Matt Neilsen

Will Weaver

Very different approach needed in international ball - needs a much better grasp of strategy and the ability to integrate a group where many will come from different playing standards and styles.

Gleeson and Vickerman could be successful based on their NBL records - after all, Lemanis was very successful - but I'm not sure if Roth can step up that far.

I would be ok with any of those 3 as assistants paired with a top-level Euro coach. (Def not an NBA coach unless it’s one with FIBA ball experience.)

Gleeson or Vickerman

It should be a coach that is not club coaching. I'd be very happy for Lemanis to get the job again.

As would I, but I can't see BA agreeing to that

I don't think Roth would interested he goes back to the states every off season his family are still based there

It'll be Adam Caporn, he has the relationship with the NBA guys that BA will be after.

Doesn't Nielsen as well? That might also bring back Longley as assistant

Nielsen has never been a head coach, surely that rules him out.

Bret Brown

Not sure how to rate Gleeson - would he have any NBL Championships if not for Bryce Cotton? Vickerman has also had "loaded teams" so his success can at least partly be attributed to recruiting and budget. Roth has demonstrated the ability to get a bunch of "fringe" guys to buy into a culture of team first and no-one expects us to achieve anything.

Given how competitive Perth were in GF series without Cotton, I definitely think Gleeson could win without a Cotton.
What Gleeson needs is a whole team buy-in, just like Roth, which might be less easy with a group of NBA players.

Roth would have to be a shoe in for an assistant coach role as "attitudinal adjustments" coach for the new generation Boomers.

I don't understand the Xs and Os of the game, but even I can see that he has everyone on the same page. Vucona probably, too.

They have epitomised the championship-team-beats-the-team-of-champions theory (so far, anyway).

Gleeson can do it no problems, even more so now being an assistant in the nba. He would be great.

I agree with Swish, Roth naturally embodies the quintessence of the Boomers culture as a coach -
he doesn't accomodate individual demands or expectations above the team,
He has an outstanding ability to maximise an individuals' potential and utilise it to greatest effect for team success,
Has a great feel for the game in the moment and is therefore able to make pragmatic, necessary in-game adjustments.
He values culture, cooperation, and representing the fan base/club with integrity and consistency.

He's my number one preference.

The only downside as Baller pointed out, is that even if ge was offered the role, he'd most likely decline in order to spend his off season with his family in the states.

You summed him up well, Knockdown.

However, in Tassie he was generally working with under-achievers with a point to prove.

How would he go with our young NBA players, some of whom didn't seem to embrace the Aussie team-first ethos previous teams had under Lemanis and Brown?

Good point Hoopie, the Boomers are comprised of guys in a different career position to the members of the JJ'S

The only guy I can think of that would fit the description you gave though would be Giddey at the previous WC, when he over dribbled and kind of appeared to play for the flashy pass.
Besides that, who else didn't embrace the team-first ethos?

Not sure how to rate Gleeson - would he have any NBL Championships if not for Bryce Cotton?

It sounds like people are saying Roth would be a natural choice for the NZ National team coach.

They are built on culture and over achieving.

Boomers aren't a workhorse team anymore, it’s an NBA culture side now and whomever coaches will need to embrace that to a certain extent, not much point having polar opposites clashing.

Coaches like Gleeson and Nielsen are probably best prepared for that as assistants in the NBA whilst also having NBL and international basketball familiarity.

Gleeson with Roth as lead assistant.

Id give it to Gleeson with Nielsen as assistant

Roth would also be a great assistant if hes interested.

They worked well together in Perth.

There's your dynamic duo!!

As much as Gleeson, Roth or Vickerman might be the logical choices depending on your preference, the NBA players have already told BA they won't have any of those three as head coach. They want Caporn, and BA will give them what they want.

It makes sense, Goorjian was delegating to Caporn at the last World Cup.

BA should have gone with Caporn after what happened last year, I really don't understand them wasting an entire Olympic campaign on Goorjian.

If Goorj can get a healthy team together I think he'll be ok PW, Goorj has always been a quick learner.

I think Goorj's time is up during the 2021-22 season. I think his final season with the Hawks was when he retired. He has since had disappointing results in the EASL despite having a very good roster. Also, the process at the last Basketball World Cup was very bad. I wasn't disappointed by the bad results at the Basketball World Cup. Being eliminated quickly is not important. The content of the game was very bad. There were no timeouts at important moments, the team's defense was poor even with good defenders, and the offense showed a reliance on ISO.

Anyone will be an improvement over Goorj. He has set the program back 5 years. Leveraged the Lemanis structure to get the Bronze and let it fall apart after that. Time to make the hard decisions on coach and players. No baggage going forward.

Totally agree Patty and Aussie ^

Oh the tall poppy syndrome alive and well.

BigD has consistently said that Caporn will be the new Boomers coach because BA will give in to the NBA players.

I'm happy for him to get the chance ... for 2 years, anyway.

No one involved in the current set-up please.

Out of the current assistants sounds Caporn or Nielsen.

Would personally prefer Gleeson or Vickerman. Head Coaching a team different to being an nba assistant.

Agree, Basket. However, if it's true that our NBA youngsters only want Caporn, then obviously they think he can make the jump and are happy to stake their reputations and our nation’s performance on this.

It’s probably a safer choice to let the players choose someone they can work with than leaving it to BA to spend time and money intelligently to get the best possible coach for the Boomers (or the Opals, for that matter).

I don't like it, BA need to put their foot down (which they won't).

Boohoohoo if entitled NBA players aren't in favour of an enforcer type coach such as Gleeson, it shouldn't be up to them. Simmons has already fucked things up enough.

100% PW. Gleeson and Roth ultimate duo.

I like the idea of going Gleeson first and if that burns out with him then going to Roth as the ultimate long term option. But Roth being based here may be favoured as opposed to Gleeson being in Japan.

Question - should the boomers gig be full time?

There's enough fiba asia cup and World Cup qualifying games/tournaments.

I don't think it's warranted, I think Lemanis was the only F/T one. I suppose Goorjian effectively was the past 12 months with no club team.

I like the idea of giving guys like Vickerman, Kelly and Bevo opportunities for the FIBA qualifier windows. F/T is just overkill plus would cost BA a pretty penny too given the coach wouldn't be able coach a club team somewhere.

The issue I have with Gleeson is that his chosen teams on espn Aus include Kay at pf for both Tokyo and Paris Olympics. That scares me...

The team he chose for Paris.

Mills
Cotton
Goulding
Exum
Green
Daniels
Giddey
Ingles
Cooks
Kay
Simmons
Landale

With Simmons out , he went with Reath.


Id lean towards Roth….

The Cotton inclusion too was stupid given he's not even eligible to play for Australia. One-eyed pig headedness like that from Gleeson makes me think if he got the job he might not keep it all that long. Despite all his success in the NBL he's always given off Brendan Joyce me-against-everyone type vibes.

Tbf, he thought cotton would get citizenship in 2024.
Recently he said mcveigh without cotton.


So his squad for paris would be...

Mills
Goulding
Exum
Green
Daniels
Giddey
Mcveigh
Ingles
Cooks
Kay
Reath
Landale

Is Lemanis completely out of consideration?

When he was Boomers' coach he was bagged by most pundits. As we all know he was replaced by GoorjianNow everyone (here) is claiming that Lemanis was really the one who set us up to our current position in world b/ball. Now that Goorj has vacated the job, why, then, are we not talking about getting him (Lemanis) back?

Any thoughts?

"he was replaced by GoorjianNow everyone..." should have been, "he was replaced by Goorjian. Now everyone...". (reads quite differently)

It would be too embarrassing for BA to ask him, and he wouldn't want anything to do with the fools who shunted him because Ben and Jonah didn’t like his style.

I don't remember bagging Lemanis, who had us playing some of the most scintillating basketball in recent memory

I didn't bag him either, he’s a fine coach, but the only see scorers and nba tragic supporters certainly did. I’ll die remembering that dodgy foul called on Bogut, cost us minimum silver.

I did a lot of us did at the time when he ran the main guys into the ground, somewhat understandably, in the 2019 WC 2OT SF loss against Spain which combined with the heartbreak of losing that game lead to us having nothing left in the tank against France in the bronze medal game and from memory I think they blew us out of the water early and we were never in it after that.

There were also a lot of questions over some of his selections especially his Bullets players like Gliddon and Sobey as a back up PG.

It's a bit revisionist now for 'us' to claim how much better it all was under Lemanis when he copped a lot of criticism at the time, again somewhat justified, which ultimately lead to him being fired and replaced by the returning Goorjian.

Goorjian may have then lead us to our first medal in Tokyo in 2021, how much credit he deserves how much was just inheriting the good work Lemanis had done is up for debate, but since then at the 2023 WC Goorj got exposed with poor coaching and poor selections.

I think you will find that many on this forum were supportive of Lemanis.

I certainly was and believe that we would be in much better shape if he continued.

Not that many posts were.

https://www.hoops.com.au/forum/46360-brown-to-coach-boomers-at-the-olympics/

"nothing left in the tank against France in the bronze medal game and from memory I think they blew us out of the water early and we were never in it after that."

We blew them out early, led by about 15 but ran out of legs and couldn't hold off their charge.

Okay I couldn't remember how it came about just that fatigue played a big factor.