Should acknowledge how brave he was going to Europe 15 to 20 years ago. I vaguely remember him as a gawky kid coming off the bench for a NSW NBL team(?). - I am 50.

Plenty go to Europe now; but few did back then.

Seems to present well off court. ( ............ does he have business interests?).

He'll help make United a better team. He's a genuine 7 footer with range.

Where's he rank ,all time, amongst our bigs?

1. Bogut
2. Longley or Dave?

I used to think he was a little soft. I was wrong. All time Aus great!

Not sure where exactly he ranks but he's been a fantastic servant of the Australian squad.

Going to Europe so early in his career definitely hurt his credibility in Australia, but undeservingly so. Whilst his game may not have been the prettiest, his credentials in the very top leagues of Europe speak for themselves, as do his Boomers performances. It's as if every time he was selected it'd be greeted with eye rolls in Australia, but every tournament he seemed to come through with the goods.

I'm hopeful 10 years from now we view Motum the same way.

Always liked him and thought he was invaluable as a Boomer. He's had a tremendous professional basketball career.

Beagle - Wollongong, 1999
Impressed in that first season. I too thought he was game in going to Europe at the time. More because of having played only a single pro season and being quite young. That said, I think he had the advantage of being able to play as a local.

His achievements haven't been recognised enough in Australia, that's for sure. Four-time Olympian, 2-time World Championships player. That's impressive in itself. I need help with this one, but I expect that is the most major tournaments for the Boomers since Heal, Gaze, Bradtke, Vlahov.

I wonder if the criticism he received on forums in the past was based on perceptions that he performed lower than expected given his sudden high reputation in Europe. Coming off an Italian league finals MVP in 2004, he averaged under 5ppg in 19mpg for the Boomers in Athens. He still didn't have a major role in 2008, despite being a past Euroleague All-1st team player prior to this. It also didn't help that he was out of sight playing in his prime in Europe.

I wonder if I asked these questions, how many would guess correctly:
- Who was the leading rebounder for the Boomers in 2010?
- Who was the leading rebounder for the Boomers in 2012?
- Who was the leading rebounder for the Boomers in 2014?

The answer is actually Andersen for... ok, just 2010 and 2012. Didn't want the quiz to be too predictable. Andersen was a close 2nd behind Baynes in 2014.

- Who was the leading rebounder per minute of court time for the Boomers in 2016?

Again, the answer is Andersen. This surprises me because I don't think he's ever been known as much of a rebounder.

Major tournament scoring, rebounding stats:
2004 Athens: 4.7ppg, 4.7rpg (8th in scoring, equal 2nd in rebounds)
2008 Beijing: 6.5ppg, 3.5rpg (equal 6th in scoring, equal 3rd in rebounds)
2010 Turkey: 10.4ppg, 7.4rpg (4th in scoring, 1st in rebounds)
2012 London: 12.0ppg, 6.0rpg (3rd in scoring, 1st in rebounds)
2014 Spain: 6.3ppg, 5.0rpg (9th in scoring, 2nd in rebounds)
2016 Rio: 8.8ppg, 4.8rpg (5th in scoring, 3rd in rebounds)

(Rankings are within the Boomers team based on averages)

Three point shooting has gone from:
- 0/1 0% 2004 Athens
- 3/6 50% 2008 Beijing
- 6/15 40% 2010 Turkey
- 8/20 40% 2012 London
- 1/4 25% 2014 Spain
- 4/11 36% 2016 Rio

That's 39% career in major tournaments. Very impressive coming from your 4/5-man.

Not only did Andersen play in 6 major tournaments, he also put his hand up for several Oceania qualification tournaments. He's been a very committed Boomer.

Andersen has been a star for Australia. The commitment in longevity and consistency shows how valuable he has been.

Also had more than a fair amount of success in Europe with some of the best teams!

Not often can you have a quality player like him and just know for every game Australia plays, in every tournament that he will be there to play and contribute. A pretty damn good bedrock to have.

KET + 1

I hope he hangs around internationally for another year or two.

@ RJD what's his FG% though.

I have never been a fan of his (don't love post players that fade away as a first-option move, and I thought he took too many shots in past campaigns when there were open guys to rotate to), but I really loved what he gave us at Rio. Was consistent and hit heaps of big shots in key moments, and made the right play 99% of the time.

I'm a lot like Mick. While he has consistently been an important part of the Boomers main rotation, I have never really warmed to DA in the past. This campaign he really showed his value though. Just that little shift down the pecking order gave him the ability to be a bit more selective than in the past, and he was really effective - at both ends. Not sure how his Rio FG% compared to other Boomers campaigns but it felt to me like he was as efficient as he's ever been.
A key part of our success. We're going to miss him.

^Thirded.

I was not a fan of Andersen until the 2012 Olympics. I thought he struggled in 2004 and 2008 and was a negative to the team. When he got the ball down low it stuck with him and the offense stagnated.
London was where he really turned it around. I think this is partly due to the fact that he was expected to be one of our best players prior to 2012. From London on he became more of a role player. I think also he got better. His post game became more consistent, he scored more often increasing his efficiency and value to the team.

At the last world championships he again struggled a little on offense but has been brilliant in Rio.

Manu Ginobli was still running around at 39 for Argentina, is it completely impossible that Anderson could make one last Olympics?

Even an All-NBL team can expect Dream Team status at the Commonwealth games. I remember laughing when we completely murdered South Africa and Scotland, but to the credit of England and New Zealand, those teams gave us a game. We probably should have lost to New Zealand in the gold actually. But either way, if he keeps up his play and stays in shape I'd like to see both him and Bogut in the 2020 team backing up Thon and Baynes.

"@ RJD what's his FG% though."

I won't give overall FG%, but here are his 2pt FG numbers:

2004: 11/26 @ 42.3%
2008: 11/26 @ 42.3%
2010: 12/26 @ 46.2%
2012: 21/58 @ 36.2%
2014: 12/38 @ 31.6%
2016: 23/39 @ 59.0%

Rio definitely his most efficient.

3pt FGs again:

2004: 0/1 @ 0%
2008: 3/6 @ 50%
2010: 6/15 @ 40%
2012: 8/20 @ 40%
2014: 1/4 @ 25%
2016: 4/11 @ 36%

Andersen had a terrific 2016 Olympics. I've always respected him and he has always been very decent for Australia, but his efforts against Team USA was unexpected and next level stuff, I didn't think he would have that kind of impact against such quality opposition. Those shots he knocked down, just wow.

Just generally on the Boomers, I know we had an awful game against Serbia and we were missing all of our shots early, the opposition knocking down all of theirs and we struggled with the tight defence and intensity levels....but Boomers had 5/6 games where they played very, very well and in spite of that Serbia game, i'll say Boomers were pretty consistent. This has been one of the areas I have been critical of the Boomers in the past, where you just wouldn't know what you'd get from the team on any given occassion. We now know Australia can legitimately be competitive against anyone, and Australia is a top 4 or 5 nation when it comes to men's basketball. With the type of talent to come through...Simmons, Exum etc it is an exciting time.

Well it is an exciting time but we also need to be mindful of the pieces we stand to lose during the transition. David Anderson and Andrew Bogut may or may not have another Olympics in them and Patty, Baynes and Ingles will be 32 by the next Olympics so their output might begin to slow(and Joe's seems to be declining anyway). We need our veterans to stay in good shape for one last go-around because we can't fill Bogut's rim protection, Anderson's inside-outside game or Mills speedy shot making just yet.

KET - agree, he was hitting some tough shots. Great agility for his position and age.

Can't see Andersen still making the team in four years though. Bogut could - doesn't rely on athleticism to contribute, so could definitely have a role given he's younger.

With Ingles, I think Simmons and Broekhoff give the Boomers solid options at that position. Mills will be fine. Tony Parker is currently 34, for example.

I think Bogut is more athletic, and relies more on it, than people realize. He gets up and about for a guy of that size.

I agree with the statement that Bogut gets up and about pretty well for his size, but I do think @Isaac's point is that he doesn't rely on that aspect of his game - he is pretty solid being a grinder in the paint, too. I think he will go around again in 2020, and I hope he does.

We will still rely on Mills, Delly and Baynes, but I don't think Ingles stands much of a chance of remaining in the squad given his lack-lustre performance this time around and the fact there is a lot of pressure at his spot, with Broekhoff still on the up, and Simmons, Exum and possibly even Maker able to play SF as well.

Filling the middle will be a bigger issue. Maker will hopefully fill out enough (and is certainly tall enough) to be a threat inside, and his outside game appears at least as good as Andersen, if he can produce it reliably against men, as opposed to boys. Bairstow may still have a role to play moving forward, too. Not much of an offensive threat, but he plays very good team D and rebounds strongly.

Yes I can imagine Bairstow staying on. Motum might have a place backing up Simmons. I think you're right that Joe Ingles has seen his last Olympics.