The session overall grossed that much but split between 4 plus any other grubby hands involved they'd b lucky to get 6=7 k each. still pretty good.. but I dont think Irving or Bogut would be backflipping about that kind of cash...

Hahaha what the hell. Gold!

Roy Ward treated that Irving and Chris Goulding put on an absolute ballhandling and shooting show.

It would be good for Kyrie to see there is a bit of talent over here in Goulding.

Bogut and Irving wouldn't get out of bed for double this money. They are not doing it for the cash. Great promotion for basketball.

Good on everybody involved.Basketball is the winner.

None of the money went to the players.

The money made went straight back into the costs for running the morning and the local organisations who put on the day.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/basketball/irving-a-must-for-boomers-in-rio-bogut-20130703-2pawn.html

NBA big man Andrew Bogut has demanded Basketball Australia officials pull out all stops to convince all-star guard Kyrie Irving to join the Boomers for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Better off having Andrej, Bogey, Patty, and past Aussie legends pulling out all the stops since BA are going to drop the ball on this one like they always do.

When you look at all the stakeholders from all angles, it just makes sense for him to come play for Australia.

Kyrie himself - gets to be the man and expose himself to a whole new audience and push his brand into new international levels. Gets to go toe-to-toe with Chris Paul et al instead of warming the bench. Win. Only possible negative for him is on an intangible patriotic level if his heart is truly with the US.

NBA - You get to have another NBA star as a big player on an international team. Clear win. It also means you get another NBA player onto team USA who would have otherwise missed out.

Aus - obviously a win.

Team USA - no win but no loss. Kyrie is entirely replaceable to them due to their obvious depth. A wash.

Basketball as a sport - clear win. Another star on the global scene.

Olympics - obviously a win as you have an otherwise unheralded team now with another superstar in your comp. More viewers.

When you weight everything up, the only stakeholder who doesn't come out ahead is team USA, and it's water off a duck's back for them because they go at least five deep at that position. Kyrie might not even MAKE the USA team for Rio.

Put together a pitch and a heartwarming video package and all that sappy shit like NBA teams do when they are woo-ing big name free agents. Include all the things about his global brand and profile increasing if he sides with Aus. Woo the bastard. Woo him good.

Mick, Negative it is almost a certain Gold if he played for USA, Aus might make the medal rounds with him

Never thought of that. Yeah so he'll be giving up a gold medal. Kind of a biggie.

That said, I would have more pride and sense of accomplishment in getting a fledgling country it's first ever medal than getting a gold as a foregoned conclusion with Team USA.

YES Mick! Someone is seeing what I am seeing!

Story here is that BA has never even made contact with him about it or about coming to Australia.


Come on...

Good to see BA leading the charge.....

After we take the NBL back off Basketball Australia, can we take basketball in general back from them as well?

might make the team, but might he see a better oppurtunity in Australia?

It's fantastic to see these two contribute to Australian Basketball in some manner, because unfortunately I don't see either of these two ever suiting up for the Boomers for various reasons.

BTW, just to clarify, I hope to God I am very very wrong about this, so please don't flame me. I'm just a bit jaded by the matter.

I see Irving have a one off hour long television special. It would be called "The Decision 2"

The next worlds are a stretch for Bogey. Personally I'd rather him sit out and have a proper offseason, working on his strength and conditioning, but if he gets through 13/14 and then 15/16 relatively unscathed there is no way he's not suiting up for Rio.

Kyrie is obviously another matter entirely because the factors at play are completely different.

Well Mick, apart from the obvious being injury, if he is out of contract in an Olympic year, what then? I don't see BA paying for his insurance and Bogut won't pay for it out of his own pocket (in it's entirety anyway), so who will put up the cash in that situation? My guess is nobody.

He will sign a new contract prior to 14/15. I dare say he will be looking for a long-term deal (his last long term deal of his career), so you'd just have to hope he takes care of business and gets something locked down.

So he needs a three year deal minimum to suit up for Rio. Only way that happens is if he gets through next season relatively unscathed injury wise and the Warriors get at least as deep into the Finals as they did this year.

It could happen, but there are a lot of what-ifs. Let's all cross our fingers.

If he's out of contract then insurance is not an issue. The insurance problem arose last time because of the lockout, and he had multiple years remaining on his contract.

I should add to the above, the issue with being out of contract in an Olympic year is not the insurance aspect, more that your club can put pressure on you to skip the Olympics if you want to sign a new contract, ie. professional blackmail. That's what happened to Chris Anstey back in 2000. He came out of contract, the Bulls put a new offer forward, but it was conditional on him skipping the Sydney games and spending the off-season working out and training in Chicago.

Did anybody film the Bogut/Irving + Goulding session? would be good to see some footage

@Mick

Irving playing for Australia isn't a win for the NBA...

1. The NBA can’t 'sell’ this, so there’s nothing to be directly gained from it.
2. It is the responsibility of the NBA to serve the league e.g. the Cleveland Cavaliers. More games for Irving increases the chances of injury now and in the future. Particularly after last season, how happy do you think Mark Cuban has been about Dirk playing for Germany?

It also isn’t "no loss" to Team USA. If Irving would be a superstar for the Boomers:

1. Why do you think he wouldn’t be a great addition for USA? For the Olympics you want your best - USA haven’t won Gold ‘easily’ since The Dream Team.
2. Why would USA want the improved competition? They want Gold just as we do.

I’m not convinced it’s a win for Kyrie either. From what I can gather he was born in Australia, but the US is his ‘Home’. Perhaps playing international basketball isn’t that appealing to him if he isn’t playing for his home country.

Woo him, by all means, but I don’t believe the picture is as pretty as you’ve painted it for virtually anyone but Australia, and Australian basketball.

I too was disappointed with Bogut. I didn"t know he was injured but did you notice how many perimiter shots he missed! Ballinger was sinking a lot more than the Bogy man.I was hoping that they would have a fair bit of post work moves? Anyway I enjoyed Kyrie and Goulding.Well worth the $20.

I thought Goulding was great should definetly make Boomers.I think 1on1 Kyrie is quicker but they would be awesome along with Patty Mills.

For those that went, did Goulding and Kyrie play one on one or was there a shooting contest/dunk contest? Doesn't sound like Bogut did much

@ Mo: it's a win for the NBA because they get to further their quest for globalisation by having another NBA star on another continent.

As for team USA: it's no loss. Look who they have. Rose, Williams, Paul, Rondo, et al. He's entirely replaceable for them.

Lance - No they did not go 1on1 just did the same drills both were very impressive.

Boguts a decent player, But I do get the feeling he is up himself and a bit of an asswipe who only really does things in his own interest. He could be helping publicize Basketball in Aus right now that hes here doing his own signings and just being the man about town but he doesnt... I dont see why he couldnt lend a week or 2 to make Basketball noticed