ouch........

Interesting that when Derwin wants to refer to Goorjians success he can only refer to his National League winning percentage, perhaps a little embarrassed about the International percentage????

He also apologises for the fact that Goorjian was hamstrung by injuries to key players, yet that same excuse was warranted as not acceptable when they chose to force Smyth to stand down from the position, yet Derwin also acknowledges this is a more highly talented team.

My point : it's easy to manipulate facts and figures to come up on either side of the Goorjian arguement.

I look forward to Botis response...

Firstly, it's healthy that Derwim's article was printed. The absence of vigorous debate is what has led us to this lame arsed position basketball is in today.
Sure, Boti's article wasn't totally objective, but I think it reflects what many people FEEL about BA and our national team.
Phil was reamed, BA dropped the ball and failed to capitalise on the boom of the 80s, the men's team is Boy Goorj mates club, etc etc.
IMO the fans feel disenfranchised and THAT's why there is such a negative vibe about the scene.

Its nice to see that BA can read.

It is a pretty defensive article by BA, you would think that it stems from more criticism than just one Boti article. Feeling the pressure a little?

'Lean into this page so you see this number clearly: 70. That would be the winning percentage Brian Goorjian, our national coach, amassed over more than six hundred NBL games. He has also won more NBL championships than any other coach.'

And we all know who Boy Goorj's favourite fan is? BA wouldn't be Eastern States-centric would it???

I don't think Boti has EVER said that Goorjian can't coach. That would be totally missing Boti's point if that is what you take from his earlier letter. It is more about some of Goorj's methods, team selections, and narrow-mindedness in court rotations. It is also his defensive mindset game that, at NBL level, for the most part is unattractive to watch.

Agree with 7G totally though, great to see this published. Looking for it to become and all out stoush. Maybe we could arrange a main event program where Botu takes on Derwin head to head.

World Champs are 3 days off and there is still basically no media awareness whatsoever that it is on. The Soccer world cup on the other hand had received about 6 months of constant double page spreads before it even began.

Basketball will never compete unless something drastic is done and soon. Does Derwin's open letter give anyone any comfort that BA is doing ANYTHING about the situation?

Does he have his facts straight about Aaron Bruce? Can't recall him being first team All-American...

Boti and Derwin head to head. Last man standing - in a cage. Curtain raiser for the sixers opening game?

Statistics, 60% exaggeration and 70% bulls*%t....

Sturty, I have heard that 63.4% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other 47.6% are wrong.

heheheh.

He was a 2005 freshman All American, not sure if Derwin knew that.

I don't recall Boti criticising the selection of most of those players Derwin mentioned. Derwin seems to have left Kendall and Barlow out of his response... I have a feeling that you could pop a DMac into this Boomers roster instead of Kendall and have more satisfied fans and a happier Boti.

Also, no response to the lack of touring teams to Australia on top of the NZ visit, which I felt was one of the main points made by Boti. The comments by Derwin talking about 2002 and having the veiled dig at Smyth is like talking to a Kings fan on OzHoops about it all - boring stuff.

There's virtually no strong opinion-based basketball writing in this country and when Boti gives us something, BA pops up with the ultimate plain and defensive corporate rebuttal.

agree with everything you posted here 7G. good call.
the cage....gold!
Thunderdome style...

This just proves that Boti's letter/article was a complete success.

Why (if Boti had it so wrong) would they want to respond? Simply because he hit the nail on the head and all at BA know he is right.

There would be more then a few decision makers at BA secretly hoping that the men fail so Gorj can finally be dissmissed.

What position would we have to finish for the WC campaign to be classed as a success?

Well according to BA, FIBA has Australia ranked at #3, so surely Bronze would be the minimum requirement?

Ouch

"This Australia Post Boomers team may be inexperienced at the international level, but victorious or not, we hope the experience they garner at the World Championships in Japan bodes well for the continued development of our sport and for our country's chances at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008".

They seem to be setting Goorjian up with an excuse before he even fails. That being it's a development squad.

Just checked on Fiba...
http://www.fiba.com/pages/en/misc/ranking/FIBArankingG.asp

The Men are ranked 9, the Women are ranked 3. Overall somehow with both rankings added together we are 3rd.....
WTF?

Anon: it's Scott Derwin, not yogee, proclaiming that we are ranked 3rd overall.

I believe you will find that our ranking is based on all our teams, Opals, Boomers, Gems, Emus etc.

Each country gets x amount of points for the position they finish at world championships or in case of senior teams olympics.

then the countries are ranked by the amount of points they have ergo Australia ranks third, courtesy of strong junior teams and the Opals.

Countries like Croatia (plucking that country out of the air and only using it as an example don't shot me down in flames) may finish higher than Australia in the mens comp but it may not even have teams in the junior worlds therefore their overall ranking would be below it.

Remember that world championships and olympics are the top nations from the five zones of FIBA attending not necessarily the best 12 teams. for example Africa as a zone will always have a team at the world championships and olympics they are usually the team which finishes bottom. Majority of european nations could account for them easily but by the right of zones they are entitled to their birth.

So Australia ranked third is australia as a nation not necessarily the Boomers.

Since we didn't even qualify for the last WC could we consider just qualifying this time round as a success?

um Ken I get your drift but no IMO because we didn't have to beat NZ to qualify as they go thru courtesy of their placings at the last worlds and Olympics

personally I don't think we would have beaten New Zealand to qualify for the world's.

So qualifying when we only have to win the oceania region (with New Zealand exempt this time) is a hollow victory

Development squad ! makes me laugh.
How often does a team stay the same for the olympics and world champs?
Bogut is the only young player in the last ten years that has got any court time. Even with Barry Barnes in charge the Boomers were a mates club.

I hate to say this ,but i hope Australia finish last ,im really not intrested in this second rate team at all.

c'mon jacob where is your aussie spirit??!! ;)

Its pretty "lame" when uve got the sherminator starting on the court for an Australian team.

I personally dont have a problem with the squad they have chosen except for the selection of worthington who in my opinion is way overrated. Holmes in for worthington, and that is a good 12, but more to the point, a team which can bild toward hopefully a medal in 2 or 6 years time. Choosing Mcdonald would serve no purpose, it might make the difference between 6th and 8th, but what we would lose from the lack of exposure to young guards would hurt a whole heap more. Boti got schooled by Derwin IMO.

Derwin: A for Corporate PR, F for Reading Comprehension, A for Missing the Point.

What's the relevance of a FIBA ranking of 3 if the Boomers (which were being discussed) have a ranking of 9? What did the mention of indigenous basketball achieve in responding to what Boti had written? Where has anyone criticised the choices of most players that Derwin named? No mention of Kendall (started throughout the NZ series) or Barlow (started in the recent games against Greece, France and China or whoever the opponents were). No mention of having paid to bring people in from the US to watch training sessions?

Actually, considering a response like this in Adelaide is really a no-win for BA, considering how irrational most SA people are about Phil, I think this is a gutsy thing for Derwin to do. It's gutsy cause he can't win the debate in the SA media. Boti's editor will be loving this.

It's actually most unlike BA. I have never seen them respond to anything in this manner and spin anything like this publicly. Their media and PR in the past has been very lame.

BTW, if memory serves me correct Phil selected Mark Nash and Ben Knight, hardly "star" selections compared to Kendall/Barlow.

HO, that was only because Barlow and Kendall weren't available at the time. ;) Nash was a questionable choice, but Knight might not have been a bad choice at the time? It was certainly slim pickings given the injuries and retirements.

I think BA responded because they're feeling the heat after the NZ series. You're right about it being a bit unusual though.

And you're also right - Boti and Editor Spirdo wouldn't be complaining about this at all. Out went the hook, and in came the surf life-saver.

Nash wasn't selected for the NZ series, he was in the squad for the tournament held before the series (in Brisbane maybe? It's a long time ago and can't really remember) but he didn't make the trip to NZ. This one gets thrown up all the time in the Smythe Goorj debate but it's flat out wrong.

Derwin's comment along the lines of "well, at lease Goojian got us to the World Champs this time round (which Smythe couldn't do last time)" is preposterous. Back then there was only room for one team from our division, we lost the NZ series and missed out. This time there were 2 places, we lost the NZ but still qualified. The point here is that both times we lost the NZ series, to try and give Goorgian credit for the fact there's now 2 spots available is wrong and confirms BA's obvious bias towards the Goorj.

Boti will tear him to shreds, especially while he (and his editor) decide what goes to print and what doesn't.

The actual roster for the series was:

Maher, McGregor, Saville, Egan, McDonald, Nielson, Melmeth, Dench, Moore, Knight.

More on that series here

Maher did well each game, but we basically had two guards and then a raft of forwards. Bizarre roster to select. Who would've played SG when Maher and/or McDonald were off? Saville?

As for Boti's retort, I don't believe he's going to bother - if Derwin can't respond to the points from the first open letter, it's a waste of time trying again.

Anonymous (92622) boti does his job. Why cause people talk about what he writes. Which after all isn't that what a jurnalist tries to do get people talking about there artical. Isn't that good for the sport? It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree people talk about it. As for Scott he has missed the point totally and again it doesn't matter, why because we are all talking about it. Boti has done his job once again in promoting basketball. Boti keep up the good work!

Isaac, you might be right about having only 2 guards, but I would still prefer to have Maher, McDonald and ________(insert name of random PG playing Div C social) than CJ, Kendall and Bruce.

Smyth probably did have the best players going around in Australia that had made themselves available for selection. Just not enough play makers...

LOL, D Brent!

How did this get bumped back up here?