I know Joe Ingles is home, Patty Mills has already stated that he is in, Brad Newley says hes in, would assume Barlow would be availible... and sadly Maric. I am not sure when Delly/Baynes commitments for there summer league/nba finnishes so I don't know. Dante Exum said he would be trying out for the team. can only see maybe 5 of the main guys playing in this one tbh..

Only person unhappy that we have Maric...

I imagine the Oceania series is going to be 5 main guys, and maybe the skeleton of the uni games/sino aus challenge

A line up like this wouldnt surprise me:

Patty Mills
Brad Newley
Joe Ingles
Cam Bairstow
Luke Nevill

Jason Cadee
Chris Goulding

*one of Blanchfield/Wortho/Wagstaff (i say blanchfield)

Aleks Maric
Cam Gliddon
Dante Exum
Brock Motum

Isaac I base it on what I have seen of him internationally so far

I missed one spot. thats a toss up between Broekhoff and Steindl for that 3 pointer position. With Cam there atleast we would have a few viable options outside.

Patty Mills, Brad Newley, Joe ingles go without saying.

Cam Bairstow, I am surprised more wasn't said about him before. This kid is the goods. Luke Nevill... Very good all around center for the team as shown in CHina.

Jason Cadee... I have him taking Gibsons spot. I think he just brings more. Chris Goulding, an apt back up for Joe/Brad. Aleks Maric.. just "the best of the rest" of centers who are just unavailible right now. Brock Motum... a stretch 4. Dante Exum... the future.

AJ Ogilvy is back in Sydney. Hugh Greenwood is back in Tassie. Anthony Drmic is also in town. All apparently are set to make themselves available.
Jason Cadee anyone? He was arguably MVP for the WUG team, with Bairstow nit dar behind him.

All 3 would be in the mix. Especially Drmic.

Sounds awfully like a hiding to me.

Couple of young guys probably going to get thrown in the deep end and have a foot on their heads for good measure going up against a Boomers B team.

All logical indications say we should be able to sweep them easily without getting out of second gear. But this is New Zealand were talking about, they should never have beaten us... but they have, and with some regularity for a bit there.

pretty sure there was a fair spell in the 00's where we were losing?

Wrong.
They dont have any money. They were simply given a price (25k)

We are in for a hiding. Im talking 30 pts +.

I heard the 16 y.o made it.

No neee to try raise 25k to get Adams.

Let the kid settle in.
This isnt an olympic qualifier and the team are severely understrength anyway.

Save the insurance money for when it really matters.

"Basketball NZ have however announced that they have the cash to cover Steven Adams insurance if he is available for the 2 game series against the Boomers."

Is it really still a 2 game series based on aggregate score? Not a fan.

Aussies will dominate, enough said! NZ are not upto the strength of the team Australia has. Is Baynes available?

I am worried about Australia at the center position in the future and maybe even this series. Andrew Bogut is usually unavailable (but has said he wants 1 more olympics)... Nate Jawai is probably too busy at hungry Jacks, David Anderson would have to be on his last campaign for 2014 and I think we have a better shot at Kyrie Irving then Thon Maker.

What prospects does that leave? Luke Nevill, AJ Ogilvy, Aleks Maric.. Aron Baynes (but isnt he a PF?)/

FUnny that one of our biggest strengths may soon become our weakness.

What about this Steven Adams guy? All I hear about him is 'potential' but it sounds like hes a work in progress... If he plays for NZ in this series does that give us something to actually worry about?

I would expect Australia to win fairly easuly, aggregate score or not... but I think it would be a bit of a worry if they are bringing an NBA draft pick center and we are kind of scraping the bottom of our barrel a little bit at a very important position.

I agree with Macdub on not wasting Adams for this series.
And yes I also heard that Sixteen-year-old Wellington schoolboy Izayah Mauriohooho Le'afa has made the squad along with Seventeen-year-old Jack Salt, 18yo Reuban TeRangi and Brook Ruscoe who is only 22.

Pledger is apparently unavailable for the China tour but is available to play the Boomers.

The squad for China is: Tom Abercrombie (NZ Breakers), BJ Anthony (Otago Nuggets/Adelaide 36ers), Everard Bartlett (Bay Hawks), Josh Bloxham (Nelson Giants), Casey Frank (Wellington Saints), Jarrod Kenny (Bay Hawks), Izayah Mauriohooho Le'afa (Wellington Saints), Brook Ruscoe (Nelson Giants), Jack Salt (Super City Rangers), Reuben Te Rangi (Southland Sharks/NZ Breakers), Jeremiah Trueman (Manawatu Jets/NZ Breakers), Mika Vukona (Nelson Giants/NZ Breakers, captain), Corey Webster (Wellington Saints/NZ Breakers).

Getting Adams is important for generating interest, sponsorship, ticket sales and tv viewers for the Auckland game in particular. BBNZ should make it happen if he is available. Also good to get his foot in the door ahead of the WC.

Well, well YouknowME, you've changed your tune about Cadee. A couple of weeks ago you were intimating that he wasn't even a decent NBL player, now you've elevated him to the Boomers!

Hey Mystro, whatever happened to Bradshaw? He looked like he was going to be a beast, but has dropped off the radar a bit.

I reckon that of the London Olympians Mills, Baynes, Ingles, Dellavedova, Newley, Barlow, Worthington and Gibson will make themselves available. If they do, I would suggest they will all be selected. Lemanis has had a look at all the fringe guys thus far, he'll want to see what the 'core' have left to offer the program.

I doubt Andersen and Maric will make themselves available. The big guys are usually pretty banged up after a long Euro season.

The remaining four positions will be selected from Bairstow, Cadee, Steindl, Broekhoff, Ogilvy, Nevill, Goulding, Gliddon and Motum.

I think Exum and Simmons will be in camp, but most likely won't play in this series, though it wouldn't surprise me if Exum forces his way in through sheer talent and 'wow' factor alone.

I should have put a ? next to Worthington, as I have no idea how his recovery from surgery is progressing. The same goes for Jawai, but given his history with the Boomers program, it hasn't taken a lot for him to not be available in the past.

And also, on second thought, I'm not sure if Bairstow will be available due to the clash with the New Mexico Australian tour. It would seem odd to miss your senior international championship debut due to a college tour, but the whole reason they are coming to Australia is so Bairstow and Greenwood can play in from of their home crowd, so don't exactly know how this one will pan out? Perhaps Matt Knight will get a look in at this spot instead for the Boomers.

I'd take Benny Anthony over Bradshaw every day of the week.
Haven't heard anything about Bradshaw in ages and to be honest I had forgotten about him.
His attitude always seemed fairly poor.

Baynes is definately not a PF! a pure Centre and thats it.

Agreed daneo. Baynes has always been a centre, and probably always will be.

Assuming Delly is focusing on NBA, I wouldn't be surprised to see Lemanis’ Oceania team looking something like below, which is prob best described as an A-B team:

Baynes Nevill
Petrie Knight Bairstow/Ogilvy
Newley Broekhoff/Steindl
Ingles Goulding
Mills Gibson Cadee

I would not have even considered Steindl a week ago but shooting 53% at the WUG has to have him in the mix now. Similar for Cadee, I had him as a potential back-up in a 2-3 years or beyond, but his WUG form should be rewarded with close consideration.

It’s an interesting time with Maric, Andersen, Nielsen, Worthington, Barlow, Crawford and Gibson from London all retired/injured or being strongly challenged for their places.

Good line up Paul..
I just hope Baynes isnt too busy with Training Camp trying to solidify a roster spot.

I think Ogilvy is a walkup and I would prob have Petrie as the last man out in your PF options.

Baynes Nevill
Petrie Knight Bairstow/Ogilvy
Newley Broekhoff/Steindl
Ingles Goulding
Mills Gibson Cadee

Vs

Pledger/Salt
Vukona/Anthony/Truman
Abercrombie/TeRangi
C.Webster/Ruscoe
Bartlett/Kenney

I think we are going to get killed.

Lemanis will want a mobile PF who can lead his aggressive defences and Petrie did well in that role against China, so I suspect he will be given a chance to really prove himself in this series.

Yup Lemmanis will want someone to play a Vukona type role for the Boomers and Petrie is your man for the job.

I completely forgot about Peach. I knew I'd forget someone!

I can't see Baynes having any issues with other commitments. His contract is firmly in place, and there are no NBA training camps scheduled for late August. Same goes for Delly, but he may elect to stay in the States and workout privately.

Difference between Baynes and Delly is Aron has already been with his club, started in playoffs and now had a huge summerleague performance. Delly is very much on trial on an unsecured contract and did some nice things in summerleague without really making a big statement.

If there are no Cavs commitments hopefully we will see Delly, but if Mystro's lineup above is what we are facing I dont think it will matter too much.

I definitely agree about that paul. We should absolutely destroy the Kiwis this time around!

In reply to Vart, I was judging Cadee on his dicey 36ers form.. Cadee has got it together since the Stankovic cup and is showing that he deserves consideration.

My Qualifiers team:

Delly (if availible)
Patty
Ingles
Motum
Baynes

Cadee
Goulding
Cam Gliddon
Cam Bairstow
Luke Nevill
Blanchfield
Anthony Petrie


Honorable mentions for Exum/Broekhoff

Personally I think Gliddon is ready right now. If he ever gets a bit of size on him he will be one of our best guards.

No room for Barlow, paul? I thought you were a fan?

YouknowME, no room for Newley, I see.

and you seem to have a man crush on blanchfield! I don;t personally think he is up to standard if we are putting in a "A" Team

Newly and Barlow instantly negate Abercrombie from having much influence unless he has hit the weight room since last time I saw him.

Agreed, as great a player as Abercrombie is, it would not be a lot of fun for him seeing off the tough marking of Newley only to have a fresh Ingles or Barlow replacing him. Doubly so with the absence of Penney to take the defensive focus.

OTOH, Penney always gets a butt-load of screens set for him, so maybe those screens will now be to Abercrombie's benefit. Perhaps it is just as well we have three guys to match up on him?

AB4E, I think Barlow was poorly used by Brown, I think he deserves consideration for this team, but with young guys like Broekhoff, Blanchfield and Steindl showing quite a bit I would prefer to give them a chance in a series like this.

Barlow's other value is as a stretch PF but I think Petrie also deserves a chance to show what he has got.

That said, a fair bit will come down to who is in camp and how they perform, even though that isn’t always a great indicator of how they’ll go against other opponents.

No argument from me, the point I was making was that it may be a little more physically demanding to guard Abercrombie in this series compared to the last one, given the likelihood of a greater number of plays being run for him this time around.

Oops that response was to anon. You snuck inbetween paul ;P

Yeah paul,I'm not sure which way I feel about it. I agree that in a series such as this where basically nothing is at risk other that bragging rights, it is an ideal opportunity to get a look at your less experienced players to gauge their potential. And given Barlow has been in the Boomers programme for some time, in one respect he is a known quantity.

OTOH, given your acknowledged poor use of him by Brown over the last four years, is it really that well understood just how much he can potentially contribute to the Boomers? I would say probably not. Therefore there is an argument that he is just the kind of player, despite his experience, that needs to get a run.

But he's not that young either, so I don't know. I guess backing youth is always a safe bet for a coach.

Yeah, another tour would have been ideal this winter to find out, but money doesnt grow on trees.

Vart, I didnt add newley because I don't think he has shown much for the Boomers in a few years now, seems to have lost his ability to hit a 3 point shot, and without that it hampers his ability to do what he does best which is take it to the hole.

Daneo as for a man crush on Blanchfield... I think that its more to do with the fact that he looks to me like a young Sam Mackinnon with a 3 point shot. I think hes got a pretty high ceiling, I think some of the other guys have come to there apex yet hes well on his way. Some might disagree with putting him in the team over Newley or Barlow, but I mean those guys will stay in the mix.. and after all this is just a qualifier... I expect Blanchfield to make big strides very soon.

I didn't ask the Newley question, that was Isaac.

Blanchfield is a young Sam Mackinnon? I Don't think so mate.

Mackinnnon was the first player to win the MVP, Best Defensive Player and Grand Final MVP in league history in the same season. And a three-time Olympian to boot. Also, Mackinnon shot 47% from three that same season whilst leading the Bullets to the title.

That's some big shoes to fill.

Cory Webster will be playing SG so he will be getting the screens run for him not Abercrombie.
Abercrombie and Webster will carry most of the scoring load but Vukona will also have to be more agressive offensively and prob restrain himself a little defensively just to stay on the floor to help lead the youngsters.

Vart, that was fairly late in his career to be fair. Im a pretty big Sammy Mac fan... If he had his 30's form in his 20's he wouldve been in the NBA no doubt

To be fair, yes, it was. But you surely can't tell me you see Blanchfield ever reaching those heights?

Maybe not Vart.. I just think hes going to be a very good player with similar attributes.

I don't see the point in leaving Exum out of the squad for this series even if there are guys more ready for the senior international level than him. He'll manage the step up, especially if NZ are themselves gonna pick guys like Te Rangi and other teenagers.

Cadee seems very comfortable in Green and Gold. His returns as a national representative give me the impression that international ball is more to his liking than NBL ball.

I once again look forward to seeing him bring his national play successes to the NBL competition.

Aus should put Exum in, without a doubt.

I really don't believe NZ should be trying hard to get Adams anyway.

Its the TB's C team. Whats the good of hyping it all up and generating interest by getting Adams if the team is so weak.

Im not blaming BBNZ for the lack of funding..that's not their fault. Purely HPNZ'S fault.

I would love to see Adams stay in OKC and stay with his team.
It's a two game series. There's only one game in Auckland -- is that really worth 25k?
Australia isn't banking on Adams commercially. You guys can sell two guys that were NBA Finalists. (Baynes, Mills)

they wont need to sell much of anything, they are holding the game in some place in canberra that probably sits about 3 thousand.

I agree about Exum. Ready or not, he's just turned 18, he should be able to play a couple of minutes off the bench across two games against this weakened New Zealand squad. The more exposure he gets to senior international basketball the better of he'll be in the long run.

Agreed.

having a look at what NZ has, we could probably unleash our world Uni team on them and win fairly comfortably.

Casey Frank? He doesnt even actually play anymore? There best 3 will be Abercrombie, Vukona and Corey Webster.

I imagine the NZ team will look like Abercrombie, BJ Anthony, Corey Webster, Everard Bartlett, Casey Frank, Alex Pledger, Mika Vukona plus 5 unknowns in the guard/small forward positions.

Its really up to lemanis how he wants to tackle this... He could either just use the absolute fringe guys for this just to further assess there readiness for international ball... or he could unleash the B team (as there wont be boguts etc) and make a bit of a humiliating statement to our cross tasman rivals. I still think the best squad for the job is the one I mentioned. Enough star power to entertain, enough youth to gain some experience.

Casey Frank still plays basketball - Wellington Saints.

Don't get me started on that saga.

BBNZ expect a player like Adams to play. (which he isn't now - confirmed) Maybe they should start making better team selections in relation to the naturalised position.

Horvath was much better than Frank during the NBL. Vucinic must not like him or Marcel.

They didn't even invite Marcel Jones, who is miles ahead of Frank. Didn't get their act sorted when it came to Braswell (Citizenship is easy to get if your representing a country. All he needed was BBNZ to show evidence of his selection. Our biggest problem is PG!)

Frank has been in because he has been very serviceable as a Tall Black, he fits their system and knows the international game. Horvath played in 08 and was apparently overmatched inside and Frank has earned the spot with his performances since.

Strange that Jones wasnt invited, but I guess with Abercrombie and Te Rangi they figure they have SF covered?

Frank has never ever looked after the ball as a Tall Black, knows the systems yes but is too turnover prone.
I believe Braswell is still pursuing NZ Citizenship and would be a good addition especially to this team with it's inexperienced guard lineup

Seems like its a defensive measure. Horvath is more skilful, but doesn't have the physicality like Frank to defend inside.

I like Jones because he is 6"8 and sees minutes at the 4 where necessary. Can use him as a stretch four and create mismatches all over the place.

Is Marcel Jones fully naturalised?

Frank wasnt turnover prone in Turkey in 2010 or in Venezuela in 2012. He did have some issues against the Aussies in 2011 though.

Regardless, his perimeter game and willingness to commit his body defensively are very valuable. If Tait is out for the Oceania series Braswell would make sense but he isnt naturalised.

With Vukona, Anthony, Abercrombie and Te Rangi I dont see a spot for Jones, but I still think he should have gotten a chance at camp if invited.

just under a month to this series. Will we have warm up games? anyone know what the schedule is like?

Jeremiah Truman has had to withdraw from the China tour with a toe injury and Bloxham with a high ankle sprain.
Trumans injury is a case of wait and see in regards to the Boomers series where Bloxham's injury has ruled him out.
Jordan Ngatai has been included in the travel squad as replacement for Truman.

I actually think all this is a good thing for NZ basketball. You can see the value of giving guys a chance at international hoops through the Sino challange and the the Stankovic/WUG tour.

NZ doesnt have the money to run 'Emerging Tall Blacks' tours each year, but with the team already qualified for next year this is the perfect time to give some of these young guys a go. On top of Venezuela last year without Abercrombie and Penney this will have been two good development years.

Brook Ruscoe is one who is great to see in the team, he was very good at U19 level internationally. This will give him a chance to prove himself for the senior team. Shame Dion Prewster isnt in this team as he is in the same boat.

It's also a really good chance for Anthony and Webster to really step into the main rotation and show they belong after being on the cusp of that a couple of years ago.

They will get hammered by the Aussies, but in the long run that will be meaningless compared to the experience they get over 10-odd games.

The Media are really climbing into High Performance Sport NZ at the moment about the lack of funding for the Tall Blacks.
This is great as Basketball in NZ is really popular and a heap of that comes from the Breakers success and we have some of the best talent in years coming through our junior ranks (again big thanks to Liz & Paul Blackwell).
Steven Adams profile is a big reason for this.

My boomers squad for oceania series

Mills
Newley
Ingles
Motum
Baynes

Cadee
Goulding
Gliddon
Petrie
Nevill
11.Exum
12.Simmons

If Delly is available he would be a lock but not sure what he's doing after summerleague. Bairstow would also be in but I think this clashes with Lobos tour. IMO Exum and Simmons deserve a run they won't get major minutes. Apologies to Broekhoff and Blanchfield

I definitely like that team, but depending on camp would strongly consider Steindl at backup SF if he keeps shooting 53% from long range. If he performs at camp I'd put him ahead of Gliddon.

Steindl was amazing in the Gold Medal world Uni game. Looked like he has a bit more variety to his game then I first thought. Yeah see how he does in camp, but me personally I like Gliddons game