born and bred in australia.......would prefer to play for Serbia??
tell him to stick it up his ..hi kids!!!

This is really bad news as he is a form player at his position, and with Bogut he would have been our starter at centre.

I hope it is not sour grapes, and if it is, his international career could be over and he may never get a chance to play in a World Championship or Olympics.

born and breed in australia and have played for Emus alongside Bogut.

now, he has some alibis not to. maybe because he was snubbed consecutively. now it his personal decision to follow his heart. you cannot play with heavy heart.

WTF? Play with a heavy heart????

Why is balls not on the team at SF or PF ?

How is it Australia's fault? Playing for your country is a privilege, not a right.

There was no way he should have made the 08 team. Last year he wasnt selected, probably incorrectly, but his form in Europe was average. IF that is his reason, he needs to man up.

However, he may just need rest for his knee, as he never got back to top form after he injured it. I am not going to hang him without knowing the full story.

No way Australia should release him though, he is a product of our system and is now reaping the rewards of his excellent grounding (as well as his own hard work) via a big new contract with Partizan.

WTF, obviously not rated as much by Brett Brown as by 36ers fans. At that position, I've heard that consensus amongst some is that Redhage (love him or hate him) is the better option.

There's no way Maric could have made the '08 squad as he never played for Goorg' in the NBL ;)

Perhaps he does not want to spend his international career playing second fiddle to Bogut when he could be "the man" for Serbia. There's no point in playing hard ball though as BA would not, nor should, release him.

Totally agree - BA should not approve his release to play for Serbia let alone for any other country.

Maric hasn't yet played for the Boomers but has represented Australia at FIBA tournaments at junior levels. Therefore, you ae correct, his basketball nationality is Australian and he cannot represent any other nation without clearance from BA to do so.

Yeah, I thought that if you played for one country in an official FIBA competetion your allegiance was decided and you could not play for another country.

Honestly, would he even make the Serbian squad though?

They are extremely deep at the Center postition. They have Nenad Kristic, Darko Milicic, Kosta Perovic (7"2), Boban Marjanovic (7"3-plays for CSKA Moscow)and Zoran Erceg (plays for Olympiacos)

I'm not sure that you could classify 7.3 rpg in 23.5 mpg over 57 games in Europe in this last season, including 8.4 rpg in 18 Euroleague matches as "struggling".

The fact of the matter is that were he available (and Bogut, of course, remained unavailable) he would likely be the Boomers starting centre at the WC's. His absence, regardless of anyone's personal opinions of him, makes us weaker.

Back in 2006, Aleks Maric was a college basketball player at Nebraska...he was nowhere near ready for the WC's at that stage.

The argument is that Maric played in the lead-up games and wasnt very good. Realistically, I think he probably have been picked in hindsight, but with Bruce, Worthington, Newley, Barlow, Bruce, Kickert and Kendall in the team as inexperienced young players, Goorjian obviously wanted some experienced frontcourt guys to back up Bogut and Mackinnon.

Like I said, I think Maric probably should have been picked, but he didnt deserve to make the team, it would have been only for the sake of future development, and he would have sat on the bench as he wasnt up to that standard.