we will agree but his never going to get sacked cos basketball australia love him. His there boy.

I know he has received much criticism from this site- but would Phil be a good option to coach the national team now?

At the time i remember he spoke of not being able to dedicate enough time to coaching both the 36ers and the Boomers, well now i think he would have the time.

Should have Gordie/Beverage/Stacker coaching combination.

We would see an improvent in Offense and defence from what we have got todate from Gorj mobile.

Goorj has already said he's giving the job away after the Olympics!

Its such a unique coaching role, in that you really have no time to build a team structure.

You have a team filled with players from all different types of leagues, scattered across the globe.

We are not going to beat the Euro teams at their own game.

We need a coach that can think outside the square. Someone like Don Nelson, a coach that will be different. Like it or not we are not a top 5 b-ball nation, so we need a coach that can pull a few tricks out of the bag.

Whats Drew Gaze up to now?

westover, or give gaze a crack

Agreed he does not cut the mustard at Olympic level. Al Westover may be the next option.

Goorjaan's results at thsi level are sub standard with good teams. Maybe BA will finally admit as much.

Need to start guys with passion Mills Newley Ingles and Redhage.

Look overseas for the next coach. Forget the hacks here in Australia.

Goorj's inability to inspire the Boomers to reach greater heights or play inspired confident basketball is the biggest concern.

His offensive system just stifles the Boomers to the point where there are successive passes around the top of the key until someone needs to take an individual effort with the shot clock running down. Whilst I am not sure that Phil would do any better job in the results column, you could be assured the team would play with more flair (just by letting them do what they do best) and more self confidence.

I didn't see Manu or Scola etc out there last night worried about whether what he was doing was within the team rules. Argentina just played to their strengths with passion and confidence, found players inside and out and let them do what they are good at.

It appears to be so easy to shut down the Boomers offense. The Boomers do not spread the floor opening room for cutters and slashers or for passes out to open shots on the arc (this was essentially the Argies' offensive structure). Rather, most often the Boomers have 4 players outside the quarter court line running high screens - the defence just clogs up the space around the top of the arc and says 'fine, you can't hurt us from there'. It seems the most pathetic piddly sort of offense for use in international ball - it clearly just does not work.

Both teams we have played have had their defensive and attacking systems flowing we have been like lost sheep going nowhere.
I dont know if anyone else has struggled to gell to this team strongly although our country and our sport but apart from my strong dislike of BG and his coaching style you also have jerks like Nielsen , Anstey and Worthington as key players .
Bring back the Gaze era where we played above our ability when wore the green and gold .

The Goor has sucked for a while and needs to be sacked. However looks like he'll step down after the Olympics anyway.

He's the man and loved by Basketball Australia, so they won't sack him.

I wouldn't mind seeing Phil have another crack, he was unfairly sacked last time + unable to dedicate the time due to 36ers committments.

Al Westover received a mention as the next bloke, that's fine.

How about Joey Wright? I think he'd do a good job.

We need Gus

or a gus type to show us how to play euro basketball as this is the style that seems to win games internationally.

If Gaze is there, you need a tactician to assist I think. From what I saw in China, Gaze's coaching style is a lot more active than I expected (was thinking it'd be more like Lindsay or Phil).

In regards to the question, I think he's partly there through lack of consensus on alternatives and because he's one of the strongest coaches in our domestic league.

The results so far by the Boomers, IMO, are going to doom the NBL into oblivian.

This was our big chance to make a soid case to the Federal government that Bball, like soccer, deserves some decent funding. Funding would mean we might actually be able to get our game back on FTA and get more people interested in our sport again. The only way to make that happen was to bring back a medal.

Soccer qualified for the world cup some years ago and got mountains of cash from the Federal government. Up until then the NSL was a broken basket case; now they are one of the most popular spectator sports in this country. The Opals can bring back a gold medal and Bball will get nothing. The Boomers had to make their mark and bring back a medal as well, but have failed us all again.

Sure, Boy Gorj will walk as coach of the Boomers after the olympics are done. He may as well keep on walking right back to the good old USA because there will be nothing left to fool around with in Oz after this pitifull performance in both sucking the NBL dry of cash and dooming our National team to oblivian.

Shame, shame, shame.

A Euro coach is not the answer. The Europeans play the way they do as they are brought up in that system over a period of many years. The way they think and react in a game can't be translated to our guys in a 12 month period which would all BA could afford for a top line European coach.
Our strength has always been at the defensive end and the guys who are having the faith put into them don't have this mindset. Play the guys who bust their arse and maybe it will infect the so called 'stars'.

Sardines, on that topic, I've found the coverage on the news.com.au network to be quite negative, almost setting basketball up for failure.

The Opals beat a decent team in Brazil and the headline started with "Unimpressive".

A non-basketball friend said last night "And now the Boomers will lose to Argentina" - the brand of the sport in this country is not too great.

Are most of us here much better though - someone's started a topic "Bogut is crap" and virtually everyone bar Patrick Mills has come up for criticism. IMO, it's the team play as a whole rather than individuals involved that needs help.

Isaac - while I do think there's value in maintaining a positive outlook when things look bad, there's also value in being realistic and calling a spade a spade when things are craptastically bad for BA. Which, in my opinion, they are.

Unless you're saying that the Boomers lost because the media here writes bad headlines about them (which I don't believe you are), then I think facing up to reality is better than sugar-coating the situation. Maybe "Bogut is crap" is a little silly and doesn't really add much value to the current conversation(s), but "Bogut is playing like crap" is the honest truth of the matter. He *did* swagger around and talk himself/the Boomers way up in the lead-up to the Games, so it's only fair that it comes back to bite him. These are professional athletes who get paid heaps of money to play basketball, not fragile junior players who need encouraging and a glass of milk and a cookie.

After all - your non-basketball friend was dead right, wasn't he? You're right too of course - the brand of the sport in this country is poor at the moment. In my opinion, in order to alter the current trajectory of basketball in Aus, we need wholesale changes which mere niceties and positivity is not going to bring.

Don't know why everyone is complaining about the coach. We have played the same style of basketball since I can remember. We dont penetrate because thats not how its played in the NBL. We live and die by our 3pt shot and will continue to be pretty ordinary unless we can change how the NBL is played.

Andy - true, but:

A) It's pro-sport. If the team isn't successful, the coach rightly or wrongly cops a lot of the blame. Just the way it is.

B) Goorjian is one of the most prominent NBL coaches the league has seen, being highly active in shaping the way the game is played here over the last 10-15 years. If you want to blame "how the NBL is played", Goorjian is far from absolved, by merit of his being one of the main shaping forces of the NBL as we know it!

The bad publicity just seems typical of the whole state of Bball at the present time.

I think one of the tragedies of the current games is that we (me included) caused such a fuss with ch 7 about their poor performance regarding their coverage on Sunday, only to have the Boomers crash & burn; then they back it up with another poor performance.

Try ringing ch 7 now and "demanding" they show the next Boomers game, fat chance - yet they showed most of a water polo match between Aus and Spain yesterday that even though it was a close one, left me thinking what an uninspiring game it was to watch. Imagine if the Boomers had of won their 1st game; we kick up a fuss about the coverage, they show more of the next game (which we win)then all of a sudden the Boomers are hot property amongst the media and people who used to come to watch our games all of a sudden realise that the NBL will be starting in a few months and actually go to a few games. What could have been?

This really is a tragedy for our sport. It would have been a tragedy if our sport was in a robust situation; however given the NBL's "smoke & mirrors" routine they have been pedaling for the last few seasons I am as worried as hell about the future of our sport. I dont think there is one.

Funding from the government, forget it. We are dead in the water with a barrage of torpedos heading our way.

Did Bogut really swagger that much? He said they were underdogs (they were/are) and made a statement to get the sport some press. His lack of production is a different issue. I also agree that he could do more from the sidelines like Yao did when China played the US - that's an easy change to make - there's no defense stopping you from applauding your team's plays and being vocal in time outs and on court. I wonder if he feels out of place in that squad - many of the rest have played for or trained with Goorjian a number of times before.

Step 1 of coaching a game involves putting the right people on the court.

How anyone who has watched the boomers play lately, could put cj on and bench mills for half the game, is beyond me. The difference between the quality of cj, and the quality of mills, is massive and stark.

If mills doesn't play 30+ mins in the next game, then ignore all other factors, goorj is bad.

Goorj has indicated that he is will give up the post after the olympics.

Going on tradition (first assistant gets the job) Joyce will be the next coach and i believe deserved. The question is should the Australian mens coach be a full time role, were they can also develope the game of our future champions.

No way to Phil, he is too lazy and doesnt put the time in. Australia not qualify for w'champs ended phil dream of coaching at olympics.

Reference gaze, will Andrew was an excellent Individual player, his coaching creditbilty of juniors for Melbourne tigers isnt up to scratch to coach the Australian team. Joyce or Gordie should get the gig, with joyce being my tip. He is the only coach to have a regional team, that was under the salary cap to win a NBL championship.

Firstly, I've always been a Goorjan fan, however last night, he lost me..

Bizarre rotations for one - Why did Barlow sit so early in the first? He's our most athletic player by far, he's slashing lanes, getting to the rack and most of all running the lane!! Why have Mills on Court with Worthington, Saville and Anstey? Mills is uptempo, let him play with quick players! Redhage should have hit the court a lot earlier, Bogut, Nielson and Anstey were all ordinary early on!!

Just on Bogut - No excuses, he' s our star player, injured or not, he has to lead us, must be vocal and supportive all game (like Yao was) and most of all arrogant! Did you see Nocioni talking smack to him? He looked intimidated, slow and disinterested!!!!!!!!!!

Isaac - re. Bogut, probably my personal opinion coming through a bit there. I don't tend to see the chap through particularly rosy glasses. I can agree with the general consensus at least - would have been nice to at least look like he was giving a care!

Lloyd - agree that the rotations were random. I think Gaze even noted at one stage that we'd made a run (read: we scored consecutive baskets) and that it was odd for the line-up to be changed.

Lloyd, he probably figured that he wasn't having the game that would back up talking trash to Nocioni. At one point he fired up a bit and then ended up "making up" with him or Oberto or whoever it was.

hereschenes, oh, same here. But, to me, it doesn't look like he's disinterested or playing injured, but something else. Like something's on his mind, or he's just being diagnosed with testicular cancer. Maybe the realisation that so much is on his shoulders, and the other NBA bigs like Gasol, Dirk and Scola are a tier above? Whatever's up, he needs to sort it out ASAP.

If the press want to criticise a sport, they should start with tennis. One would assume that the Govt would be investing a substantial amount of money into Tennis Australia or via the AIS. But normally they would expect to see some"return" for their investment, but in the case of tennis, we are seeing nothing from both men and women.
This country is now an embarrassment in tennis, whilst we at least have World champions in women's basketball.

Squid- Fair point, but im pretty sure that the Aust Open and things like that generate more cash and tourism than womens basketball does. Sad, but true.

Just face it. Australia just doesn't have the cattle. You can blame the coach. Blame Bogut or any of the other players but at the end of the day, we are just not that good fellas. Most of our best athletes in team sports have chosen the AFL, rugby or cricket where you can actually make some coin instead of choosing to play in the perpetually bankrupt NBL.

Bored, we are that good. The problem is that we have a system that fails to utilise our players strengths, and we have a coach that is too stubborn to change his ways, even when they are clearly failing.

Bzzzz. Sorry Bored, you are incorrect.

We do 'have the cattle', we have NBA-calibre big men, we have international experience at all 5 positions who have shown on occasion to be world class.
This is why we are so gutted we are struggling in Beijing - the potential is there to at leat advance to the nest round, but the team lacks confidence, execution and composure. (3 things I would have though a Goorjian team would never lack).

in my opinion Goorijian is the best coach I've seen in this country. His working staff also features one of the "best" High Performance Manager I have met in Australia. The two combo have a true NBA styled workouts.

why is he going so bad internationally? it's purely because of lack of preparation time. when you look at argentina, almost that same team 4 years ago team is here.

before training camp I had a discussion with the High Performance guy about the training program, when you look at the time you're given it's very limited of what you can do to prepare these guys.

and lack of physical preparation is one big component that kills us internationally. and a lot comes down to offseason involvements. I know so many players just takes the offseason off and relax as oppose to work hard and get their physique up the next level.

I currently have clienteles from both Melbourne clubs and I can tell you guys Goorijian's workout is lot tougher and more effective than Westover's.

furthermore with the comment of why not give Andrew Gaze a go? He himself said to one of my friend that he'll never even coach NBL level because he don't think that's what he's good at. but I do think it will be great to have him as an assistant or a specialist coach who helps out at training sessions.

westover is no chance, and to be honest i dont want any american coaching our national team again! to add to that no naturalised players ie redhedge should be in the squad in the future. On the player side i suggest to make the australian team you must have played junior b;ball in this country!

westover has been given a team bulsted with talent and as we all know way over the salary cap!

LA Boy, having more intense training sessions than another NBL team (in some unnamed person's opinion) is hardly relevant to discussion of whether someone should be coaching Australia. Neither is the excuses made by some "High Performance Manager" who is probably on the payroll and therefore is just like Gorj, trying to justify team's poor performance on external factors. Clearly, Gorjian is not subject to the same scrutiny as other national coaches we have had in the past. The performance of the team so far is embarassing, and anyone watching the games can see they are poorly coached. International basketball is different to the NBL where he has had team's stacked with talent nearly every year, and still failed to win many championships that he probably should have.

I put Westover into the mix just because somebody was saying should give him a go. And it ain't no excuse he (performance guy) made up. and excuse me where have you participated in the preparation?

You have no idea as to what is involved in the actual training and physical preparation stage to make that sort of comment.

When planning for the training camps, we only had 2 months to get everybody to some reasonable physique. And I can tell you now there's nothing much more he could've done to get these guys to a better performance level.

I did not just say his workouts were more intense but I also said they were more effective. You ask any player on that roster now and those in the squad, who do you want as Boomers coach and I can tell you most of them will go Brian.

I haven't been here long enough but has the performance of this team ever exceeded what Brian's currently achieved?

Something other than performance but another component this team is missing is a good team manager who can provide the team a better chemistry. Just like Jerry on the US team. And that's why I suggested to get Andrew Gaze involved because he will serve a perfect role for that, but more as a specialist coach who can also inspire/motivate the team.

LA Boy, we have finished 4th before. So yes, we have finished higher with a non-Goorj team.

Goorjian for a long time has been criticised about his training methods, some older players just not bothering with his camps as they are too much of a grind. I would love to know who the 'High Perfomance Manager' is, and what his role is exactly.

To say that it all comes down to preparation time, is crap, IMO. BG has been coach for six years now, and still is yet to figure out how to get an international level offence up and running. Or, more imprortantly, come one with that uses the players he has effectively.

Obviously Bogut and Anderson coming in late would cause some problems, but we played against Iran and NZ before they came in, for God's sake. A decent offensive system could have been used against them with some of the fringe bigs stepping in.

If you have watched any of these Olympic games so far, you'd see that the physical side of it isn't where the team is struggling. Croatia just absolutely killed our zone and got open shots all game long, while our D once again let us down against Argentina.

Throw in the fact that our offence is based on running around the 3-point line without any purpose, with 3 of the best bigs at these games barely even getting into the paint, and I think it is painfully obvious that there are deeper problems than just how we are prepared.

LINTON!! You are so right, i was talking to people today about what you stated... Who should coach i don't know, because im not an ex NBL legend, or international superstar, so im not going to say who would be best for the job.

BUT..
- reddage is getting no minutes for someone with so much talent, while Worthington is out there struggling.
- Mills really stepped up the tempo last night which was excellent to see. And basically carried us.
- The Bogey man needs to step up and play like a true NBA star, at least get 15 & 10 numbers. because there is no way Anderson is going to do anything.
- The big men need to leave perimeter shooting to the likes of Barlow, Saville, Newley and Bruton. Then they might actually pull in a rebound.

I dunno, it is just frustrating to watch, but I'm not in the boomers camp. I guess Thats just my opinion

The national team sums up the state of play around the NBL at the moment - CRAP.

Never mind whilst Brian keeps delivering crap in Bejing hopefully people here in the land of Oz now realize what he is - a wanker