This is a really good squad.

If healthy and available, the locks for me are:

Simmons, Ingles, Patty, Delly, Baynes, Landale.

I'm genuinely happy with any of the other 13 guys getting those final 6 spots, depending on how Goorj and the selection team decide to go.

It's interesting to see Dante Exum's name remain there, as he is still recovering from injury and hasnd't played organized basketball in a long time. For whatever reason the coaching staff must think he'll be ready to go by the Olympics. He's probably not the guy I'd place a bet on, though, as he'd probably get injured hopping on the plane.

The five omissions are not surprising. Norton might be a solid NBL player but he was never really up to the mark internationally. Thon Maker hasn't played in a long time and was always a fringe prospect at best. Magnay has done nothing since returning (much like Broekhoff, who still remains). Mc-Dowell-White isn't ready yet. And the less said about Deng Adel, the better.

But looking at the squad, the names on paper are very, very nice. This is our greatest ever squad on paper. But there are some questions around form and preparation for many of these players. I've already touched on Exum and Broekhoff, the latter who hasn't played his way into the squad based on thbis season. Humphries will be coming off of injury but I expect him to make the team (who else do we have inside?) And Aron Baynes hasn't been in great form in the NBA. There are definitely question marks inside.

My team as of right now:

Simmons, Mills, Ingles, Landale, Baynes, Delly, Goulding, Green, Motum, Thybulle, Humphries, Sobey

Thybulle hopefully providing a good Defensive impact. named second team defence NBA

Defensively the Boomers should be really good - Simmons, Ingles, Thybulle, Delly, Baynes. My concern is inside scoring and a Bogut-like shot changer. Our shooting should also be fine.

Not surprised that Adel, Magnay, McDowell White and Norton didn't make final 19.
McDowell White and Magnay are only 23 so could make future squads.
Good to see Maker miss out.

Surprised that Reath made final 19.
Wing positions are well stacked.
Will be interesting to see how our bigs go without Bogut.

Totally agree the obvious locks are Simmons, Ingles, Patty, Delly, Baynes, Landale.

The lack of athleticism in front court is my main concern with the group. That was a missing piece in WC. Still a quality group. If those 6 are available we're more than capable of competing with anyone on our day.

Those key 6 all need to be there .
Any injuries or omissions make it a bit harder.

I like the squad, although I agree with previous comments about lack of form and injury being a concern. Based on everyone being fit and in best form, then I'd rate us a medal chance; based on their current form and health I think we’ll be back in the 5-12 group rather than a medal prospect.

For me, the only locks are Patty, Joe and Ben, and we’ll need major minutes from them - until each opponent starts to play Hack-a-Ben, at which point he’s a liability and will need to come off

Hawks doing their best to make sure Simmons and Thybulle are available too. C'mon Clippers!

Good point - I'll switch to cheering the Hawks just for that reason.

What a squad. Lets hope we get a few games TV primetime in Aust before they go.

I think the team is a realistic medal shot but that feeling fades away quickly if Simmons and Thybulle aren't available.

I think you'll find that covid will affect what talent does turn up for these Olympics. Jokic already out for Serbia.

Aussies probably played the best in the WC, unfortunate to not get a medal.

USA would be gold; but otherwise Australia leads a small group of genuine medal contenders IMO.

Even with most nations having a better Olympic squad to WCs, Aussies should too - substantially so if Simmons plays.

I can't see us medaling with that squad minus Simmons. In saying that, Greece went into the last championships thinking they were specials with Giannis and teams nullified that. Simmons has a similar skill set offensively so will be interesting if he plays

I don't think anyone considered Greece to be strong in the WCs....

I think medal chances are hard to gauge because you cant win games on paper. I remember the sheer apprehension I felt before games against Lithuania and France at the last world cup. On paper, we weren't necessarily favourites but we won both games. In 2016, we were meant to lose to France in the opening game but we handed them a 20 point L.

The key to the Boomers success has always been how they work as a team, and how they can become bigger than the sum of their parts. Since 2016 the squad has had great synergy and the leadership group still will. But will we get the same buy-in from Simmons, Thybulle, Green and the other newcomers?

We're also hit with a lack of preparation as well. We might not have much of our team until basically tip off, game 1 of the Olympics. We have to hit the ground running if this is going to work.

I don't have any real connection to the NBA so it's easy enough for me to say this, but as the Boomers are my number 1 team ideally I'd want Simmons, Thybulle and Ingles out of the playoffs ASAP to give this team the best chance at a medal. I am sure not too many people are with me on that but that's just where I stand.

For all the talent we have in the team, preparation, injury and form put queition marks on the Boomers chances. But having said that, preparation wasn't fantastic for the world cup either - we only had four warm up games. We lost a big piece in Jonah Bolden on the eve of the Cup. We were handed a couple of easy games early in Canada and Senegal and we might not have that luxury this time around. We have more talent but we potentially face more problems.

These be my locks:

Patty Mills
Matthew Dellavedova
Ben Simmons
Matisse Thybulle
Joe Ingles
Nick Kay
Jock Landale
Aron Baynes
Isaac Humphries

IMO, need 1 more big, Cooks or Motum, and 2 shooters/scorers from Goulding, Sobey, Giddey (would be great back-up for Simmons at the PG), Broekhoff (if shooting the lights out at camp), or Exum (if healthy) as shooters/scorers.

What a squad. Lets hope we get a few games TV primetime in Aust before they go.

For some reason Boomers are Lithuania's bogey side.

Long may it continue

Atlanta has just taken a 3-2 advantage over the 76ers and are one win away from hopefully sending Ben into Boomers camp nice and early!

My Boomers team

Baynes/Humphries
Motum/Landale/Kay
Ingles/Thybulle
Mills/Green
Simmons/Delly/Giddey

I dont mind the suggestion that i heard from Chris Anstey of Dante Exum, but needs to prove himself healthy and in form at the camp before I include him.

Motum's 3P shooting is crazy good at just on 50% in Turkey this season

Boomers should be loaded with plenty of good shooters

With Simmons, that'll create a nice balance.

Without Simmons, we'd be lacking athletes who can get to the hoop and relying heavily on crisp passing and ball movement, and probably over reliant on the 3 ball

Baynes/Humphries
Landale/Kay/Motum
Ingles/Thybulle/Sobey
Mills/Goulding
Simmons/Delly

Good team on paper, but:
- Quite a few injured / out of form players
- Giddey unlikely to be allowed to play by whatever team drafts him?
- Simmons likely to pull out to rest and hopefully work on FT shooting

I think I might be in a minority, but I'm not sure Delly is a lock anymore?
He hasn't played a lot and his shooting has been poor.

In the past, we've overlooked his shooting because he was a steady hand who gave solid defence at the point. But if this team is being built around Simmons, then he and Ingles will do most of the ball-handling and I think we will need shooting more than defence in that role.

I'm not saying he shouldn't go, but I'd want to really see him compete and earn his spot on current play if I were Goorjian.

There are definitely players with question marks and I think that's why Exum has persisted in this squad. If we were talking about a healthy Dellavedova or Simmons being 100 percent committed, I am not sure Exum would be in the running still. I am guessing he's in reasonable shape and is doing something in his free time to garner some faith from selectors. But I think at point guard we're just trying to throw everything at the wall at the moment just to see what sticks.

But in reply to comments about Delly, I think he remains a lock. He's a culture guy. I don't think you mess with the core group. They've held us up well to the world for nearon a decade now. I'll put my faith in Delly representing us well at the Olympics regardless of his playing situation.

Humphries is another guy who is basically a lock for me, but who has been injured and out of basketball for a while. If we had any size off the bench he probably wouldn't be in the running still but we don't have a Bogut and he's the next best option.

Be interesting to see what happens. A lot will come down to the culture of the team and how quickly these guys can acclimatize themselves and get on the same page.

Take out exum, reath, sobey, creek, giddey, cooks meaning...
Delly
Mills
Green
Goulding
Broekhoff
Thybulle
Ingles
Simmons
Motum
Kay
Landale
Humphries
Baynes

1 will miss out and I could see kay being that guy simply due to having simmons there will be a need for as much shooting as possible, or even in broekhoff's slump continues then it’s him. Although delly is a great culture guy, I could see goorj frothing at the mouth of the idea of exum instead considering he’s a bigger more athletic version of him but probably minus a little bit of the play making and getting guys involved ability.

I'd prefer Creek over Broekhoff on current form, and remembering that Creek also played some NBA. It’s not like Broekhoff is going to magically come back to full fitness and form in the next few weeks.

My other question mark is Sobey versus Green - Sobey in great form and who carries his team, versus a likely star of the future who doesn’t get many minutes.

" I'd prefer Creek over Broekhoff on current form, and remembering that Creek also played some NBA."

My feeling is Creek doesn't really “fit” in the puzzle. He’d be a guy who gets time against crap sides and gets that job done, when it comes to the big matchups, someone like Broekhoff slides in and nails the big threes fed by the likes of Simmons, Mills etc.

At a most basic point - we need Simmons and Mills killing defensive structures opening Ingles and Broekhoff on opposite ends to be open to punish. Then we have work horses down low cleaning up the paint: Landale, Baynes, Kay

Broekhoff's situation is a dilemma. He has been a stellar shooter everywhere throughout his career. He has a lot of Boomers A-team big tournament experience. When he's hot, he is the kind of player that can break games open. We perceive him as being in a slump, but he's still at 36.5% from 3. Can he regain his automatic from 3 ability? Sub-40% is not there. He has also been struggling defensively. If he can't prove himself, Goulding takes his spot on the team.

Simmons role is intriguing. I'm not convinced he will be the impact player that everyone is expecting. FIBA ball is not suited to him. Had he played in the WC, I was seeing Simmons more as a gun role player than one of our main contributors. I don't know if he would be all-in as a FIBA 4 with some ball handling responsibilities, but IMO that's his better fit in FIBA. He needs to be surrounded by shooters whenever he is on the floor. We shouldn't force him to have an impact like Giannis for Greece last WC.

Having said that, our PG position otherwise has a lot of question marks. Who else do we have at point? Who else can penetrate? Delly has slowed down and struggled with shooting. Exum has hardly played. We shouldn't expect Giddey to be there yet. Mills need to play the 2. Don't even think about Sobey.

Delly needs to be there as a culture player. Even if he hardly gets any minutes. We also need depth in the backcourt. Given the way our backcourt struggled late in the World Cup tournament from their minutes load, we need more options in the backcourt. Historically Goorjian tends to go with 3 solid PG options. I just don't know if he would count Simmons as one of those 3.

"Those nbl players suck, tell them to go home. Can never win a medal with them. "

Arguing for an 11-man team, then? Or are you allowing ex-NBA NBL players?

Reckon we're going to need Giddey in the squad. I'll be flabbergasted if Simmons plays.

Landale has never played NBA. Time to give up on this nonsense argument.

Agreed

I don't think Landale will ever actually go to the NBA. I think he'll be a guy people talk about as "NBA level" who falls through the cracks and plays literally everywhere else. I don't wish that on the guy but I nust dont think he's quite as good as he thinks he is.

And there we have it, the 76ers are out of the playoffs. Ben has no real excuse not to make the Boomers camp other than "nah, don't actually really want to". His availability is now basically confirmed, the question now is what is the rhetoric moving forward? Any question or slowness to reply on the matter will constitute basically a "no". I'm hopeful we do see the commitment from Ben but I am highly sceptical that we will.

100% Ben bails on the Olympics.

Will bail on the Olympics.
Will get traded.

If Simmons bails, there's no point in considering him a Boomer

"If Simmons bails, there's no point in considering him a Boomer"

Can we consider him a Boomer if he still hasn't played for us? If he does in fact bail, does that rule out Thybulle as well? Probably not, cos they won't be teammates any more...

If Simmons bails, he can go play for Team USA from now on for all I care. It's 50/50 at the moment I think, but what I do know is he doesnt have a real excuse not to

Telling you right now, after this debacle, the last thing he's going to do is play in the Olympics, is basically going to be traded and needs to work on his game...but won't, instead will be by the pool soaking in his own ego looking for his next 'gram post.

I honestly think the best thing for him to do is play in the Olympics. Get into that laid back Aussie environment to take some pressure off, let guys like Mills and Ingles carry the team and play your part. Could do wonders.

Apparently there is a drop in camp on the 25th of June for Boomers so we should hagve some read on where Ben is at by then

Landale has what it takes to play NBA, but whether he does will come down to right place and right time. Plenty of guys have what it takes, but for various reasons never make it.

The European teams consistently show us you don't need NBA experience to play quality bball at international tournaments. Whether Landale does or doesn't play NBA I expect him to be an important piece for the Boomers over the next 7 or 8 years or more.

Simmons will get traded and won't be allowed to play in the Olympics (or at least that will be the reason given).

He’s great for getting a team to finals but then becomes a problem for his coach. Given that Philly did so much to get the ring and failed ... again.

Rivers will be determined to get that ring, Ben doesn’t have Brown to protect him anymore, so Ben is definitely attractive trade fodder.

He has a rare talent, but until he becomes a reliable outside shooter then he’ll just remain a talented player who will need the right players around him (and the pressure off him) to ever get a ring and be considered 'great’. Regardless, he’s always got the Kardashian media circus to fall back on.

Simmons was never going to suit up for the Boomers because the FIBA game will further expose his lack of an outside shot.

I just honestly think he's not interested in playing for his country...nothing more, nothing less.

In fairness he didnt look that interested in playing for Philly either

We're jumping to some conclusions about his interest in playing for the Boomers. He's 'flirted' with the idea a bit. He said before the world cup that he was definitely in, then the weirdness happened when suddenly he needed to "work on his game" which came to hitting maybe 1 or 2 extra three pointers a season more than he otherwise would. That was a contract year.

His 2016 snub of the Boomers was due to being drafted. I think we can say "fair enough" on that front.

But the one consistent to Simmons pulling out has been Andrej Lemanis. It is no secret that the two didn't see eye-to-eye. There was the same issue with Bolden as well. If you read between the lines of everything that came out in the news when Lemanis "quit" you'll find that issues with the younger players was front and center.

So will Goorjian be enough for Simmons to play? I don't think we can jump to the conclusion that he simply doesn't care about playing for Australia until we see the trend continue with a new coach. If he pulls out now, I'd say playing for the Boomers just isn't a priority to him. But I don't think we can make that call yet just based on him not wanting to play for Lemanis - a coach that a lot of young NBA talent simply haven't warmed to.

Won't Goorjian be even more structured than Andre? I think that would appeal even less to Simmons

Perth world, as a 4 man then.

Goorjian and Ben actually have a relationship that has spanned since Ben's junior days. I think it's more an issue of personalities than play styles.

But yeah, I'd be surprised if Ben does end up playing for us. He's just come out of an absolutely terrible series and he's never shown dedication to the program before. I'm torn between my heart that wants him to play and my brain telling me he's been given more than enough excuse not to

I think Simmons will probably pull out again. After these playoffs probably the last place he wants to be is back on a basketball court later this week at Boomers camp.

We've seen this all before with our best player re: Boomers, Longley went 8 years without playing for the Boomers (1992-2000), Bogut also went 8 years without playing for the Boomers (2008-2016) and Simmons streak since he last played for the Boomers is 8 years and counting (2013). To be fair to Simmons he did put his hand up for the 2014 WC but didn't make the team.

To be fair national teams should take their best teams.

Shouldn't be taking guys just because they feel entitled to be there

'After these playoffs probably the last place he wants to be is back on a basketball court later this week at Boomers camp'

If you're a professional with any dedication to the game then it should be the first place he wants to be.

So he won't be there then.

I feel bad piling on, but are we giving Simmons benefit of doubt on attitude? I feel like it has been a primary factor letting him down

Only one way to prove us and the rest of the doubters wrong.

Did see on Twitter today Thybulle saying he was excited for the Boomer's, so that's something.

"
Senator11
Within the hour

Only one way to prove us and the rest of the doubters wrong.

Did see on Twitter today Thybulle saying he was excited for the Boomer's, so that's something.

"

Where on Twitter? He hasnt updated his in months.

Damn, maybe it was someone retweeting an old post. :/. Can't find it now...

My Simmons less team.
Btw anyone think Thybulle will play?

Dellavedova, Sobey or Exum. (Should be Sobey)
Mills, Goulding, Green
Ingles, Thybulle, Creek
Landale, Motum, Kay
Baynes, Humphries

That's 14 so 2 players will be chopped.
Broekhoff, Reath and Cooks miss out imo.

Simmons.. No comment required.
Giddey should focus on the draft , I think he will be ready 2023 onwards.

I think we will see a bit of point forward from Ingles.

Our medal chances depend on who turns up for everyone else as well. If we get a similar talent pool to those we played against at the World Cup we're probably a real medal chance. If everyone's big dogs come out, it gets a whole lot harder to see.

At the cup we had three spots filled with dead wood and as long as we dont have that we're instantly better than last time, provided our players can find some rhythm and form. An article recently said that the Boomers are getting together earlier than other national teams which hopefully helps.

With Simmons out, Exum becomes a necessity. You'd hope to see Thybulle still put his hand up. And Green has already indicated he will play. The instant replacements for the deadwood of Sobey, Gliddon and Barlow all right there.

Dellavedova, Exum
Mills, Goulding, Green
Ingles, Thybulle, Cooks (possibly Creek but I prefer Cooks length)
Landale, Motum
Baynes, Humphries

Agree to disagree on Sobey being dead wood.
Best Australian guard in NBL almost MVP.
Gliddon and Barlow yes they are done.

Isaac Humphries and Ryan Broekhoff have both pulled out of camp. Humphries still rehabbing. Duop Reath and Chris Goulding have just booked their Tokyo tickets I am pretty sure.

People bash Reath but he is, afterall a Euroleague center playing 13 minutes a game in the second best team in the world. He could probably play the same role at the Olympics admirably.

As it stands we still have no set in stone confirmation either way from Simmons and the longer that goes, the mroe I think wheels are turning to try and get him on the team.

I dont want to get too set one way or another on the fortunes of the team until we see who ends up picked when the dust settles and see how they play in warm ups.

Do we know why Broekhoff withdrew?

These days the strength of non-American players/nations is significantly better than the past, it's a real shame we don’t see international basketball treated like soccer does for Euro Championship or World Cup where the best play even though they’re making hundreds of millions regardless.

I meant second best league in the world. I dont think anyone thinks they're the second best team. We dont have any other back up options unless we use Landale as back up center for most minutes and move Motum or something to starting power forward. Either way, Reath has probably just stamped his ticket, even if he's a scrub at Euroleague level, for lack of other options.

If Reath doesn't make the cut then they could go with

Landale, Kay, Cooks
Baynes and Motum.

Landale can play both big spots.
Motum would see more minutes in the 4 than the 5.

I suspect Reath will make the cut even if purely off of size and athleticism