Okay, so firstly you assume the Bullets deal was also a Boomers deal, rather than acknowledge that our options are limited at guard and Sobey probably was the best age-appropriate option we have that was available.

Then you go and ask "why isn't Ben in the team?" As if you'd been sleeping for the past 6 months when Ben made his decision and were oblivious to why, preferring to blame it somehow on Lemanis rather than see that Ben is all about himself, which he has always shown.

And then you say people who say Ben shouldn't be a lock can "go fuck themselves", showing absolutely no understanding of how the international game has proven to stimy players of his type (see Giannis).

Yep. Thanks for the masterclass of idiocy, Anonymous.

Sobey led the league in assists yeah?

A handy rule of thumb is that if a thread's first 7 posts are anonymous, don't bother trying to find any sense in it

Sobey led the league in assists yeah?

"Correct which only really tells you the ball was in his hands a lot and his teammates were effective enough to score from his passes."

OMG! So Ware and Randle etc didn't have a lot of the ball in their hands and teammates who were effective at scoring from their passes? Please.

"his decision making late in games was terrible."

This I agree with, and this is where most of the over-dribbling happened. It was just a case of inexperience as a down-the-stretch playmaker. In reality, the Sixers should have had the ball in other hands IMO.

Overall, Sobey did a good job as a PG on a team that performed well when Moore was fit and firing and struggled without him. Sobey's defence was very good overall on many of the best players in the competition and he did a good job of keying Adelaide's game style at both ends.

Where he fell down was where he was required to be the man, he neither had the experience or the variety of offensive moves to carry that load.

Anon that thinks Gasol will just sit in the key on Simmons you are on crack! I'm so sick of seeing everyone say that Australia is better off without him. He is the best player we've ever produced and its not close. Don't get me started on the Gaze comparison. Gaze sat on the bench in the NBA for a year and collected a ring, Simmons is a borderline all star after two years and he's not even near his peak yet.

Gaze sitting on the bench in the NBA is completely irrelevant to what he produced in international basketball. This is a guy who averaged 24ppg against Team USA with close to their best team, he is one of the greatest scorers the world has seen.

Regardless of the needless comparison, Simmons is going to be a superstar for Australia, his ability to play all parts of the game, spark transition, make teammates better, finish for himself etc is going to be so hard to stop, especially if we have good shooters around him like Broekhoff and Landale.

I can't wait to see him play for Australia, he is the difference maker that will get us gold next year.

I watched the bucks probably more than you did. I saw that sickening fall that shattered Boguts elbow and yeah he would've been an allstar if that hadn't have happened but it did.

Thats like saying you didn't see me in u16s before I started smoking durries and drinking piss, I could've been anything as my mum told me.

You are without a doubt the dumbest poster on this forum.

Oh if we are doing derp posts in here:
Lemanis is clearly, by a significant margin, a better coach that Gregg Popovich

Simmons wont play for Lemanis^{[citation needed]}

Not sure what the 'Sobey elephant' means but the Boomers were always one and a half to two players short of a serious medal...swap out Gliddon and Sobey for Broekoff and Exum/Simmons and we have gold...oh well maybe next time!!

"So Paul, you admit Sobey was terrible but basically ok for a 2nd rate NBL team"

I pity you if that's your level of reading comprehension anon.

sobey, kay, glddon, barlow all suck. There is no room for these nbl journeymen if we want to medal.

Hi Dave.

Not so sure you can say Kay sucked, but what it did show was if we upgraded (on skill/size/athleticism) in that position we would win most games...

OP is unhinged.

Next, why isn't our best player, and potentially the best player Australia has produced, even in the team?

"Wait, maybe LeBron didn't play because Pop is obsessed with Derrick White?!"

Great call! Maybe White only signed with the Spurs because he was guaranteed a Team USA spot? At the end of the day, do you think Luc Longley would stand for someone who didn't deserve to be there being picked? No way in the world.

"A handy rule of thumb is that if a thread's first 7 posts are anonymous, don't bother trying to find any sense in it"

True.

Never seen so much hate on a person that has basically grinded his whole life to get to this position. Sounds like a bunch of jealous individuals.

Never seen so much hate on a person that has basically grinded his whole life to get to this position. Sounds like a bunch of jealous individuals.

Sobey & Lemanis...

We critique people that have worked hard to where they are now. A couple of us are average joes so I would say congratulate people as well as a few critiques a long the way. All these forums promote 'hate' 90% of the time!

"Wait, are we talking about Sobey? Or Lemanis, Cadee, Heal, Wright, Teys, etc?"

Cecil Exum.

Firstly, nobody in their right mind could seriously defend the selection of Sobey, or the inclusion of Spuddee in the squad.

Next, before we had even lost, people were already talking about how we're going to be magically better in Tokyo.
The same thing they said before this WC, and before Rio, etc, etc.
Everytime its the same story "this is the best squad ever, we're going to medal, this is our best chance."
Yet, the result is the same.

So what do we change?

Anon:

"All the self-proclaimed experts who defended Lemanis have finally been outed as idiots."

I neither defend nor attack Lemanis. He achieved more than any previous Boomers coach. But he never delivered that elusive medal, and wasn't able to get all the NBA based players on board.

So...

All the self-proclaimed experts who attacked Lemanis have finally been outed as geniuses.

I think I’ll wait for Tokyo Olympics and see if Boomers medal. If they don’t medal, does it mean that a Lemanis should have remained? I don’t think so, and we need to try something different.

Australia will need great coaching, all players available, and a bit of luck during the tournament to medal.

How many countries have ever medaled in Olympics basketball (say post 1972, or after it started to get a bit serious)?

How many medalists have had a population as small as Australia?

How many medalists with such a small population only play basketball as a secondary sport (rules out Serbia)?

Considering all the above, Boomers have historically over-achieved, even Rio was no worse than par, definitely not an under-achievement.

It's worth mentioning that our "horrible" Olympic record is in large part due to how easy it is for us to qualify.

So if you are mad at Lemonis for picking a couple of his guys why aren't you mad at Brown for picking Simmons and Bolden. Going to be mad at somebody be mad at Patty Mills for missing a free throw. He's the one that cost them the medal. Or maybe Andrew Bogut for pissing off all of China and their referees.

Anon is 100% right. Great posts mate. Andre cost us the best chance we may ever get at a gold. Being satisfied with fourths with this level of talent at our disposal isn't acceptable. His 100% right in the fact sobey Barlow and gliddon had no business being there. Is it worth mentioning he didn’t even have Creek in the initial squad. What a ridiculous call that was. He certainly plays favourites as you can see by Daniel Johnson never getting a look in ever. Only been the best big man in the comp the past five years

His 100% right in the fact sobey Barlow and gliddon had no business being there.

Is it worth mentioning he didn't even have Creek in the initial squad. What a ridiculous call that was.

He certainly plays favourites as you can see by Daniel Johnson never getting a look in ever.

Only been the best big man in the comp the past five years