Creek getting through is a bit of a surprise, i expect him to be one of the guys to not make it but good exposure for him!

Ok my team.

PG Patty Mills
SG Matthew Dellevadova
SF Joe Ingles
PF Matt Nielsen
C David Andersen

Bench
PF Nathan Jawai
C AJ Ogilvy
SF David Barlow
SG Brad Newley
SG Peter Crawford

and any two out of Baynes, Maric, Worthington, Gibson or Martin

Wow, great effort by our www.AussieHoopla.com friend Mitch Creek to earn a spot there... hopefully this entices 36ers to resign him a little quicker.

Remember to check our podcast with him discussing his season with Adelaide and winning the NBL dunk comp if they have one. http://www.aussiehoopla.com/category/podcasts/

I don't know if Crawford can make it, but he has worked his ass off this year... and Boomers need a 3pt shooter.

Great to see Nate Jawai in there, Coach Brown said some good things about him last week
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympics-2012/brown-slams-critics-after-boguts-olympic-dream-ends-20120422-1xf55.html
he should play a big part of this years team.

My team would be
Patty Mills - G
Matt Dellevadova - G
Damien Martin - G
Brad Newley - G/F
Peter Crawford - G/F
Mark Worthington - F
Joe Ingles - F
David Barlow - F
Nathan Jawai - F*
Aleks Maric - C
David Andersen - C
Aron Bynes - C


* if AJ Ogilvy isn't healthy.

Ogilvy's health is a concern and I think he will miss out as he has not played for a while either.

I love the fact our best performed US College players got invited even though Delly will be the only of them that makes it - a great experience and due recognition for how well they have played this year.

In case others had no idea what sort of numbers various guys are putting up in Europe here's what some googling came up with.
Eurocup is the international comp below the Euroleague.

_PPG_ (_FG% 3FG% _FT%) Reb _Ast_ _PF_ _STL_ _BLK_ TO_ #ofGMS _MINS__

Andersen
15.2p (.540 .413 .842) 5.7r 1.5a 2.4pf 0.4s 0.3b 2.0to 28gms 26.1mins (Italy-Serie A)
11.7p (.455 .333 .738) 6.2r 0.9a 2.6pf 0.4s 0.4b 1.6to 20gms 25.3mins (Euroleague)

Kickert
15.1p (.625 .357 .805) 4.3r 1.0a 2.5pf 0.5s 0.4b 1.8to 37gms 24.8mins (Poland PLK)
10.0p (.333 .333 .750) 0.0r 0.0a 2.0pf 1.0s 0.0b 5.0to _1gms 27.0mins (Euroleague)

Baynes
13.6p (.509 .000 .711) 8.7r 0.5a 3.5pf 0.5s 0.7b 2.8to 23gms 27.4mins (Greece A1)

Ogilvy
_5.4p (.627 .000 .875) 2.1r 0.3a 1.7pf 0.2s 0.5b 1.2to 18gms 10.8mins (Spain ACB)
_9.5p (.536 .000 .696) 3.3r 0.8a 1.6pf 0.5s 0.9b 1.0to _8gms 15.3mins (Eurocup)

Barlow
_8.1p (.386 .395 .875) 4.9r 0.7a 2.4pf 0.6s 0.2b 0.9to 32gms 24.3mins (Spain ACB)

Jawai
_7.2p (.569 .000 .683) 3.6r 0.4a 2.8pf 0.2s 0.3b 2.3to 13gms 12.7mins (Russia PBL)
_7.3p (.547 .000 .643) 4.3r 0.3a 2.3pf 0.3s 0.5b 3.0to 15gms 13.6mins (Euroleague)

Maric
_7.0p (.738 .000 .559) 4.2r 0.4a 2.2pf 0.8s 0.5b 1.2to 26gms 12.3mins (Greece A1)
_3.2p (.649 .000 .619) 2.0r 0.1a 1.4pf 0.5s 0.1b 0.5to 19gms _6.3mins (Euroleague)

Newley
_5.4p (.578 .438 .533) 1.9r 0.7a 1.4pf 0.9s 0.2b 1.1to 15gms 14.7mins (Spain ACB)
_4.8p (.522 .333 .500) 2.4r 1.0a 1.4pf 0.8s 0.1b 0.7to 10gms 14.1mins (Eurocup)

Ingles
_5.4p (.528 .411 .763) 1.6r 1.8a 1.2pf 1.0s 0.2b 1.3to 25gms 14.4mins (Spain ACB)
_4.1p (.500 .206 .733) 1.8r 1.4a 1.0pf 0.6s 0.1b 0.8to 19gms 12.8mins (Euroleague)

Nielsen
_3.6p (.500 .000 .545) 2.6r 1.7a 2.0pf 0.2s 0.1b 0.9to 14gms 12.7mins (Russia PBL)
_2.9p (.436 .000 .818) 2.8r 1.2a 1.7pf 0.5s 0.4b 0.9to 15gms 15.5mins (Euroleague)


Interesting to see that Majok isn't in the mix

Majok
11.2p (.518 .277 .734) 8.1r 1.4a 3.3pf 0.7s 2.6b 2.9to 41gms 28.0mins (Slovakia Extraliga)

Looks like the Aussie Soccer team of the past. You obviously have a better chance of making the team if you don't play in the local comp..

Hugh Greenwod should get a look in. He's a great talent and will have a big future. Should play him before the NBA take him and don't let him play!

Hey Maxx. The Brazil football team do OK and last I looked most of their players dont play in Brazil.

Some pretty decent players to choose from. Should be a strong squad if they gel and they can all be fit and healthy. Quite a few guys capable of shooting the lights out on any given night. Just a matter of them all doing it on the same night and a few of them in a row. Good range of bigs, athletic swingmen, quick guards, pretty jealous as a New Zealander. Every single guy on that list can play.

What happened to Steven Markovi? ??

Is he injured or just out of favour?

I'd have him ahead of Gibson for sure, and probably D Martin.

He's 190cm / 6"3, pass first point guard ave 7 assists per game, shoot 40.5% from 3pt and all reports plays solid D. Did i miss something?

Yeah re Markovic you'd surely have to assume his omission is due to injury or personal preference or something, and not due to him being overlooked through some failing in their scouting process. Because his numbers in a strong league demand attention.

CJ

If only Penney was born on this side of the ditch...

Surprised at how young Ingles still is, younger than Wagstaff and only a year older than Bose.

I think my ship has now officially sailed, not one person in the squad older than Billo.

I've been thinking Australia needs another state LC. What did that ad say? New Zealand. 100% there for the taking! :-P

Thanks for compiling that list Naph. Apart from Mills and perhaps Andersen, it makes for pretty depressing reading though. All we can hope is that warming benches/ playing minimal mins has lit a fire under some of these guys and they go in to the Olympics determined to prove something.

I hope Jawai can make an impact. He's always had big potential, but thus far he doesn't seem to have the hunger to really get the most out of that monster frame of his.

I'd be going with the following at the moment:

Mills Dellavedova
Crawford Barlow
Ingles Newley
Nielsen Baynes
Maric Andersen Jawai

Instead of Barlow, you could go with Martin if he is fit enough, but he seems to have had some injury problems this year.

The final spot I'd probably give to the young guy who is most impressive in training camp. Particularly someone who shows they can shoot the basketball! I'm thinking Bose or even Drmic if they perform well.

I don't think I'd bother taking Wortho. He hasn't been great this past season and has never done much at international level that makes me think he will have an impact at this Olympics. Perhaps Wagstaff if Brown decides he needs that mobile forward, but I'm not convinced Wagstaff would make much of an impact at international level either. For that matter, with this teams shooting woes, Brown could do worse than to recall Oscar Forman.

It's a great squad, one of the deepest Boomers squads ever. Nice to see Brett Brown recognise the young talent coming though, bringing in the guys that had outstanding college seasons, and also the best performed guys from our U19 team.

The bigs is the most interesting spot for mine. BB hasn't taken more than four bigs into tournament in the past, and has really got his work cut out for him (emphasis on the word 'cut') as he will be trying to add Andersen and Jawai to the four bigs that played against NZ - Nielsen, Maric, Baynes and Ogilvy.

BB has tended to put the team together fairly systematically in the past, four guards, four wings and four bigs.

Health issues aside, I think the definites are;

Mills, Dellavedova, Gibson, Martin, Ingles, Newley, Barlow, Worthington, Andersen, Nielsen.

Then you can throw a blanket over Maric, Baynes, Ogilvy and Jawai.

If Martin's ankle doesn't stand up, I think Crawford will come into the final team.

I think Maric is a certainty for BB. My guess at his team is:

Maric, Andersen, Newley, Ingles, Mills
Jawai, Nielsen, Worthington, Barlow, Crawford, Gibson, Dellavedova

If guys can actually hit some outside shots that is a good team. Jawai is important, because we have no other real low post scorers.

Hi Paul, I tend to agree with you in relation to Maric and Jawai. I just know how much BB likes Bayne's game, his effort and hustle. Of the four I said throw a blanket over, I think its a case of Maric v Ogilvy and Baynes v Jawai.

Cant see Ogilvy making it, he was poor in some of the non-negotiable areas last year and seemed to lose the trust of the coaches.

On another note, in this 25-man squad I would have picked Nevill over Khazzouh and Kickert.

It is an interesting one...and given Ogilvy's injury battles and lack of game time, I think he is unlikley to make. He is very much a scoring big, hence the case for Jawai would be even stronger.

You could be right. I think Brown will be weighing up Baynes' energy vs Jawai's x-factor.

That is 100% spot on Paul. Jawai is all about the x-factor he can bring to the team. You don't really know what you're gonna get. When he's on, he's almost unstoppable, but when he's poor, he's really awful.

With Baynes you know exactly what you're going to get each and every game.

CJ

Leon, CJ has retired from international competition. I'm pretty sure he announced in just prior to the camps getting underway for the 2010 world championships.

Youd have him in the team though Vart, wouldnt you?! Rest him v Spain and China and use him in the key games that decide places 2-5.

My team would be:

Mills
Dellavedova
Crawford
Ingles
Newley
Barlow
Nielsen
Jawai
Baynes
Andersen
Maric

For the 12th player I think it should be a question of whether you want a player like Worthington or a young emerging player like Bose/Broekhoff/Drmic...

Paul - are you talking about CJ?

Jez - I like your team mate. Though I just don't see Brett Brown leaving both Gibson and Martin at home. And I would certainly take Worthington over the three guys you mentioned. Those guys will all be Boomers in the future, but the Olympics is not the place to experiment with young emerging players. There are plenty of other international tournaments for these guys to show what they've got. There will be even more now given FIBA's restructuring of international competition.

Given the amount of physical stuff they allow at internationals, I reckon Wortho will get picked because he can dish it out but still score as well

I agree hoopie - Wortho has a very specific role with the Boomers team, and he executes it very well. Just look at the qualifiers against NZ last year. He was the spark for us. Got under the skin of the opposition which threw them off their game, and was able to score some quick points from both inside and out.

It will be interesting to see how Greenwood goes in the trials.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/new-mexico-guard-hugh-greenwood-hoping-ankle-heals-in-time-for-olympic-trials/

The above article seems to indicate he might not be 100% in time. I think he's pretty marginal for getting in this year (too much competition ahead of him). Should be a good chance for 2016 though.

Thanks for the article Naph. I like how the writer says we'll have to go 'small' because of Bogut's injury. That would be a research fail!

Not that i'd have him in my final 12, but im suprised Majok didnt make the 25

Brett Brown: "All of the athletes understand that we need to arrive into London with the best fitness base of the 11 other countries, that is our main goal."

Boomers aim to have 'best fitness base' in London

I like Drmic above Greenwood.

Not saying one of those will make it (they most likely won't), but if I had to chose I would do with Drmic.

I know he is playing at Boise State, but you can't deny his numbers from the recent season = 12ppg and 5rpg.

Greenwood really struggled this past year though

Greenwood defintiely took a while to warm up, and then he hurt is ankle and played through it and still did well.

I would still not pick either this time around myself.

Our bigs arent very good rebounders and none can block shots. i think the europeam teams like spain are going to hurt us inside. i think its going to be up to patty how far we go. we need to hit our outside shots if we have any chance. Newley needs to step up and be consistent along with Ingles and andersen.

I am looking forward to London, but it seems to me it's going to be another Olympics with Newley and Ingles taking bad shots and gaurding guys they clearly cannot. Check their stats above and we give them starting minutes in our national team. For this reason, I want to see Crawford and Greenwood named - Crawford hits shots and Greenwood competes...and Drmic for 12th spot.

My team:

PG Patty Mills
SG Matthew Dellevadova
SF Joe Ingles
PF Matt Nielsen
C David Andersen

Bench
SG Hugh Greenwood
SG Peter Crawford
SF Brad Newley
PF Mark Worthington
C Alex Maric

PF Aaron Baynes
SF Anthony Drmic

agree, you would take Barlow over the college guys and Worthington any day of the week

Greenwood is a fantastic player, and I dont think he struggled at all. In fact, Nex Mexico started to play really well when he came back from injury and was inserted into the starting line up. Whilst I don't think he'll be part of the team this time around, he will be a mainstay of the Boomers side for the next decade and beyond. He'll probably go to 3 or 4 Olympic Games, injury aside (or unless David Stern gets his way!).

With the work that Brett Brown has done over the past four years, I just don't see him making enormous changes to the line-up, like bringing all three of Crawford, Greenwood and Drmic into the team together.

The main areas of weakness from Turkey were a lack of rebounding and a lack of outside shooting. How Brown looks to address these only time will tell. For mine, Baynes is the best rebounder we have. He only saw limited minutes in Turkey, and he has improved tremendously over the past two years. Also, there's now the option to bring Jawai into the squad as well which will help address the rebounding issue too. And outside shooting, well that still remains somewhat of a concern, although Patty has been hitting a 42% clip in his stint with San An, and Gibbo improved his shooting this season with his move to two-guard. I guess it will up to Brown to determine whether we've improved enough in this area without having to bring a guy like Crawford in to the mix. Newley is the one they need to help. If he can his consistently from outside, and be a real threat from deep like he was in Beijing he is almost unguardable. Unfortunately his three-point shot has been wildly inconsistent for quite a while.

MELHOOPS, you are right about Ingles and Newley. I think Brett Brown had it right in Turkey where he played them both as small forwards, one starting and one of the bench. With Dellavedova's vast improvement, I can't see any reason not to start him next to Patty, and bring either Newley or Ingles (probably Newley, as he can provide more of a spark of the bench with his uptempo game) off the bench.

Anderson won't start at centre, weak as piss as someone described aptly. He starts but with someone who rebounds and brings some balls. Bogut would have done nicely, but no. So it has to be Maric. He has been solid last few times out.

Mills/ Delladova
Newley/
Ingles/ Barlow/ Worthington
Anderson/ Neilsen/
Maric/ Baynes/ Jawai

The 12th player needs to be a 2/3 man, but they may take Gibbo or Greenwood (these two better at one spot) I don't know enough about the other young guys from college to confidently say one of them fits here. No AJ for mine as he is too soft and as mentioned we need Baynes to rebound and Jawai brings some x factor. Wortho is in between positions for mine at international level. Too small for the 4 spot and to slow for the 3. He brings experience and toughness though, real team guy.

All god comments guys...as I said it's the team I'd like to see but I'm sure we are going to see more junk on offense from Newley, Ingles & Barlow and more bad defense from the before mentioned offenders.

I know it's too early to go with these young guys, I just wish it wasn't.

Nielsen is a lock for his leadership if nothing else. Brett Brown was quoted as saying he is one of the best leaders he's ever been around. So with his leadership and experience he will be captain in London.

Des, I like the look of your team mate. I'd love to see them find a way to accomodate both Baynes and Jawai. Play to our strengths, which are the bigs. As for the 12th man, as much as I'd like to see Greenwood get a gig, I'd say Brett Brown will stick with either Gibson or Martin.

Starting 5: Mills, Delly, Ingles, Andersen, Jawai
Bench: Crawford, Newley, Barlow, Nielson, Maric, Baynes and Drmic.

Starting 5 is certain although i can see Maric starting instead of Jawai. Crawford is in for his outside shooting and is better athletically then our other shooters, Hopefully Newley will bring a spark offensively off the bench and i take a youngster between hughwood, motum or a drmic and i think drmic is a future star.

Good post Anon. As I've said all along, I don't see Drmic or Greenwood getting a gig to London, unless say Martin or Gibson get injured, then they might be in with a chance.