Great draw for Australia!

Check it out here, complete with world rankings:

2014 FIBA World Cup for Men: Boomers with favourable draw

On a side note, the Boomers play in Gran Canaria - the home court of Brad Newley!

The Kiwi's drew team USA...

Can someone confirm which groups then cross-over against each other after the round play? I haven't been able to find any information for this yet - thanks.

Yep - here is a link to the FIBA World Cup system of competition:

FIBA SYSTEM OF COMPETITION

While Bogut is unlikely to play, until he is ruled out completely why would you omit arguable our most important player?

each group only has 2 teams ranked in the top ten.

how does it progress, only 1st in each pool or 1 and 2 in each pool to progress?

Top 4 in each group progress to next round in Eighth finals, and then progress to quarter finals and then medal rounds (semi finals).

aust does not want to finish 2nd or 4th or they will meet USA early. they need to finish 1 or 3 to avoid usa until late in the draw.

GF cannot be made without playing usa to get there.

OK, put your hand up, who paid the bribe to get us that good a draw?! Not a bad draw for NZ either.

Australia (AUS)
FIBA World Rank: 9.
Appearance: 10 #

Name/Position
David Andersen C
Cameron Bairstow F
David Barlow F
Ryan Broekhoff F
Matthew Dellavedova G
Dante Exum G
Adam Gibson G
Joe Ingles SF
Patrick Mills G
Luke Nevill C
Anthony Petrie F
Ben Simmons F

If this is the actual team we are sending it is quite interesting, no Bogut of course and the young guns of Bairstow, Broekhoff, Exum and Simmons...

What do we think about this team, looks like a decent mix on paper? Have we left out anyone we shouldn't have?

only the reining 3 time DPOY. D. Martin.

That's the team from last year's Oceania champs.

LC - Bogut has made himself unavailable for World Championships. See the thread at http://www.hoops.com.au/forum/33607-bogut-honesty/

Personally, as I said on here a couple of years ago, I don't see him playing for Australia again unless he's approaching the end of his NBA career in 2016. His and his employers' priority has been his NBA career. While he's getting big money and has significant time to run on his contract, his employer has too much to lose. It seems to me that the alternative is Bogut or an insurer carrying the risk. i.e., in some way indemnifying GSW should he get injured playing for the Boomers. As we saw a couple of years ago, though, BA couldn't afford to insure him and Bogut chose not to bear the risk (or pay the premiums, presumably) himself.

In 2016 he'll be in the last year of the GSW contract and, all being well, he'll have set himself up financially for life. That may change whether he makes himself available for the Boomers.

Surely Baynes will be on the team. He already has a nice pick n roll game with Patty Mills.

Luke Nevill? Seriously?

PeterJohn, Bogut signed a 3 year extension which starts at the end of this season (last year of current contract) so he will be contracted until June 2017

@Paul, your right I suspect. I just got that from the web site, so it maust have been left over subject to change when the team is announced.

I would expect Baynes to be a lock, also what about A.J. he is doing pretty well and another 7 footer in the team would be handy?

Someone asked who we cross over with.. it is group C, and to miss USA before the medal rounds we must finnish either 1st or 3rd.

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/14/wcm/event-guide/p/system-competition.html

Who ever said we had to top the group is WRONG we must finnish 1st or 3rd, and as unethical as it is I would tank a game if it meant dropping down from second place.

Why is Luke Nevill being mentioned? You left out Jawau, Baynes and even Ogilvy and said Nevill?...

I think we could definitely win our group. and the great thing is, is if we miss USA our quaterfinal match ups are winnable too... Ukraine/Turkey etc.. we actually have the ability to not see a real superpower until the Semis!

My teamL

Delly
Mills
Ingles
Peach
Jawai

Martin
Newley
Drmic
Baynes
Anderson
Motum
Goulding.

I am not sure that Exum is ready

Nevill is mentioned because he was in the 2013 team, and that is the one currently listed on the WC website.

Assuming the USA finish 1st, if we finish 4th we meet in the 1/8 final, 2nd and it's the 1/4 final, 1st or 3rd and it's the semi final.

I dont know about picking a team yet, but we have plenty of options amongst the four different type of players we need for Lemanis' system.

BIGS: Jawai, Baynes, Andersen, Ogilvy, Nevill
FORWARDS: Worthington, Petrie, Knight, Motum, Barlow
SWINGMEN: Ingles, Newley, Goulding, Gliddon, Broekhoff
GUARDS: Mills, Dellavedova, Gibson, Martin, Exum

Great draw for Australia. My pick for the WC roster:

Mills / Martin / Gibson
Dellavedova / Goulding
Ingles / Newley
Andersen / Bairstow / Petrie
Baynes / Jawai

Notable omissions:

Bogut - see PeterJohn's post
Ogilvy - I rate him higher than Peach, but Lemanis seems to love his mobile PFs.
Exum - the NBA draft will be over by the WC commences, but I doubt Exum will risk injury and potentially hurt his draft stock by taking part in WC preparations leading up to the draft, therefore taking him out of contention for a position?
Madgen - Goulding has just been too prolific this NBL season to give Madge much hope of making the roster as the backup shooter, unless they need a designated chair-thrower...
Simmons/Drmic/Motum/Broekhoff etc - certainly in contention for a roster spot, but the vets may just win out

Who else did I miss?

Goulding does not have the all round game to be playing for the boomers. If he plays D then maybe. If he can keep his ego and mouth in check then probably.

Kev, I know Lemanis has already spoken to goulding about his Defence

Either way, We have enough talent to make a very good team.. and we have a big pool to pick from.. I think lemanis will make the right decisions..

Funny, I didn't realize that Peter Crawford made the '12 Olympic squad through his defense...

I've only seen a handful of Tigers games this season, but based on my viewings Goulding is working hard defensively and doesn't appear to be a 'liability' - which he may have been in the past.

Plus you just can't go past the fact that he would be a lethal spot-up option that has reasonable handle for an off-guard.

Thanks Big Sexy - I wasn't sure of the exact dates. So the Olympic tournament will be at the start of the last year of his contract. It'll be interesting to see if he'll be available for tournaments and games leading up to the 2016 Olympics. It'd be good if he is, as he would probably still be our preferred option for starting centre in 2 years' time.

Picking a team for 2014 isn't easy but leaving Bogut out and Exum?
Locks:
Mills
Dellavedova
Ingles
Baynes
Newley.
with the following all in contention,

D.Martin
Gibson
Goulding
Drmic
Broekhoff
Worthington
Petrie
Barlow
Bairstow
Motum
Ogilvy
Maric
Jawai

What are you people not seeing? WE COMPLETELY MISS USA IF WE GET 1st or 3rd!

soonest we will see them is medal rounds.. and EVERYONE has to face that possibility.

I would take our chances... Seeing then in a semi is far better than what we have dealt with until now. To go to a bronze medal game out of 24 strong teams? I would be pretty happy. And we could win it.

SF is considered the medal round. I'll take this draw with USA crossover ahead of being in Group A.

anyone who's team prediction has Adam Gibson in it immediately loses credit IMO, he has absolutely no upside at all.

Absolutely agree Paul... Group A has 4 teams who could easily play for medals and Group B isn't far off that. I will take the vague chance of a USA meet up in a semi over that.

I am just watching some vids on our pool match ups, Ok first off.. we are going to annihilate Korea.. no disrespect to them they have some alright shooters but they are short, non athletic and they wont be able to stop our Aussies getting inside. Mexico.. Now, I wouldn't count Mexico out, Mexico isn't a traditional basketball power but they look like they have atleast a competitive team, its a game we SHOULD win.. but I wouldn't sleep on them by any stretch.. they are athletic and strong and have some crafty players. Slovenia are very tall at all positions and justr like most Euro teams, they are going to compete... I wouldn't go predicting first in the pool just yet I wanna see who we got available first.

great draw for the boomers. group A is the toughest on paper
Tall Blacks have a good draw too
they need to not lose to america by 30+ to have a good chance at advancing beyond pool play.

Stevie.. I don't see Tall Blacks getting within 30 of Team USA.

The boomers will be lucky to get within 30 of team USA. I wouldn't be thinking too much about Semis or medals just concentrate on pool play first.

Steven, I would say the Boomer's have a decent shot of giving USA a 15-20 point game.. but your right, pool play is important.. and I wouldn't underestimate anyone. But nothing wrong with seeing what could be ahead after. We could fall to slovenia and Mexico... for all we know.

Goulding is really important to the Boomers i believe. His a great shooter and i reckon he can help the boomers out a heap!

Well Boomers need guys who can create their own shots.. Goulding is one.. we seem to have a lot of "offence robots".. who do things that are technically solid but cant create. I don't think he is so much of a defensive liability to not include him.

He has worked on the things Lemanis told him to work on as well as taking his scoring to a new level. He definitely fills a gap and unless he completely screws up in camp should be on the team IMO.

I think we are looking a bit dry at the powerforward spot. Would Motum be a good fit?

I dont think Motum is ready. Not particularly physical, not a good defender and his offensive game has been up and down in a league (Italy) of similar standard to here.

I think that mobile PF spot will come out of Worthington, Petrie and/or Barlow, with the rest of the time Lemanis going with two bigs in the frontcourt.

Come the 2019 WC that PF spot will be Simmons' if he progresses as expected.

Just had a brainwave... Shawn Redhage at PF? I mean he IS back in classic redhage form?

I think he's mostly a SF at international level, but he's certainly good enough and might work in some matchups.

I'd have my money on Worthington, he's been with the Boomers seven or eight years, knows the international game, the team and the defensive systems.

There is no way we take Barlow under any circumstances. There is no upside to him playing for the Boomers. He has been barely serviceable at this level and he would be unlikely to take the court other than in garbage minutes. That is a waste of a spot. If we can't fill the position with a guy that would be at least serviceable (Wortho) I would prefer we took a young player who is going to be with the program for the next few years. Bairstow, Motum or Simmons.

Damian Martin MUST make this Boomers team, back up/3rd string pg

Boomers did good at the olympics vs team usa
but this years team will be tough . in the words of Durant himself "show me dont tweet me" in regards to staying within 30points

AussiePride I don't think it is fair to judge Barlow on brett browns missuse of him alone... the guy is a great 3 point shooter and solid defender with International level athleticism. His 3 point percentages in the league he plays in speak for themselves.

Problem for Dave was he couldnt play last international season because of back troubles, they continued to hamper him in Poland and his play was poor, then he was released and as far as I know hasnt found a new gig.

Given his back troubles and lack of game play (not to mention recent form) I would take Worthington or Petrie in that mobile PF spot, particularly as both will be much more at home in the pressing schemes Lemanis runs given their experience in the NBL.

BTW our draw:

Sat 30/8 v Slovenia
Sun 31/8 v Korea
Tue 2/9 v Lithuania
Wed 3/9 v Mexico
Thu 4/9 v Angola

Tall Blacks draw:

Sat 30/8 v Turkey
Sun 31/8 v Dominican Republic
Tue 2/9 v USA
Wed 3/9 v Ukraine
Thu 4/0 v Finland

Slovenia is a bit of a danger game.. kinda wish we started with Korea.

Given we are always poor starters to World Champs and Olympics our first game is always a danger. We may have been better off playing Lithuania (Probable Loss) first rather than lose to Slovenia (Probable Win) or worst case to Korea (Highly Probable Win).

I still have nightmares of losing to Angola in the first game of the 86 WCs where they were jumping out of the gym and we looked like our feet were nailed to the floor.

Dellavedova, Mills,D Martin
Newley, Goulding
Ingles,Worthington,Broekhoff
Andersen, Bairstow
Baynes, Jawai

Based on assumption Exum doesn't make himself available.
Also Mills will likely start but I like him as bench spark.

Assuming Bogut and Exum arent available:

Baynes/Jawai/Ogilvy
Andersen/Worthington/Petrie
Ingles/Newley
Mills/Goulding
Dellavedova/Gibson (or Martin)

I'd like to see a little bit of Andersen, Petrie, Worthington, Ingles and Mills playing some real aggressive D and spreading the floor at the other end with Peach and Wortho setting a load of picks for Mills and Ingles.

I would have Bairstow, Andersen or Motum before Petrie just my opinion

People who add Simmons have to remember your adding a 16 year old boy whose body isn't big or strong enough to compete with men at that position. Exum also, Exum will get drafted high in the NBA but he wont make an immediate impact. Exum and Simmons are the future.. not the present. I would use those 2 spots on people who can contribute NOW.. there is plenty of minor tournys between the Worlds and Olympics to blood them into it.

Yep there is a spot for Exum but Simmons will not be ready until 2016. Not sure what will happen with Exum this year that will be up to the team that drafts him

I apologise if any offence caused to Adelaide 36ers fans but no way should Gibson,johnson and Petrie be included in Aust Boomers discussion.

I am talking about now not past 5 years.

Exum should be in no matter how ready he is so he is better in 2016. Even if he isnt ready for a regular role at this level, his speed means he could play a valuable cameo at some point in the tournament.

Those people probably saw that he wasnt ready last season playing for the Boomers, which is perfectly understandable. Hopefully in these 12 months he will have gotten significantly stronger, but his lack of experience against men will prob keep him to cameos at the WC.

I dont know he has great PG skills, I didnt see that in his WC play, but he does have incredible speed, and while he can score he's unselfish too and should be a lock because our team will probably be built around him in a few years.

I don't care too much about an NBA GM, but if he is a completely dominant junior at international level with devastating speed and endless potential he should be in the team.

I agree Exum should definitely play, even if there are more "proven" players at the senior level in his position. He'd likely be the 11th or 12th man anyway.

I remember Spain had a certain 17 year old at the end of their roster in the Beijing Olympics by the name of Ricky Rubio ... if it's good enough for Spain then it's good enough for the Boomers I say.

Also for those who doubt he'd want to play in the World Cup given the NBA draft, he indicated his keenness to play in this interview (at about the 5 minute mark): http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-12/melbourne-teen-dante-exum-nominates-for-nba-draft/5254022