He's dreaming, based on what we've seen over the last year from the Boomers and wanna-be Boomers.

But then he's not going to do himself out of a job by being blunt or honest, is he?

If the team has to be named next week, then surely the team is selected already.

Ingles, Newley, Maric, and Mills have all earned their position as important contributors in previous major campaigns.

Jawai and Ogilvy on the other hand...

I forgot Andersen. What will his absence mean? A big will play in the next series knowing that they haven't made the Olympic team?

rjd - re Andersen not playing, I guess so. Someone like Ogilvy, or god forbid Jawai, might get a run knowing that they won't be going to the Olympics. I'm sure though a couple of emergencies need to be named in case of injury, so it wouldn't be a completely worthless exercise.

As far as the final team goes, at this stage it would appear to me that it's the 12 that qualified against NZ, with Andersen coming in at the expense of Ogilvy, and Kickert and Crawford still knocking on the door, with Crawford the most likely to grab a guard spot off either Martin or Gibson.

Interesting times ahead...

I like the fact that Brown is pushing for th highest level - we need to demand the best after all! I'm just not sure that doing so publicly is the best thing to do as this could push our already fragile outside shooting to the brink or beyond!

The fact Jawai was not mentioned in either article for me means he is not in contention for an Olympic berth.

Andersen is still in the Italian Serie A grand final series with his team leading 2-0 with game 3 scheduled for the 16th Australian time hence why he will not be back in time for the Melbourne series.

Ingles and Newley and the ones that need to step up, i have no doubt patty will hit big shots and miss plenty as well and the rest will chip in..but Ingles and Newley really need to show their worth. Ingles hasn't shown any form that he displayed while in the NBL, and watching him playing for Barca is underwhelming, most of the time he runs around the court a lot but goes missing and doesn't really contribute.granted he isn't the star in a great team and league in spain, but he will have to play like one for the boomers and not just in patches.

"We want to win a medal," Brown said after the Boomers swept China in the three-match YouYi Games in WA with a 78-55 triumph at Challenge Stadium last night.

“We understand how difficult that is. We understand that is a very lofty goal. We have to stay healthy and have to get some breaks to go our way.

“But that is our goal.”

I would love the team to get a medal, or to come 4th or 5th.

That would be some consolation for the girls not making the top 6 for the first time in many many years (decades)

Jawai is better than Anderson. Brown needs to remove any personality clash from the process and get him involved.

Jawai is better than Andersen? Have you been following the Euroleague/Italian/Russian leagues this year Mick? Andersen is by far our best player in Europe, it's not even close.

What he does in the Euroleague is all good and well, but he has been rather useless for the Boomers in his international outings. At best he is a jump shooting big who doesn't pass out of the post, at worst he doesn't have a post game inside the key, shies away from contact and can't rebound. I'm not overlooking his achievments in the Euroleague, which are impressive, I'm just saying that this is a different ball game.

For example: Damian Martin is a beast in the NBL, a defensive weapon that destroys opposing offenses and and disrupts entire game plans. Unfortunately in the international game he is a timid, nervous jump shooter whose lack of length poses little defensive threat at all against quicker, longer, bigger guards. The stakes are higher. Everything changes. You can't just extrapolate peoples' production to predict how they play at this level; it's not that easy. It's not just a BETTER game, it's DIFFERENT.

That's why I think Jawai is a legitimate post presence that we can't write off. This isn't like an argument with some scrub like Adam Gibson who we can just give the flick to because of a tiff with the coach, the Bamaga Behemoth has world-class size that can't be overlooked. It's time for Brett Brown to exude his inner Phil Jackson and start massaging personalities.

We should be building our interior game around Maric and Jawai for these Olympics. You can't win the big games without an interior presence, which means scoring as many points in the paint as possible. How do you expect Anderson to go toe to toe with the Splitter and Nene? Gasol and Gasol? Team USA? Noah and Ibaka? Not gonna happen. He's not an equalizer by any stretch, but I'd much rather go into battle with options 1 and 2 being Jawai and Maric, with Anderson in a relief role as a stretch big. We need scorers. We need points in the paint.

Just my two cents.

Jawai is not better than Anderson

If his head is right, he is. In the international game, which has evolved to be much different to Euroleague.

(obviously that's a big if...)

In all honesty I haven't seen Anderson play this year at all, so my view is skewed in that regard. I've just never been impressed with him at all in a Boomers jersey. What is his game? What does he do well? I can never tell...

Mick, well said mate, and believe it or not, I don't disagree with you. But if Jawai can be the dominant scoring big you speak of, wouldn't he of been able to do it all season long for his club team? And to say Andersen has been useless for the Boomers is probably a bit harsh, but either way, at least we have some Boomers form to consider. Jawai hasn't been a part of the program for years.

I've been excited by the prospect of Jawai being in the Boomers side for years. I've been dreaming of 2012 when I thought we'd have Bogut in the middle, and Jawai playing next to him at the four-spot, but unfortunately that just hasn't eventuated. I'll give it two more years, hopefully we'll see it in Spain in 2014!

I don't see Brett Brown taking a risk on Jawai at this late stage, but if he does, I don't think it will be at the expense of Andersen.

It's good to aim for a medal, but will the draw let them get one?

Jack, the draw doesn't matter. You just have to win. Winning takes care of everything in terms of a medal. And of course, the most important game is the crossover. It doesn't matter if you're undefeated going into that one, lose it, and you cannot medal.

With World Ranking & points in brackets, the groups are:

Group A:
USA (1, 852), Argentina (3, 673), France (12, 195), Tunisia (32, 26) + OQT 1 & OQT2.

Group B:
Spain (2, 730), Australia (9,224), China (10,220), Brazil (13, 184), Gt Britain (43, 12) + OQT3

You would expect that the three teams coming through from the qualifying tournament are Greece (4, 488), Lithuania (5, 426) and Russia (11, 213). Russia (11, 213) would go into Group B meaning you would expect Spain to top Group B and then the second spot to be fought out by 4 teams. The top four teams advance so the Boomers should get to the second stage where it is sudden death. I don't know the exact draw, but I would say A1 v B4, A2 v B3, A3 v B2, A4 v B1.

Assuming things go as per rankings, then the second round qtr finals should be:
QF1: USA v Russia (where's the cold war when you need it?)
QF2: ARG v China
QF3: Greece v Australia
QF4: Lithuania v Spain

Does the SF draw then go QF1 v QF3 & QF2 v QF4?
We would then see:
SF1: USA v Australia
SF2: Argentina v Spain

GMM: USA v Spain
BMM: Argentina v Australia

I will be happy with Australia if they:

1. Don't lose stupid games to countries like Angola or Jordan.

2. Don't play scared against the big boys like Spain or the USA. A victory is too much to ask, but for God's sake: push them around, set hard picks, dont settle for jump shots, and dont lose by 40. Just play your game. Just because Chris Bosh is standing under the ring, doesn't mean you can't dunk on him. He's not exactly Dikembe Mutombo...

3. Play Patty Mills off the ball a little bit so he doesn't dominate the decision making process all game long. Then when he plays on the ball I'd like to see more than an assist a game to balance his scoring output.

4. Don't make it so hard on yourselves on the offensive end. This means Anderson putting in that extra effort to get a seal deep in the post, not on the 45. Newley, Ingles and Barlow not settling for threes and actually putting that athleticism to good use. Don't attack the rim at a jogging pace: you see a gap and you sprint. Why lay it in when you can dunk it? And I'd like to see Brett Brown draw up some plays to get his athletic swingmen going.

Anything above and beyond that is a welcome bonus.

I love your plan Jack Toft! If you could tell the Boomers right now that they'd have a bronze medal showdown against Argentina they would definitely take it!

By the way Jack, here is the actual competition format;
Quarter-Finals

The eight (8) teams qualified from the Preliminary Round will play the direct elimination as follows:

Game 31: A2 vs. B3
Game 32: B1 vs. A4
Game 33: B2 vs. A3
Game 34: A1 vs. B4

The winners of the above games will qualify for the Semi-Finals. The losers will be eliminated and will not play anymore.

Semi-Finals

The winners of the Quarter-Finals will play for places 1-4 in the following format:

Game 35: Winner 31 vs. Winner 32
Game 36: Winner 33 vs. Winner 34

The winners of these games will play in the Gold Medal Game; the losers will play in the Bronze Medal Game.

Finals

The Finals will be played in the following format:
Game 37: Loser 35 vs. Loser 36 (3rd- 4th)
Game 38: Winner 35 vs. Winner 36 (1st -2nd)

The winner of Game 37 will receive the bronze medal and the loser will finish the 4th place.
The winner of Game 38 will receive the gold medal and the loser will receive the silver medal.

Mick - gotta agree with you

Yeah, I agree too, let's just go out there and have a freaking crack at it lads!

Treat each game as your last.

Motivate and inspire one another no matter what.

Play for the uniform and the country, but more importantly be able to look each other in the eye knowing you left it all on the court.

Coaches, don't be affraid to be bold and don't hold anyone back from doing the crazy stuff, you just never know if you don't have a go...

Thanks Vart, I thought it would be something like that.

I think the key to the medal is try to avoid 4th position, then win the quarter final.

Jawai is not gonna be invited to the camp in Melbourne. Saw his twitter that he is heading home to cairns... He didn't get selected I think.

Brad Newely must surely be on his last boomers tour.
his contribution has fallen away over the years.
he has totally lost his 3 point shot and now relies solely on his slashing game which is only any good against the weaker international teams.

NZ are average. They beat us from time to time because they get there best on the floor ever time and we don't.

Jawai has potential to do better than Anderson in international comp but he is to often under done physically and hasn't performed yet. Anderson has always shown up and contributed, be that poorly, soft and/ or one dimensionally at times. I'd like to see both in the team and all things considered, Jawai has more years left in him so he deserves a go. In other threads I said I thought he was likely the x factor Anstey and others keep referring to, genuine size and impact on both ends at international level. Brown needs to get over what ever he needs to get over. Point taken Mick.

Great comment Mick also about our swingman needing to be more actively involved in the offense. They settle for soft threes to often and Barlow in particular tries the killing me softly stuff when he drives when he should just go in hard and fast, use his athleticism. It's frustrating to watch. Mills also needs to play the 2 some more on offense, no one else (unless Crawford gets a start, ps he's my bet for last spot in team for London... Hmm) seems to be able to shoot presently

Does anyone reckon there is any merit in taking Kickert over Barlow?

No. To me, the only way Kickert should be considered is if Andersen is unavailable and they need a big man to spread the floor.

Think Barlow is better on D, you need his (alleged?) versatility on both ends. Kickert is between positions for me, too soft for the 4 and too slow for the 3

Jawai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQBkC60FpGs

We should get a petition going to get Jawai in the Boomers

Jawai would come in at the expense of Baynes. I'd feel sorry for Baynes, but Jawai would be significantly better IMO.

NZ are average. They beat us from time to time because they get there best on the floor ever time and we don't.

lmao

Righto Mystro ya legend

Nothing arrogant about my comment, you must be a sensitive kiwi, get over it.

NZ are an average team in world standings, Australia are slightly better than average. So sometimes they beat us and most of the time we beat them. I've nothing against NZ, thought my comment was pretty straight forward...

They beat us from time to time because they get there best on the floor ever time and we don't.


cry me a river, you only have about 18 million more people lmao

If it makes you happy I will admit that NZ do well considering size of their population in international competition, in last 10 years very well.... but they are still an average team in world standings. NZ always come together to beat us.. grow an extra leg etc We often play poorly, but we usually win. If Penney and Abercrombie were healthy I'd back you to make worlds and get through qualifying tournament no worries