The 5 cuts were pretty obvious in terms of raw ability but surprised Rocco didn't make it to camp for the experience.

Also - no point at all naming a squad of 22 if only 17 actually are gonna participate in camp. Just name 17 next time

Out

Mcdowell-White
Furphy
Pinder
Froling
Zikarsky

Final cuts will be made week before Olympics to avoid what happened with the Landale injury

Most of those cuts fairly expected. Froling and Pinder both a little unlucky but I know you can't have too many bigs. A little surprised they took DJV over WMW. Can’t wait to see what the final 12 looks like, and what sort of NBL representation there is. Also baffles me the amount of people on social media asking about Simmons, surely they know he’s injured?

Correct players cut, Froling and Pinder are not Olympic level. Travers is still the shock non selection for me.

Travers massively overrated imo.
Who would you put him above in this squad?

Travers offers no skill that isn't already covered by our current NBA wings, Pinder and Froling at least address one of our deficits in inside scoring

The 22-man roster was meaningless. They may have already completed their 12-man roster.

Correct the team is already at 14. These cuts made today were advised 2 weeks ago to the players concerned.

Dellevedova / Giddey
Mills / Green / Daniels
Exum / Mcveigh
Cooks / Thybulle
Landale / Reath / Magnay

S5 TBD


Reserves
Vasiljevic - probably not gonna happen until mills retires.
Goulding - 0 time at WC, we had high scores at WC but super poor d.
Ingles - thought he was well past it last tournament, old, slow, wasn't interested in d and too much screwin around. Head wasn’t right, nor his body.
White - tough call to make between Jack and matisse after abysmal WC from matisse.
Kay - proven performer vs Asian teams not against elite North America or euro teams, was a liability at the WC.

That line up at the 3 is going to get murdered internationally. Not to mention the 4 also

White for Thybulle for me, just as good defensively and better offensively. I have questions on McVeigh at that level as well, though he was fantastic in the German league at last season end.

Agree with your selection Weedy except for 1. Can't see Mcviegh getting the nod ahead of Ingles, had some good games in NBA this season and as a bench player think Goorg will go with experience

The nba has much more space. Fiba is alot different.

Before last season I'd never imagine in a million years McVeigh had a shot, but I think he has a real chance - unconventional scorer who can put it in the hoop from inside and out, I think he might actually be really good in this format. Not sure that he'll make it, but I won't be overly shocked if he does.

Far better defenders at the FIBA level in the paint than the NBL

Dellevedova / Giddey
Mills / Green / Daniels
Exum / Mcveigh
Cooks / Thybulle
Landale / Reath / Magnay

There is no possibility of Giddey playing from the bench.
I don't know if Delly will be selected, and if he is, Daniels will not be selected.
Patty is no longer a starter.

Surely not Delly, jingles, Goulding. Of the old guard really only Patty should be on the team and from the bench. The last time we lost Landale the team really struggled. Would have expected at least one of Zikarsky and Pinder to make the final list.

Excited to see how Reath goes. Likewise Exum.

Giddey/Exum/Daniels
Green/Mills
Thybulle/Ingles
Landale/Cooks/(White or Kay)
Reath/Magnay

I still think start Mills because the starting 5 looks a bit weird and lacking the lethal scoring

Josh Giddey / Patty Mills
Dante Exum / DJV / Dyson Daniels
Josh Green / Ingles / Matisse Thybulle
White / Xavier Cooks
Jock Landale / Duop Reath


That's my 12 Im taking to Paris

Id guess this is Patty and Joe's last event. Thats why Ive got DJV and White coming in. Cant lose Mills , Ingles, Kay and Goulding all at the same time. There needs to be transition to avoid what happened to Smyth.

I like Patty's team the most, but with White in for McVeigh and keeping Thybulle as a 3. We MUST take 5 strong bigs, and White is more powerful than McVeigh.

Shooting is an issue, but DJV isn’t the solution as he cannot defend.

Hoopie, I think that's Weedy's team. I like it too.

DJV is not making this team

For those thinking that Giddey should come off the bench, I'm curious what your reasoning is?

To pair one bad defender with a good one in the backcourt.

Kane Pitmans team

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


Andrew Boguts team

Mills
Goulding
Exum
Green
Thybulle
Daniels
Giddey
Ingles
Kay
Reath
Landale
Zikarsky

There needs to be transition to avoid what happened to Smyth.

"To pair one bad defender with a good one in the backcourt."

Ok, because you want to start Mills yes? So that means you start Delly and prefer Exum as your starting three?

I see your reasoning, but I have a hard time leaving Giddey and Green out of the starting lineup!

Its a hard group to lock in a starting lineup IMO because our best offensive players that you want to build a lineup around have flaws - Patty is old and defensively exploitable, but Giddey is also poor defensively and not a great outside shooter.

To a degree it might just come down to who we are matched up against. Goorjan might need to be willing to adjust our starters and rotations depending on our opponent in this tournament.

Big)

Giddey / Exum / Daniels
Green / Mills / Goulding or DJV
Thybulle / Ingles
Reath / White or Cooks
Landale / Magnay

Small)

Giddey / Exum
Green / Mills / Daniels or Goulding or DJV
Thybulle / Ingles
White / Cooks
Landale / Reath / Magnay

My Boomers team would be

Landale/Magnay
Reath/Cooks/McVeigh
Green/Thybulle/Ingles
Exum/Mills
Goddey/Daniels

Matthew Dellavedova isn't featuring in anyone's pick. The only reason I would leave him out is if he was playing 'his age', like he is past his prime etc, ala Mills, really.
But the way he played out the '24 season convinced me that he is well and truly over his injuries, playing at the PG and SG at an incredibly high standard, defends like crazy, is as experienced as anyone in our available line-up and bleeds green and gold. His mindset is probably as important as his physical presence on the team and the court.

Who does he replace? One of the following:

Goulding. Only offers shooting. When he's hot, he's sizzling, when he's not he's a liability.
DJV. Only offers shooting. IMO very overrated. Not known for his handles or defense either.
Daniels. Only cos I know next to nothing 'bout him except for occasionally on here.

So, I'm looking at:

Giddey / Exum
Green / Mills / Delly
Thybulle / Ingles
White / Cooks
Landale / Reath / Magnay

The reason I excluded Delly is because of his playing time.
If he needs to play 20 minutes, Delly might be a good choice. However, the time you can give at that location is at most 5 to 10 minutes.
We need someone who is more valuable when playing for a short period of time. Daniels is taller than Delly and is a better defender. And Goulding is a better 3-point shooter than Delly.

My early prediction is this team ain't medalling.
Some meh nba players who can help team depth but not the scoring edge and attitude of younger mills, ingles.

Agreed, we look awful no matter how you slice it.

The last time I heard Goorj speak about the team composition
He said that outside of the NBA guys, he wanted at least one in form defensive specialist.
So basically when he was asked about a pinch hitting scorer like Goulding to ride the end of the bench he basically said Magnay (without naming him) would be more useful.

Agreed, I don't see a medal in this team, glory days over.

I am going to ride every play for the Boomers - always do. But when you look at the squad France has named especially it's just a night and day difference. You cant medal with NBA role players anymore. If your guys arent getting significant NBA minutes they're not going to do much of anything. I want this team to play with Aussie spirit and somehow defy the odds but that doesn't mean we should deny the odds. And odds are as far as I see, we have our work cut out to make the top 8, and then should we make it that far we may very well get steamrolled by USA, France or Serbia.

This team needs one of the following to medal:

a) an experienced but solid core of 3-4 NBA guys who know neachother and know their roles and are under 33 (ala Mills, Ingles, Baynes, Bogut of the past)

b) a similar amount of NBA stars averaging high numbers in the league that are young but can out-talent and out-hustle other teams (we have maybe one in Giddey)

c) or at least one NBA All Star level player that elevates the players around them (think a Giannis or Doncic).

And really your last resort is ...

D) Have insane size at all positions such that you negate physical athleticism, pack the paint and make life hell for opposition.


The Boomers dont have any of these things. We are a middling team this year. I think Goorj is banking on us out hustling teams but realistically we dont have the horses for a medal run. I want to be wrong but I'd doubt it.

Im predicting 6th-10th.

Big Names don't guarantee wins, Germany won the WC....
Look at what latvia did with a bunch of no names.

Germany had a high quality side of nba players and euro league players.

I'm not so concerned about the lack of starter level NBA players, but the lack of structure this team has had at the offensive end under Goorj. We need chemistry, team balance and some sort of offensive system.

I'm also one of the few trying to find a way to fit Delly into the team. Based on his NBL 2023-2024 form, he is a completely different player to the last Olympics. Giddey has to step up for the Boomers, particularly with his intensity. By comparison, Delly plays at 100% all the time.

We've had previous tournaments where our squad on paper wasn’t great but someone stepped up and we were competitive, so I’m not all gloom and doom at this stage.

However, as others have said, there doesn’t seem to be the structure or strong coaching or team ethic to overcome our shortcomings this time round.

I hope to be wrong but I can’t see us making the top 8.

Completely disagree on the idea that you need "star" NBA players to have a chance. That notion died in 2008.

Look at the USA in the world cup.

Look at Serbia, who didn't have Jokic, Micic and other top line players. The only 2 NBA players on their world cup squad were Nikola
Jovic who is an NBA bench warmer, and Bogdanovic who is a great player but nothing near a star.

Germany was lead by Schroder and the Wagner brothers who are average NBA players.

Latvia missing Porzingis and others, Lithuania beat the US with only Valanciunas.

Hell, we even lost to Brazil in the warmup games! That it itself is proof that NBA talent is nowhere near the deciding factor in FIBA.

I'm not saying we're favourites to medal anything, but I agree with rjd, we lack the coaching and chemistry of previous campaigns that is more important than raw talent. On paper, in terms of raw talent, this may be one of Australia's most "talented" teams ever. Most NBA players in our country's history. Our problems are not based around talent.

There is no way Mills should be starting. That would as much a hinderance a Goorj's poor coaching will be. it is time to mske some tough decisions for our future. No DJV, limited minutes for Ingles, Kay and Mills. Get ouer future on the court.

Unfortunately we've always had equalising factors in a great offensive and defensive system, and perhaps the best chemistry of any teams at some tournaments.

But now Goorj seems to want to embrace this "run and gun" style, where he has explicitly said that half-court actions and plays are not a priority. That style will only make Mills, Ingles, Goulding, Landale, Kay, Reath Dellavedova, McVeigh, Magnay worse, damn near half the squad.

Could you imagine Giddey in Lemanis' system picking apart teams out of actions and finding Patty? Instead Goorj wants to mold him into our go-to scorer which was shown to not be conducive to winning basketball at the World Cup.

If we get out of the group I'd be happy tbh

I'm not convinced on your opinion on the Wagner brothers and Schroder, far from average imo. That team had system at both ends and were stacked with good players. In all that the US are unbeatable at this Olympics just on size and athleticism.

Dunno about Moritz, but no way Franz is 'average'

Well said MaxM. Giddey would have thrived in a Lemanis system.

Great team play was our best hope as it's the real strength of Aussie basketball.

Sadly Goorg has had his success having better cattle than the others. We certainly don't have that.

Well said MaxM. Giddey would have thrived in a Lemanis system.

Great team play was our best hope as it's the real strength of Aussie basketball.

Sadly Goorg has had his success having better cattle than the others. We certainly don't have that.

If people read my comment theyd see I didnt say you need top NBA talent, I said you need top NBA talent "or" a range of other aspects to get it done. of the list I gave we currently have none.

And I don;t trust Goorjian to coach this team. The bronze we won had Lemanis fingerprints all over it. Goorj even said he sat back and let the leadership team run the show. He didn't change what they were already doing. But in 2023 when he had full reigns and chose entirely his team and his sets, the team absolutely sucked let's be honest.

I just don't remember Lemanis ever let one player be burned the way Kay was against Schroder and I dont recall him ever giving up a 15 point lead without calling a time out. The team also seemed completely hapless on the defensive end and I think we're set to make the same mistake again by not bringing enough big men.

If we dropped Lemanis just in the hope that Simmons would play we need to rethink that whole process. Lemanis created a system of consistent success and we should already have two bronze medals under him if not for some poor calls. Basketball Australia should forget about Ben Simmons when they make decisions from now on. If a decision should be made for the team and the only objection is "oh no, Ben wont like that!" we should not let that stop us.

But of the list I gave the only hope we have of getting past our pool and doing anything in this tournament is playing above the sum of our parts. Everyone is so quick to want to minimize the roles of Mills and Ingles but a 'turn back the clock' performance from both or either is our best shot. We have a lot of same-same type wing players and guards who offer little in creation and interchangeable and it's questionable how much we need all three of Dyson Daniels, Mattisse Thybulle and Josh Green on the same team. It's clear to me we need another inside option in Magnay but I can see myself being voted down there. While you might not play Landale and Reath at the same time, you surely could play Magnay and Reath. I may be wrong about this team and they may end up a whole lot better than we expect but it would take a night and day difference to what we saw at the Cup.

I like your summary, ME. All valid points.

As for "If we dropped Lemanis ...", there was no “if” about it. I think it came out of the camps that Simmons and Bolden felt they weren't given enough recognition and were being forced to fit into Lemanis’ team-based system. BA caved in to them and took the easy option to get rid of Lemanis and bet the farm on Simmons (mainly).
Did any heads roll as a result of that stupid decision? I doubt it.

Agreed with both above.

Ditto.

The funny thing is Ben may not even be an NBA player by the 2027 Cup, and at that point will be 31 years old. Yeah, not old, but possibly already past his prime. At most he has one Olympic cycle left and we've sacrificed so much to give him a shot.

Let's play devil's advocate and assume Ben ever has any real desire to play for the Boomers - by him taking it for granted in 2016, 2019 and 2021, he's basically signed away whatever chance he had. The takeaway for him should be, you dont know the future. if you're fit and healthy, PLAY NOW. You're not guaranteed an Olympics. And it looks like fate, or his own choices, will conspire against any dream he may have had of that.

And meanwhile no headway was ever made on that jump shot. He would have done his game more help playing high level basketball in the off season. But this and all of his other behaviour is why it's hard not to see Ben as a massive joke.

Either way I think the sooner we move away from Goorjian the better. I'd take Scott Roth or Trevor Gleeson first.

Further one Lemanis, I think the common issue was "he can get you to the medal game, but cant get you a medal"

My issue with this take is is that no one else ever got us to medal games asconsistently. And if we're real with ourselves, the 2016 Bronze medal was stolen from us and we'd have won at least silver if not for a missed Patty Mills freethrow in 2019.

We too readily bite the hand that feeds us.

No one could point to anything Lemanis ever actually did. It was always "oh we didnt medal". I can point to blatantly obvious mistakes Goorjian has made, especially in game.

And by the way not bringing another big to those Melbourne games when Landale went down was a huge mistake and one I think will be made again.

I think Lemanis is the best coach we ever had and much of the depth we had in that time in all of our Boomers A, B, C and D teams was due to a style of play and philosophy that he built from the ground up. I don't see that from Goorjian. I can only see a whole lot of excuses for why we will suck again this year that he'll pretend had nothing to do with him.

Ie, we need shooting right now, we brought Chris Goulding as a shooter, thats his whole-ass role. We been rabbitting on about it for months. Let's NOT use him.

And look whether or not youre a Goulding fan or not, you have to put the blame on Goorj for choosing him, then needing his skill set, and then deciding not to use him.

Sorry I think Goorj is cooked and I dont think much of any stint he's had as Boomers head coach.

Who were the actual decision-makers in getting rid of Lemanis? Do we have any names? I know BA has a history of bad decisions, particularly in organisational matters, but the Lemanis axing took the cake.

As others have said, Goorj rode the end of the Lemanis wave with the bronze, which was, let's face it, a lucky draw for us. Goorjian will be in his 3rd major this time, so he has no excuses. This is when we should be benefiting from coaching stability and players knowing the system well. The problem is, what system?

I loved Lemanis but having Bogut as your centre is a massive up size, even if he's a bit of a tosser. Injury hurt Bogut big time, he was so dominant when young and got the number one pick because he earned it, unlike Symons who connections all the way through.

It doesn't help that the main commentators are Goorjian acolytes - Olgun (or at least indirectly via his Giddey boosting), Santamaria, Anstey, Hooley et al. There’s no one out there that will call out the decline in standards and system that we are observing. I mean the protection racket this guy was running after the Germany debacle was embarrassing.

I think it might be a little more nuanced than that. As bad as Goorjian's selections/non-selections/coaching was at last year's WC with the Olympics only 12 months later and no time for a new coach to get their feet under the desk and implement things along with this likely being the last tournament for Mills, Ingles and Goulding, assuming he's picked, you might as well just ride it out with Goorj and start fresh next year with the new coach, as is happening. The commentators have got to back him in, there's no alternative.

But I agree Goorj seriously got caught out at the WC and looked well past it but he looked well past it a few years ago in the NBL coaching the Hawks losing that SF series to a Bryce Cotton-less Wildcats despite winning the opening game in Perth. It was typical Goorj snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Good luck Kings fans.

Hearing great things about Jack McVeigh so far in Boomers camp, apparently propelled himself into genuine contention for selection.

Camp is apparently the most competitive its been for years.

Yes, Goorj and the media seem to be conditioning us to the idea that McVeigh will be on the team and given the different ways (and how heavily) he is scoring against a squad hell bent on defense he may actually get meaningful minutes. First things first though, let's see how he goes on Tuesday and Thursday. But, with the big guns around him, it is hard to see him not continuing to impress. Who misses then is the big question if this happens?

Its easy to fit McVeigh in for me

McVeigh and Landale in replacing Goulding and Kay

That gives us

Landale/Reath
Cooks/White/McVeigh
Green/Thybulle/Ingles
Exum/Mills
Giddey/Daniels

I'm fairly certain Jack White will miss, he wouldn't have played world cup is Landale was healthy. Coming off a very average year in the G-League. Kay/Cooks still ahead of him and now maybe McVeigh as well

I'm fairly certain Jack White will miss, he wouldn't have played world cup is Landale was healthy. Coming off a very average year in the G-League. Kay/Cooks still ahead of him and now maybe McVeigh as well

"If the team was picked today, I think Jack McVeigh makes it" - Olgun Uluc

McVeigh brings a point of difference to other players who make be more athletic at the same position but dont offer the same shooting or persistent energy. I could see one of Goulding/Daniels losing a spot to him.

I'd prefer white over Kay. But neither should make it.