from someone?

Separate IPs, but seem to know each other. I thought their conversation was pretty amusing actually.

Both Phil and Brian stink and should be banned from coaching the national team.............

Phil and Steve are as comical as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis without the laughs............

I think the boomers are missing a couple of players who can shoot from downtown and play inside. We need a player in the role of say a brett lewis, steve holder, scott whitmore or steve denton all of whom dominated aba for years from either inside or out.........

Plus where is the penetration...you wouldnt want any of the current boomers guards to be dicks cause they wouldnt get past the undies with the limited penetration they have.........bring back trav leaver i say, not even he could work out where his pigeon toes were heading.

Chuck the ball into bogie, let him do his thing, if he cant then let him ditch it out to hunch back anstey or shot put smith to jack it up from long range........

Brett Maher is Australia's only hope, he should be given the coaching role of both the boomers and sixers til he dies. Scott Ninnis and Paul Mesceke should be his assistants. Lets start a partition.

Why is it a surprise that Bruce wasn't able to 'carve up' as he did in college? International ball is definitely a step up from college ball.

The game is a step quicker and the bodies are alot bigger. NZ are a quality side who were well coached and very intense defensively. Had they not shot 50 threes in the last quarter they would have beaten us.

Nice try Twentyfour, unfortunately your wrong and issac proved it. Dont hate the player, hate the game coz the game sure hates you. Stop trying to cut down the big tree. Just coz bombo knows whats up and seems to be a very intelligent individual you have to go and start player hating. Every point you have made has been rediculous with know meirt and proves you to be the idiot that you are. I love you bombo!!!! Your the best

the doctor, its all well and good to say "if they didnt shoot 50 threes in the 4th quater they wouldve beaten us" the fact is thats all they were allowed to get by the defence. add to the fact only casey frank had the knackers to take bogut on, ive got a whole new respect for him... i know for a fact i wouldnt drive at him!

My point is that the Boomers certainly did not outplay NZ. Their win was lucky in the sense that the lead changed quite often and could have easily been in NZ'd favour at the final buzzer.

There are different types of wins, and Wednesday's win was not pretty. I don't think anyone would disagree with me on that.

I think NZ settled for the three, and admittedly they were open a fair bit. Even the last shot by Pero "The Hamburgler" Cameron didn't miss by much. I don't agree that NZ took alot of threes because that's all they were given. We stunk defensively, and looked even worse on offense. Did anyone else see how every time the ball is swung, we catch it two metres outside the three point line? We basically waste 20 seconds, then jack a three.

We looked good when the ball was dumped inside, and cutters went hard to the hole. Oh, and Anstey's dunk was massive.

Anstey and Bogut definately a league ahead of the rest of the team.

Bombo and I hate Brian = Brokeback Mountain Boys
- played ABA, US College what a load of Shite.
To say you coached ABA is (B/S)astonishing given your views.
Go back to eating red frogs at St Clair you wannabee's.

I hate Brian, WTF man???

'I agree with 'I hate brian', the bloke clearly knows his hoops and has some great thoughts about how the game should be played. I bet he was a great player in his day...........'

'Bombo you sound like you know what you are talking about. I would hazzard a guess that you too were a great player'

'I love you bombo!!!! Your the best'

OK , so you aren't the same guy, but you sure complementing each other alot...

Plus all I have said is that Kickert should be in the squad and that Bruce had a bad game... I'm pretty sure thats IDIOTIC.

hmmmm, saucer of milk-table 9.
cat fight!

I Hate Brian,
Wow, if only you were still coaching ABA! The future of the system would sure be in good hands. Pre-game pump-up: 'When I was playing..'
Time out play: 'give the ball to bombo! he is the only one of you who knows what he is doing out there!'
Post match loss: 'If only you listened to me! Bobo and I ran the same plays in college and they worked perfectly! Look, we are now going to sit down and watch a tape of me playing ball at college'

dnt h8 brian,hes a chill dude,just passionate!

does he play with you in the u14s brad?

No charlie...no

"I Hate Brian" again what college did you play for?????

I would love you to know who some of you loosers are that. Charlie and the Juice why dont you tell me some of your credentials. Stick to coaching Juniors. I know you guys probably lie about your bball history but Im not.You idiots tell me who you are and I will let you know who I am