Notable omissions thybulle, cooks, CG43

No Thybulle or Cooks.
Our D gonna suck.

No Thybulle a real surprise

Possible injury to Thybulle? That we don't know about.

Happy for McVeigh though deserves the opportunity

Giddey - Dellevedova
Exum - Mills - Daniels
Green - Mcveigh - Ingles
Reath - Kay
Landale - Magnay

Not selected
Vasiljevic
Goulding
Thybulle
White
Cooks

If gday Matisse is injured fair enough, if not why is nick Kay there?

Injury to Thybulle seems very unlikely, Bogut didn't mention anything of the sort in his reaction.

Hahahaha can't wait to see our horrendous shooting on full display as we fail to get out of the group stage

Thybulle could have played pf role.
3 of Kay's good mates are on the coaching staff, probably why he was selected.

I hate Cooks as a Perth fan lol but he seemed so dynamic in his minutes in the warmup games.

Maybe since Goulding wasn't picked, needed the extra shooting in Kay? Strange

Yeah weedy that's how it works.
Al Westover is really close mates with goorj, he should have tried out he would be in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWNEANFhXFs

Thybulle was a liability at the world cup, surprising omission but not a terrible one. Can have his absence covered by Green/Daniels.

Cooks the surprising one for me, none of the other forwards have his skillset.

Compared to the team I suggested Daniels & Kay in for Thybulle & Cooks. Not sure what the fascination is with Daniels really but I have to give credit to Goorj making the tough call on Cooks given he just signed him at the Kings. Bit of a shame for Goulding but was always threatened by McVeigh's inclusion.

Bogut just said cooks was better than Kay in camp.

I think they've put a higher premium on shooting. Must have. Decided not to take Goulding thus can't have Cooks and Thybulle I suppose

As hard as it is Mills should be cut

lol, the first kings meeting will be good, hey Goorj why did I miss out, um, Kay was mates with the other coaches.
The old guard has served us well, it's probably not going to get us a medal but good luck to them.
Cotton my Cotton, where are you.
On what we’ve seen of recent form, a few lucky players in there.

Who are the selectors?

The coaches

Goorj, Nielsen, Caporn, Patrick, Chance

Again, camp and warm-up games do not factor into the player selection process. We lost the Boomers' best defender.

To be fair Kay did outplay Cooks in these two games even though I had Cooks in and Kay missing out. Tough call but understandable given how poor a shooter as Cooks is. The real head scratcher for mine is Daniels over Thybulle.

Kay was given a lot more opportunity in the warm up games. I'm happy for Daniel’s, he’ll be very useful trying to guard the elite point guards.

At the 1 we have Giddey, Exum and Delly.
That puts Mills at the 2 as a primary shooter.
On the basis of these past two games (and the respective previous season for each), I would've gone with CG over Mills.

Kay over Cooks is also highly questionalbe, especially considering the apparent "running, push the ball" game plan that Goorj is expected to play.

Can't wait to see Kay isolated on switches a destroyed again!
Anyone of White, Cooks or Thyybulle a better choice.

The next campaign will be interesting with inevitable changing of the guard

There is no way Kay should be in over Cooks.

Even Magnay over Cooks doesn't sit well with me.

My guess is Goorj is going to start Reath and Landale together.

My final list that I wrote after thinking about it a few hours ago.

Giddey / Exum / Delly
Green / Mills
Thybulle / McVeigh / Ingles
Reath / Kay
Landale / Magnay

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Confirmed final list

Giddey / Exum / Delly
Green / Mills
Daniels / McVeigh / Ingles
Reath / Kay
Landale / Magnay

Watching the games against China, one thing I took away was our older players lack of leg speed. Mills getting blown by off the dribble was not good to see. Other thing I saw was McVeigh had plenty of time and space against China. That is not going to be the case in Paris against tougher opposition, he is not the fastest player going around, hope it doesn't become a factor. If any decisions are made based on playing China, they may prove to be the wrong decisions when winning so easily as you get so many false readings and stats.

"camp and warmup games do not factor in the player selection process"

Literally the main reasons why Jack McVeigh has earned selection

Kind of gone under the radar, but Delly's comeback story is ridiculous.

And McVeigh was ice cold last night. But I saw his inclusion as really at the expense of Goulding and given the big size difference and Goulding's advanced age I think picking McVeigh was the right call.

So from last year's WC team it's

In: Landale, Delly, McVeigh, Magnay

Out: Cooks, Thybulle, Goulding, White

Hard not to see those four inclusions as an upgrade, of course Patty and Ingles have declined further though.

He is the only player selected in camp and warm-up games.

Respect to Goorj for cutting Cooks tbh, that takes some serious balls when you know you're locked in together for the next 3 years lol.

At least if we need to tank a game we can disguise it better. Throwing Delly in with 6 seconds to go for a quick pass to the opposition.

Delly's inclusion makes the least sense. Dante, Josh, Patty, Tyson and jingles can all carry the rock. I just can’t see where we need him more than a Cooks / Thybulle / CG43.

Thybulle lost minutes at the World Cup last year. Went from a starter to less than 10 minutes per game.

People also say that Thybulle could slot into the 4 spot.

Well at the World Cup he got a huge total 3 rebounds total across 5 games and 2.8 ppg, and when he did actually shoot the ball it wasn't great. That is 70 minutes for 3 rebounds.

Xavier Cooks was the leading rebounder. Just a very poor free throw shooter and no outside game. His one outstanding game was against Japan, and he didnt play that much against the Euro teams.

Surprised that Magnay got selected over him though. Magnay might be happier to sit at the end of the bench or a better matchup against the bigger euro teams, and an emergency 5 spot. Magnay still has to get through the warm up games without getting injured, so Cooks should stay ready.

In a vacuum I take Cooks over Kay every time given the type of squad we have and emphasis on defense, but from a balance perspective I get it given Kay's ability to shoot. When we go up against better guards than China (ie. every single game going forward) however, and Kay ends up on a smaller player on the perimeter...

I'm more surprised about CG43, as I'm not confident at all about our ability to hit the 3 ball. Even if he doesn't play much, he's a good ace to have up your sleeve.

Daniels over Thybulle is also a surprise, although Daniels showed more confidence last night as the game went on, and the two of them basically play an identical role, so you can't take both.

Ingles included over Thybulle??? It must be for when we want to play slow half-court sets, or a last-minute stall, or if we need someone to get into the head of an opposition superstar. SMH

I'll be behind them all the way, as a true Aussie, but ... now I’m REALLY nervous about our chances!

If Thybulle isn't injured then that’s dumb. Yes he had a bad WC but he had a great Olympics and he’s an xfactor. They needed to back him to make the difference.

Shocked at Cooks out! Kay getting reward for all those qualifier reps?

I’m cynical about this team, the puzzle pieces don’t fit all that great.

Fingers crossed they suddenly look amazing

Since the matches against Finland, Japan, and Georgia in the last World Cup were meaningless, I brought in the match records of Germany and Slovenia.

Boomers vs Germany

Thybulle - 17:36 / 2 PTS (2PT 1/1) / 2 PF / +4

Green - 16:33 / 6 PTS (2PT 0/2 , 3PT 2/3) / 1 REB / 1 PF / -6

Cooks - 20:59 / 9 PTS (2PT 3/3 , FT 3/6) / 5 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL / 2 BLK / 1 PF / + 12

Kay - 25:35 / 5 PTS (2PT 1/3 , 3PT 1/3) / 3 REB / 3 AST / 1 STL / 3 PF / 2 TOV / -12

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

vs Slovenia

Thybulle - 13:56 / 6 PTS (3PT 2/4) / 2 PF / +0

Green - 23:50 / 8 PTS (2PT 1/3 , 3PT 0/2 , FT 6/7) / 1 REB / 1 AST / 1STL / 2 PF / -14

Cooks - 13:19 / 2 PTS (2PT 1/1) / 1 REB / 1 STL / 4 PF / -9

Kay - 25:45 / 3 PTS (2PT 1/1 , 3PT 0/1 , FT 1/2) / 7 REB / 3 AST / 1 BLK / 1 PF / 1 TOV / +2

Probably not the team anyone predicted but I can see the sense in dropping Thybulle - his skillset is covered and we cant bring every athletic wing who cant shoot in the world. Cooks definitely could have had an impact on the team but they've decided to go for more of a 'role player' who make the right cut in Kay, probably imaginign that your main usage guys inside are Reath and Landale and maybe that Kay will feed off of some boards and cuts. Im not angry about Delly being back at all. I think he well and truly earned this shot. I think we all can agree that Giddey needs help and Daniels/Exum aren't really 'true' point guards in the way Delly is. I also see Delly as something of an insurance policy for Patty who has stank it up so far.

Magnay as a third big is a no brainer for me. Big, athletic, gutsy, protects the rim. There's nothing else he needs to do.

Nice summary @ ME. It's very hard to please everyone and balance squads. Goorj not taking Cook was gutsy though, but Cooks inability to shoot any sort jumper probably cost him.

Spot on ME.

Can't wait to watch Nick Kay have to try guard Giannis when we play Greece

"Can't wait to watch Nick Kay have to try guard Giannis when we play Greece"

LOL people always make these comparisons. I doubt Goorj is planning to sit Kay on Giannis 1 on 1 and expecting Kay to shut him down. realistically who could you put on him? Not even Thybulle. That would be a full team effort and stating it like that hopefully is just a joke on your part and not what you actually think.

I think the Boomers will be trying to deny Giannis the ball mostly, or playing at a pace that doesn't allow him to flourish. I don't think anyone has any want to play Kay directly on Giannis. More likely they'd have Landale and Magnay playing in the post and hopefully attempt to mitigate his effect with that.

Giannis struggled in the last fiba tournament because you can clog up the key, no easy driving lanes, though if Kay does need to mark him we will be hoping he turns into Cooks.

Yeah was just making a joke but Kay is still probably the primary matchup we'd go with, plus a wall behind him. Food for thought.

NBA skill doesnt always translate to the FIBA game and Antentempkoumpo could well be an example of that. Greece didnt exactly do well last time around.

Thybulle's defensive ability is really underestimated here. He is one of the best defenders in the world.

Doncic, one of the best players in the world at the 2023 World Cup, scored 19 points against the Boomers. But the surprising thing here is that when Thybulle defended Doncic, he scored 0 points.
Let me explain who Thybulle's teammates were when he came out on the floor.

Exum - Mills - Thybulle - Ingles - Kay
Giddey - Exum - Thybulle - Ingles - Kay
Exum - Green - Thybulle - Ingles - Kay
Exum - Mills - Thybulle - Ingles - Cooks

And we will show you the 2021 Olympic lineup.

Mills - Thybulle - Ingles - Kay - Landale
Exum - Mills - Thybulle - Kay - Landale
Mills - Goulding - Thybulle - Kay - Landale
Mills - Goulding - Thybulle - Ingles - Landale
Mills - Goulding - Thybulle - Inlges - Kay
Exum - Goulding - Thybulle - Ingles - Kay
Delly - Goulding - Thybulle - Ingles - Kay
Mills - Sobey - Thybulle - Ingles - Landale
Mills - Sobey - Tybulle - Ingles - Kay

The difference between the 2021 Olympics and the 2023 World Cup is the presence of Landale. And during the 2023 World Cup, the team's defense deteriorated significantly because Ingles and Kay became extremely slow. A small lineup could be used in the 2021 Olympics, but the small lineup showed the worst results at the 2023 World Cup due to the slower speed of Ingles and Kay.
Moreover, Mills showed disappointing performance.

Do you know why Thybulle's rebound number is low? Because the post defense was poor, there was no opportunity to rebound.

The records shown are not everything. Did the stupid Boomers coaching staff know about this? If you know that, there is no way you would cut the best defender in the world.

The best defender in the world lolololol

Sebastian, name 5 people who you think are the best defenders in the world right now. Thybulle was not a player that attracted much attention in high school. Even when he was in college, he wasn't the best player on the team. He doesn't have any scoring ability, but he made it to the NBA because of his defensive prowess. If he's not one of the best defenders in the world, then which players are the best defenders in the world?

What has high school got to do with being the best defender in the world? You didn't claim he was one of the best defenders in the world, you claimed he was the best defender in the world. Your words not mine kind sir.

Yes, no matter what you think, he is the best defender in the NCAA and an NBA defensive team player.

He isn't in the NCAA. And, he wasn't named to the first or second all defensive teams last season. Next. He was however rated the highest defensive player at the last Olympics. But that is a long time ago now.

Regardless, hes the best defender in the squad, but they had to weigh that up against his deficits and decide whether we have enough firepower to compensate for his shortcomings, or if his skillset could be covered for in other ways. And they've come to their conclusion based on that.

Thybulle to me is an analogy of Goulding. Pretty strong at one particular thing but potentially too questionable at other things to trust out there.

We can trot out stats from 2021 but that is three years ago now. It wasn't replicated last year at the Cup and likely wasn't replicated in camp either or we'd be looking at a different result.

I am a Thybulle fan, and hope he continues to put his hand up but I can see why they might go a diofferent direction.

I am stoked for Delly, though, and think that the right call has been made bringing him in. I remember watching the absolute train wreck that was the world cup, abd seeing the lack of energy and urgency the team played with and thinking, "you know, I'd take an old ass over-the-hill Delly over half of these guys", and clearly goorjian has had the same thought. We know Delly was out of Goorjians initial projections and the fact he forced himself onto this team by sheer will says a lot about him.

Me, that was not the assertion by me Patty GOAT

Im glad they didnt trot out basically the same team as last time again. We needed big man insurance, we needed grit, and we needed shooting, but we needed shooting with an understanding that we cant be losing more points than we're scoring by hitting a Goulding 3, and then Goulding being burned for 4 in turn. Kay over Cooks is probably the one I am not entirely at home with yet. But not taking Goulding? Good. Not taking Thybulle? A tough but reasonable decision. Not taking Cooks? Remains to bhe seen but the reasoning behind it makes sense as far as having someone who can just eat off of whatever more dominant big men in Kay and Reath dish to him. I think we 'could' be looking at, potentially, a very good team that has addressed a lot of the short comings of the world cup team. But they've taken one bet - they've bet on Patty finding form again. If Patty doesn't find that form, they may as well have taken DJ Vaselivic. Right now he looks like a shadow of himself. Patty Mills is one guy who got through, and was always going to get through, on reputation. Does he have one more great tournament in him? He looks a bit lost of court. But if those shots DO start dropping then he's a big X factor.

Im glad they didnt trot out basically the same team as last time again. We needed big man insurance, we needed grit, and we needed shooting, but we needed shooting with an understanding that we cant be losing more points than we're scoring by hitting a Goulding 3, and then Goulding being burned for 4 in turn. Kay over Cooks is probably the one I am not entirely at home with yet. But not taking Goulding? Good. Not taking Thybulle? A tough but reasonable decision. Not taking Cooks? Remains to bhe seen but the reasoning behind it makes sense as far as having someone who can just eat off of whatever more dominant big men in Kay and Reath dish to him. I think we 'could' be looking at, potentially, a very good team that has addressed a lot of the short comings of the world cup team. But they've taken one bet - they've bet on Patty finding form again. If Patty doesn't find that form, they may as well have taken DJ Vaselivic. Right now he looks like a shadow of himself. Patty Mills is one guy who got through, and was always going to get through, on reputation. Does he have one more great tournament in him? He looks a bit lost of court. But if those shots DO start dropping then he's a big X factor.

ME, CG was always more of a viable alternative to Mills than DJV, otherwise I agree with all that you said.

Also on Thybulle - he is best off the ball getting deflections and steals. Helps initiate more offence.

But in terms of pure on the ball, shut down defence, Dyson Daniels is superior according to a few reputable sources. And that showed in the 2nd China, Dyson was great.

AussieHoopla - "12 months ago - Dante Exum was an NBA bust playing in Serbia, Delly wasn't invited to camp and looked cooked, Duop Reath seemed destined for the NBL, Green and Landale had injuries stifle their world cup. Magnay & McVeigh in green and gold would have gotten a laugh."

A great way of framing the rise of the team.

my personal opinion

Warm-up game Patty
Giddey / Exum / Delly
Green / McVeigh / Mills
Daniels / Ingles
Reath / Kay
Landale / Magnay

FIBA Patty
Giddey / Exum / Delly
Green / Mills
Daniels / McVeigh / Ingles
Reath / Kay
Landale / Magnay

Goorj lineup
Giddey / Delly
Mills / Exum
Green / McVeigh / Daniels
Kay / Ingles
Landale / Reath / Magnay

Just rewatched some of the World Cup game v Germany.

Thybulle was terrible. Terrible defence from the 1st minute. Fouled 3 point shooter, got wiped off a high post screen, right after it was already shown it was going to happen. Gave nothing on offence really, just stands in the corner.

He doesnt get any rebounds because he is allergic to the keyway. He just jogs away NBA style.

Some of the NBA guys are highly overrated. Green and Daniels are also rated much higher than they actually are.

Green goes on, and misreads defence off the ball and his player runs to the free throw like for an easy jumpshot score.

We need all players to be elite players and not just look like they are good at one part of the game.

Giddey was also terrible.

The guy diving on the ball and contesting everything was Kay. Jack White was in there as well.

Having said all that Germany shot the lights out, had all the friendly rolls and calls and only just won.

Yeah that game shows how tight it is among these teams and why I don't automatically cancel Boomers out of medal contention. We played a fairly average game against the eventual world Champions and really were a few assy Shroeder shots short of winning. The Slovenia game was a complete and utter capitulation but it pays to remember we were lacking really any inside presence. A team can have weaknesses but still end up a contender and I think at least the coaching staff have made a real attempt at addressing those issues. Cutting Thybulle and Cooks for Kay and Delly was brave. There's no two ways about that. I really dont think we'll know what this team is made of until game 1 of the Olympics.

I think the general criticisms of Delly's inclusion are unwarranted.
He's a world-class pick n guard and has two, potentially three bigs who can roll/and or pop, and he has a reliable floater.

He brings much needed genuine point guard leadership and distribution capabilities.

Bogut said that every team of Delly's won 90% of scrimmages at camp.

We know he will put in 100% effort on the defensive end.

He may only gey spot minutes, but every one of those will be played with total commitment

^pick n roll

Last year, when Landale was injured in the warm-up game, I said that we needed to bring in another big, but these days, small lineups are the trend and the USA also has small lineups, so I was ridiculed a lot and said that a big was not needed. However, a year later, at the Olympics, one more big man was selected to prepare for injuries.
And when I predicted the final roster for the Olympics, I succeeded in predicting all but one person. I excluded Daniels and included Thybulle.
I still think Thybulle should be included in the final roster, but I don't feel the same way as last year because I think Daniels is also a great defender.

However, there is something else that I think is most important in this Olympics. That means Mills must play the role of sixth man. I've been saying this since last year's World Cup warm-up game.
When we analyzed the warm-up game from last year to a few days ago, we know that there is no synergy between Giddey and Mills.
They don't fit well on either offense or defense. The team's defense is abysmal, especially when those two are on the floor together.
Just as goorj excluded the Boomers' best defender from the roster, he should bench the Boomers legend. If that doesn't happen, I can't root for goorj.

Think Exum will have a great tournament.

I said here during the WC the boomers should have a view to have Mills role as a gunner off the bench come Paris, and effectively taking Goulding's role

Green has been smooth a lot of the time, as it was during the WC, and the start SG role should be his.

Then during these warm ups, I'd be having Mills 'earn' his spot, particularly with him getting so little court time this year. He failed to do this with what.. 2/13 over these games?

To me this roster reflects the failure to keep him,and to a lesser e tent, Giddey accountable

I think all the borderline players have been dropped due to lack of shooting.. Kay over Cooks, Daniels over Thybulle

To me the selectors are anxious over Mills sh!tting the bed again, as well as Giddey being a poor shooter

I also suspect Delly was brought back due to Giddey not figuring out how to set up his teammates yet.

To me, the failure of these 2 has meant the rest of the roster is constructed to compensate

Nz missed out, not certain how as all teams went with one win.

It was widely assumed Thybulle would be on the plane to Paris because why wouldn't he be?

Sure, Thybulle was uncharacteristically quiet at the FIBA World Cup but you only have to look back to the Tokyo Games to see how lethal he can be on the defensive end, teaming up with Dante Exum to help lock down Luka Doncic in Australia’s bronze medal win.

There is an argument to be made that the Boomers already have athletic, defensive-minded wings in Josh Green and Dyson Daniels so to some extent there is too much of a crossover in skills, especially when you consider how important shooting is in contrast in FIBA games.

But Thybulle had improved as a 3-point shooter in his past season at Portland and given the Boomers seemingly want to play a fast-paced, up-tempo offence at Paris, you would think getting stops on the defensive end will be important to realising that goal.

A guy like Thybulle will do just that. Even if you account for the shooting concerns, Thybulle is also further along in that regard than Daniels.

Although given Daniels is considered a key part of the Boomers’ long-term plans, maybe it was a case of sacrificing some shooting to give the 21-year-old an opportunity to grow with an eye to future tournaments.

CAN THE BOOMERS AFFORD TO STAY PATTY?

Bogut though was more firm in the fact that Patty Mills needs to come off the bench at this year's Olympics.

Mills will go down in history for his 42-point heroics in the bronze medal game against Slovenia, but at this stage it is hard to see him replicating that sort of production at this year’s Games.

The veteran guard went 1-for-11 from the field in a worrying warm-up game against China on Thursday and also struggled to get his shots falling at last year’s World Cup.

Considering Mills’ shooting is easily his biggest value add to this team, the Boomers better hope he finds his shot. Otherwise, he is another guy who could be reduced to limited minutes off the bench.

"I think if you’re starting Giddey, I don’t think you start Patty," Bogut said.

“I think Giddey’s journey, his career’s going up, but he’s not there yet defensively. He probably needs some work on that end, and he knows that.

“Patty’s not a great defender. So I don’t think you can start both of those two. I think we saw that at the World Cup, I just don’t think you can start those two and play them mass minutes together.”

Bogut said he would prefer to see Mills come off the bench in a “gunning role” but also questioned how effective that will be if the 35-year-old can’t find his shooting rhythm.

“It’s just looked forced and clunky at times trying to find it,” Bogut added.

“He had a similar lead-up in the last Olympic and World Cup year... and then he popped up and had at least a great Olympics. But that is a concern.”

Andrew Jackson from Fox Sports

Shane Heal : Congrats to all of the Boomers who made the final team. Go and do us all proud. I'm shocked that Thybulle was cut tho. I thought he was a critical piece to their defensive needs

I am impressed by the selections made in this team, although I remain pessimistic about our chances due to the coaching. I would prefer to see a team selected long ago and use these practice games for actually practicing plays, developing chemistry.

I'm happy to see Delly in. I see him as more valuable than Giddey in FIBA, given the way Giddey plays. Giddey is the better player, but he needs to be put in his place to get minutes. Play with intensity, play within the offense. I hope we have someone tough enough in the coaching staff to get the most out of Giddey in the FIBA game.

Thybulle is a big surprise for me. Leaving out one of the best defenders in the world. While I am fine with him typically receiving less minutes in some lineups given his poor shooting form, his ability to come in as a specialist defender against a star guard/forward can be super valuable. Is Gilgeous-Alexander playing for Canada? Who will take him on? I assume the decision came down to Thybulle or Daniels. Perhaps they thought that Daniels D is strong enough along with better shooting and is a part of the future.

"As hard as it is Mills should be cut"
Let's face it, we need FIBA Patty to put on his cape if we are going anywhere near a medal.

I was expecting Cooks on the team due to Goorjian, but I feel relieved that he didn't make it. It's interesting that the coaches appear to be a lot more focused on shooting. On the other hand, it might be a little concerning based on Gaze's commentary that the team may be relying on basic principles of spreading out shooters instead of having many actual plays.

As for Kay, I love him, but I'm afraid he is very lucky to be selected. If it were Lemanis coaching, then yes, Kay is a lock. But Kay's value diminishes without a good system. All you are left with is a slow forward who can shoot. Those defensive deficiencies at this level are now so well known by opposition teams that he will often be unplayable. I hope we have enough of a system to get a lot more out of Kay.

"[Thybulle] is best off the ball getting deflections and steals. Helps initiate more offence. But in terms of pure on the ball, shut down defence, Dyson Daniels is superior according to a few reputable sources. "

Reflecting on this, this might the rationale. Also Exum and Green as solid defensive options.

Correct team selection, although we'll probably be too old and weak to do anything.

Cooks can't shoot and has no business being in the final squad.

Thybulle was horrible at the World Cup, which everyone seems to have forgotten about, yet his prior Olympics performance is recalled. Weird.

Agree PW, the Thybulle non selection is fine. Daniel's is a better option. Hopefully Mills and Ingles find some form otherwise it could be a short tournament if they get to many minutes.

If anyone wants a good giggle, check out NBL reddit. Peanuts there are reacting to Thybulle's cut as though we're leaving out prime Michael Jordan. So silly.

Thybulle participated in the 2021 Olympics and the 2023 World Cup. He brought the Boomers a bronze medal in just two appearances.

Its hard for me to judge the Boomers chances seeing as in the world cup we were without any real big man and the games we just played were against a pretty average chinese team and we werent running anything. This is why I am not assuming that we're not a medal chance because you could argue the team we're bringing is stronger than in 2021. So is the competition too, of course. But I think we tend to get a bit lost in names. We're likely to face Spain, but Spain arguably have declined much more than we have. Greece is another likely opponent but what happens if we pack the paint and run with 2 agile bigmen? Greece doesn't fill me with fear. If this team plays at their potential they should expect to get that done. If they don't then they didnt deserve to. But there should be nothing about Greece that seems insurmountable and if we lose that game it's because we couldnt get the most out of the players, not because we were stunningly outmatched.

Canada is probably the game I'd be most pessimistic about. But a lot can be said for the way a team plays together and names on paper dont win games. But sure, the names on paper for Canada are impressive and no one in their right mind would back us to win that game without some real evidence. Canada are still in camp and only have 3 preparation games, starting from 10th of July, before the tournament starts. They may not be quite in sync until well into the tournament for all we know.

Australia has warm up games against USA, Serbia, France and the winner of the Puerto Rico game coming up, so we may not be quite as underprepared as we first imagine.

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/mens-olympic-basketball-tournament-paris-2024/news/olympics-men-2024-news-tracker-preparation-games-for-the-mens-olympic-basketball-tournament-paris-2024

Personally I think the issue lies with Giddey and Mills. Because they cant play well together that brings Delly back into the mix which cases tension in other areas.

Thybulle can guard any player 1-4 in the NBA. Going against the elite level teams you need as many of those as possible. His shooting % is up in the NBA since being at Portland in 2022 @ 36.6%

Green is at 30.8% , Dante 35% , Giddey 33% , Daniels 31% , Mills 30.8 % over a similar stretch.

So, he is a better shooter than those taken and the better defender.

This is smelling a lot like if you aren't one of Patty or Joe's boys you aren't in the team.

Kay for Cooks is the other ridiculous call. I get Cooks has his deficiencies but so does almost every player on the squad.

Magnay is taken because of fear as to what happened last time with injury and reliance on Duop to cover the 5.

Yeah I don't understand punishing Thybulle for the World Cup when most of the team underachieved during the WC run.

Should have just had Thybulle in place of Kay.

2023-24 3PT

NBL CG 3.9-9.7 40%

NBL DJV 2.6-8.0 32%

NBL McVeigh 1.8-4.5 40%

NBL Delly 1.3-4.0 31%

G League White 1.4-3.9 34.9%

B League Kay 1.5-3.8 40%

NBA Reath 1.3-3.6 35.9%

NBA Thybulle 1.2-3.6 34.6%

NBA Green 1.3-3.3 38.5%

NBA Giddey 1.0-3.0 33.7%

NBA Mills 0.8-2.7 27.6%

NBA Ingles 1.0-2.4 43.5%

NBA Daniels 0.7-2.2 31.1%

NBA Exum 1.0-2.0 49.1%

NBA Landale 0.2-0.7 25%

B League Cooks 0.1-0.7 12.5%

NBL Magnay 0.0-0.3 14%

Wouldnt surprise me if we see an old guard/new guard back court, with Giddey-Green-Exum and then stretches of Delly-Mills.

As far as team and coaching choices go, I tend to defer to the wisdom of the coaches unless they've done something stunningly and obviously wrong. I assume their decades of experience in the field is more meaningful than my armchair views. And to me there's nothing so stunning about the ommision of either Thybulle or Cooks that warrants for me to assume I'm right and they're not, seeing as they should have a plan in mind for how the pieces fit. Had Jock Landale or Exum not been selected then I'd be having a different conversation. But along with all the data and analytics they'd know about Thybulle's 3 point shot, the types of shots they need at that position, and the types of shots he can and cant hit. I don't see evidence that Thybulle "isn't one of Joe or Patty's guys". In fact there is clear evidence according to Olgun that Joe was on the bubble of this team until he took the offense by the throat in the third quarter of game 2.

As for penalizing Thybulle, it's not a penalty. They've just looked at the pieces and attempted to answer what fits where to maximize our ability to win games. One could equally say that Giddey's being penalized by having Delly there probably eating at his minutes. If anything the addition of Delly was one of the most savvy decisions the coaching staff made. I'm not angry about team selection. It could have fallen one of a few ways. Time to get to Europe and start playing some real basketball already.

Patty and Joe are a package deal. Olgun relying on one person for info yet again and making it up.

If Mills plays as the sixth man starting from the next warm-up game, I agree with ME's opinion.
However, if Mills continues to be the starter, I will not trust their data and analytics.

There aint not analytics being used here. Egos are out of control. When the guys are allowed to wear non uniform clothes on the bench because they have a brand deal , things are out of control.

Agree Q, that was a bad look from Mills, especially given his years-long emphasis on 'Boomers- culture' etc

Thybulle out makes zero sense. Should be in over Kay and this one omission may be very costly.
Delly was needed last campaign to run the show when Giddey goes ball hog. That's why they have bought Delly back. Good move.
Magnay is insurance and won't play. He is not an international player.
Well done to Mcveigh, but also will see limited time. An upgraded Goulding who struggles to guard a door.

Thybulle being out is not going to make one lick of difference to this groups journey. This group is cooked. Simple as that.

"There aint not analytics being used here. Egos are out of control. When the guys are allowed to wear non uniform clothes on the bench because they have a brand deal , things are out of control."

Yeah that was uncharacteristically Ben Simmonsy from Patty.

"Magnay is insurance and won't play. He is not an international player."

Im not sure why he isnt. Hes had NBA attention, and physically certainly could hold his own. No one is saying he's Rudy Gobert but he's as good, or better than a great deal of back up bigs odut there.

"Thybulle being out is not going to make one lick of difference to this groups journey. This group is cooked. Simple as that."

I would wait til seeing them against someone reasonable before making that assertion. Last world cup we were missing a center. This year we've played a shit china in 2 games thta were solely for culling the last spots. You very well could be right but I am not so sure.

"solely for culling the last spots"

more like for revenue raising, and some contractual agreements, even more so with the Opals

ME, so what do you think is the best lineup?

I am not entirely sure what their best line up is. That's not going to be clear until a few more warm up games at very least

If anyone wants a good giggle, check out NBL reddit. Peanuts there are reacting to Thybulle's cut as though we're leaving out prime Michael Jordan. So silly.

IMO, Thybulle's exclusion from the team may also be related to the inclusion of Delly. Delly's defence has been lauded and respected since that final's series alongside LeBron (was it with the Cavs?).

Maybe the selectors reckoned that Delly's defence would make up a lot of what Thybulle would have brought while being an offensive threat as well.

Delly defends harder than anyone else and does his best, but he is not a multi-position defender.

If Delly had been an offensive threat we would have won medals in 2016 and 2019.

If Prime Time Mills had played with Thybulle in the Boomers, he would have already won several medals.

About to see a public takedown. This is getting S P I CY

Like Josh Giddey
Josh Green
Danté Exum
Jock Landale
Duop Reath
Jack McVeigh
Matthew Dellavedova


Unsure Will Magnay
Dyson Daniels
Nick Kay
Joe Ingles

Dislike: Patty Mills selection
Xavier Cooks being left out
Chris Goulding being left out

I dont think McVeigh replaces Goulding as far as any skills are concerned. I am OK for Chris that he doesn't have to sit on the bench for the tournament and is not given an opportunity when he is required. Cooks is a real XFactor who can keep the ball alive on O Boards and get bonus tip ins etc. I am sorry as he has been almost my favourite Boomer for 2 decades but playing Patty is only going to hurt his legend status. I am sure he can star for a few minutes here and there but we need more.

QAnon, you can't just drop that post and dip.

Who? What? When?

Journo has a story ready to go but it may get pulled

"I've never seen someone so loved become so hated by so many so quickly"

What I find hilarious about some of the discussion about the Boomers selection here and in the news media seems to ignore that the Boomers mature and very experienced men were playing against Chinese YOUNG MEN, and struggling for a lot of it. At least the Opals played against the bulk of the Chinese SENIOR team.

Comments such as the one suggesting Joe cemented his place in the squad because he took control of the game against what was a bunch of tired and frazzled 'boys' make me laugh. Sure, he did some smart playmaking (and trash talking), but it was against ‘boys’; I’m not convinced that he will be able to do the same against powerhouses like Greece or Slovenia or France.

I hope he and the rest of the team prove me wrong, cos at this stage I feel that we’ll need every bit of skill and luck just to get out of the group stage.

Kinda strange how the teams were announced before AOC approval, someone could appeal. Opals obviously had an 11am embargo on the release today.

I would have had Thybulle over Daniels. You can be a good half court defender, but when a team just switches everything, the opposition is just going to get the mismatch on the guy they want to attack, which is typically a guard against one of our bigs, so the benefit of the being a great defender is minimised. Thybulle is a pretty lazy player otherwise makes no effort to go get a rebound, doesnt really do much off the dribble, sits in the corner to space waits for a 3 shot and then trots back. His energy and body language is typically better than Daniels, who barely gives anything positive. Thybulle also got cooked by schroeder last time, daniels is probably just as effective on the ball.

I would have taken Cooks over Magnay, because he should know the system and did ok in the last pretty average campaign. Magnay does dumb stuff at times, dumb fouls, does some nice stuff as well. I still expect Magnay to get injured in the next 2 weeks.

I totally expected Delly to get selected, and like qanon said, totally because Giddey is a very average point guard and average defender and shooter, and Mills is on the decline and seems to be more focussed on other things now. They will totally need Delly and probably Joe and perhaps even Daniels to cover for that point guard weakness in the half court.

The team hasn't been announced officially as yet has it?
When the mouth piece for the agent whose two big Aussie clients don’t make the squad things get leaked.

I thought they could have waited until they knew who they would be playing against. Getting out the pool is basically beating the two qualifier teams and that would be know about 7am Monday morning. One of Slovenia or Greece will be eliminated tonight. Ayton, Hield, Gordon might get over Spain yet, and that might create a different selection.

The broadcast said the team had to be ratified by the AOC on Monday. So it hasnt officially been released.

But clearly the information was given to the media, probably straight after the games, to get promotion across the weekend.

If Thybulle was really under consideration in a live game then why didnt they select him to play in the 2nd game. They only gave him 13 mins as a starter in the first game. (probably didnt want him to do to well and wreck the narrative)

They played 14 guys 1st game and only 13 2nd game.

Patty doing in game promotions was weak af.

As others have mentioned, Kay was exposed defensively by Doncic (who to be fair, might be the best offensive player in the world). I find it interesting they've gone with two quality shooters in the 3, 4 spots with McVeigh, Kay, but left out the better defenders White, Thybulle and Cooks. I would've thought you'd have one of each. So with McVeigh shooting the lights out this week you say, OK, we'll leave Kay behind and bring Thybulle or White or Cooks.

Clearly with Giddey being the main guy running the offense, and Delly, they wanted a team full of shooters. And they've still got quality wing defenders with length and speed in Green and Daniels and Exum.

Delly I like, because he's a pure PG, a veteran, works hard, makes others better, had a quality NBL season.

Magnay I'm still sitting on the fence. It's more options against monsters like Gobert or Jokic. If there's foul trouble or injuries to Landale or Reath we'll be glad we've got him.

They've essentially made sure they've got another pure 1 and anothet pure 5, when most of the team plays multiple positions. We won't ever be lacking a ball handler to run the offense, or a big man. I can see the logic.

Very interested seeing what rotation they settle into.

With Landale back, Aussies look a better team than last year, so I'll choose optimism for now.

Let me tell you something really surprising.
Luka doncic, one of the best players in the world, scored 22 p against the Boomers at the 2021 Olympics. But the surprising thing here is that when Thybulle defended Doncic, he scored 0 p.
And in the 2023 World Cup, Doncic scored 19 p against the Boomers. And when Thybulle defended Doncic, Doncic scored 0 p.

That's not to say the offense isn't important, but Thybulle is the Boomers' best multi-position defender. Even though he has some shortcomings on offense, he can still play a big role on defense.

Anyone would think Thybulle was lebron and Jordan rolled into one they way punters are going on around here. The team overall is probably our best and yes I'd have taken Cooks ahead of Kay but I’ll back what the coaches have gone with, win or lose.

"Code Sports has been told axed Portland NBA wing Thybulle is livid at being left off the team after he played a vital role in Tokyo, and he immediately boarded a plane on Friday bound for the US."

as much as I can see some logic in the selections he has every right to be livid. And its a bit sad, given he's come in as an outsider and really embodied Boomers culture and was big in scoring tthat bronze medal.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/olympics/basketball/boomers-selection-latest-legends-fears-of-chaos-as-more-emerges-around-shock-paris-olympic-picks/news-story/33c130c1c1aa599bcb0a3ef53d395296?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR16OQL-kRztakbKvsgt8_0qQKZQ0J3fWSL5Fn0rcO-vouoJoXs3IdxeM1E_aem_CTnU7W3EIBIWH3voeLztsg


"What I find hilarious about some of the discussion about the Boomers selection here and in the news media seems to ignore that the Boomers mature and very experienced men were playing against Chinese YOUNG MEN, and struggling for a lot of it. At least the Opals played against the bulk of the Chinese SENIOR team."

Well the point of these games was to look at players and see them in different situations. It wasnt as though they were running anything targeted specifically towards China or like they cared that much about winning. If the Boomers whole M-O for this game was to just win and win big, they'd have done that fairly easily. But it wasnt, it was to look at players, try rotations, run some form into some guys, and yeah.. hopefully also make sure they get the W. That's very different to how a team will play in tournament or anything meaningful.

Well the point of these games was to look at players and see them in different situations.

Yes, the opposing team was China's U21 team. Even if the USA or Canada were to test their rotation against China's U21 team, they wouldn't play this poorly.

I would take Kay. He is the one who keeps turning up and making sure Australia qualifies for these tournaments. He is also the one who does the grunt blue collar work that not too many others do.

They might only have 3 games to play. Taking Magnay over Cooks and fraying relationships with your top Australian NBL player. Cooks is about to turn 29, is he going to make the team in 4 years time. Don't get too many Olympic opportunities in a career. Will probably be even worse if Magnay goes and then doesnt even play. Goorj picks the guy who is constantly injured as an insurance policy.

"Code Sports has been told axed Portland NBA wing Thybulle is livid at being left off the team after he played a vital role in Tokyo, and he immediately boarded a plane on Friday bound for the US."

It's really sad. We lost the Boomers' best defender.

Give us a break, of course he's upset, so is every other player who missed out. As the saying goes, past performance isn’t an indicator of future performance. He had his shot and selectors didn’t pick him. You want feel sorry for Cotton, he’s lived in Australia for years and just couldn’t get naturalisation.

Slovenia 20 down in the 2nd.

@Dunkman - Yes, you're right, I hope he returns.

Slovenia out, dont have to worry about Doncic now.

"Yes, the opposing team was China's U21 team. Even if the USA or Canada were to test their rotation against China's U21 team, they wouldn't play this poorly."

I remember the 2016 boomers playing warm ups against a Pac 12 all star team and making that team look pretty damn good. History shows the 2016 Boomers ended up doing alright. I worried when I saw that performance as well but I've been around the block long enough to remember 20 years of warm up games and how little you can take from them.

'Code Sports has been told axed Portland NBA wing Thybulle is livid at being left off the team after he played a vital role in Tokyo, and he immediately boarded a plane on Friday bound for the US."

I wouldn't be taking any news corpse journalist seriously.

For Olympic spot

Spain vs Bahamas
Latvia vs Brazil
Croatia vs Greece
Puerto Rico or Mexico vs Lithuania


Aus look doomed.

I want the small island playing Spain to qualify so that Buddy Hield's epic yet chronically underused and obscure meme of "Send it to The Bahamas!", from his rookie season, finally goes mainstream. Yes Buddy, send an Olympic Games spot to The Bahamas.

Pac 12 all star is better than the Chinese U21.

Warm-up games are just tests.

I still think we'd be entering favorites against all of Bahamas/Spain/Greece/Croatia.

Historically the Boomers have almost never looked good in warm up games. Does anyone remmeber the game we got smacked by 20 by Canada before the 2019 Cup? That was the worst Boomers game I've ever seen. And even still, a week later they looked completely different and beat Team USA at marvel stadium. I can't think of a single tournament where we havent all been hyper concerned leading in.

In 2019, the core player was Mills. He was prime time.
And in 2024, Mills continues to be a starter and the Boomers hope he continues to be a FIBA ​​Patty.
Things are different then and now. We expect too much from our veterans.

"Mills continues to be a starter". Where did you hear that Mills is a starter?

I don't disagree that Patty now is no longer the Patty of then but neither will his role be. Much more likely to start on the bench and used in spots where he can help. If that fails, he sits. Easy?

I think the team needs to be something like this:

C Landale/Reath
F Kay/McVeigh/Magnay
W Green/Ingles
W Giddey/Mills/Daniels
G Exum/Dellavedova

When Reath is on, Magnay ought to be one because Reath can't rebound and I’m not sure Kay, McVeigh will cut it?

Giddey and Mills should never be on the court together.

Exum starts because he will move the ball better than Giddey and cover for Giddey’s defence whilst also providing some scoring.

Delly and Ingles to get "settle the team" minutes.

Daniels there if they need to lift defensive intensity. Should stay away from bringing the ball up to avoid turnovers.

In the warm-up game against China, Patty was the starter. Let's hope he comes off the bench for the remaining games.

"That was part of the discussion when you had Matisse's position. You have four people in that role of the defender, running the floor, putting pressure on the ball; we just felt like we had to make the move on one."

Who are the other 4 defenders he is referring to?

Green, Exum, Daniels.

Matisse was the fourth.

Green and Exum are good defenders, but they are not multi-position defenders.
I think Daniels can defend 1-3, but I don't know if he can defend 4.
Among the 17 players, only Cooks and Thybulle are multi-position defenders.

I'd have still taken Matisse over Kay in an awkward 4th spot especially since I think Ingles and McVeigh also spend time at the 4, as would Landale a bit.

If you want more shooting you have McVeigh on for a bit since they never had Goulding play last WC.

I just don’t see how Kay’s shooting will be THAT much of a difference maker.

With that said, I hope Kay really proves everyone including me wrong and acts like that stoic rock that doesn’t need to do too much but makes everything around him work by doing those little things. He was that in the 2019 WC.

Starting 5 doesn’t completely matter as much as minutes and groupings will matter, but surely Mills has to be a bench player. They should not play Giddey and Mills together, they should frankly avoid both having to dribble much.

Have Exum/Delly/Daniels be the advance passers to get the ball moving, have Giddey the connector pushing the ball to places nobody else can to continue the momentum and movement or driving if there’s space with his bigger body and putting heat on the rim or kicking the ball out.

If Mills is on, the brief has to be to swing that ball side to side and north-south to find an open Mills jump shot.

In other words play Spurs/Lemanis ball with a focus primarily on transition.

They’re going to have to play positive relatively high risk basketball to crack the European systems and use the extra biff of Aussie international basketball to put Canada on the back foot.

If Australia are too slow, they won’t win and if they try to play NBA style, Canada with Shai will ruin them.

Olympic groups

A
Australia
Greece
Canada
Spain

B
France
Germany
Japan
Brazil

C
Serbia
South Sudan
Lithuania or Puerto Rico tbd
USA

Sheesh that is one mighty tough group isn't it? Going to have play some seriously good ball to just get out of the group. Would not shock me if they went winless TBH, but surely is now the time to get a little back on Spain! Can't wait for it all to start. Nothing better than international basketball.

PR upset Lithuania to get the last Olympic spot.

Nothing comes easy in the Olympics. We are more than capable of beating Greece and Spain, and of course the reverse is true also.

Justice against Spain for that woeful offensive call in Rio, and Rubio's theatrical flopping at the subsequent WC would be nice, but we better have a cohesive system in place and not wane throughout the game.


Im kind of expecting/hoping some inside-outside action (similar to what Ket said) to generate some open shots on the perimeter, hopefully some high pick n pops (Reath, Landale) to open the interior for back cuts by the wings etc.

Variety will be key as the Canadian and Europeans will both have very different styles.

If we want (or need) Patty to score heaps, Delly will need to play a lot of minutes

There are a lot of unknowns about our team which make it hard for me to project their potential. I think the world cup may have tainted a lot of our views and we forget we were playing without any big men and a lot of people were out of position. Not only are Landale and Magnay now in, Reath is now a lot better than he was as well.

Ive seen a bit of Spain and Greece now. I think greece is a one man show, and Spain are actually older, slower and less deep than us. Theyre nmot going to be walks in the park but I can imagine a world where we beat both. Last year's team probably doesnt. This years team shouldnt be quite as hamstrung.

The China games were a waste of time and we never got to see what the full team looks like together. We may look totally different to everything we've seen so far.

Game 1 is against Spain, arguably our weakest opponent. if we beat them Ill feel a whole lot better about the potential direction of our campaign.

I agree, I watched one of Spain's qualifying games where they struggled against Finland who were missing Markannen.
Shell of a team compared to 2008-2019 but still decent. Rely heavily on the Hernangomez brothers who previously were just rotation players for them.

Greece are a one-man show, just can't let any others get hot.

Canada probably a scheduled loss but they are still gettable.

Absolutely think that we'd be betting favorites for 2nd place in the group.

"The China games were a waste of time and we never got to see what the full team looks like together. We may look totally different to everything we've seen so far."

Was this a money making exercise by BA? because surely it did nothing to prepare the team for Olympic competition.
We would've been better playing those two games in Europe, against any European team who was willing to.
Sure it would've dented the whole parochial feel good vibe of winning a game or two on home soil, but that's of far less value to a team heading into the group of death.

Agree ME, we really don't know what this team will bring in terms of execution, one thing I'm pleased with in comparison to the previous WC is the front court like you said, but also Exun and Green are both in much better form now and very much ready for this tournament.

Yeah, Delly and Mills together is the best combo for Mills.

I'm hoping that BG, Capron.....or whoever is puts the line up together minute to minute, gets it right this time and makes
correct in game changes when necessary
(and without harping on about it, someone please tell BG that if the opposition goes on a run, we can actually call a tome out to quell their momentum)

"Canada probably a scheduled loss but they are still gettable."

They looked hot and sometimes cold at different in the WC, and based on their expected play style, are potentially vulnerable if SGA (hopefully) can't get going.

I agree, go straight to Europe. Even if you play a lesser European team theyre going to be better than U21 China.

I can see a lot of the public think the Boomers are cooked this year, theyre probably judging on world cup performance and the fact they cant name any all stars from us. I really dont know. I just know that we've seen all this before and we've still been very competitive for a long time.

Tough group, still a very good chance to progress imo, Goorj is no fool, some tough decisions re playing time needed though.

I wonder whether the French crowd will be behind Spain or against them. A loud and supportive crowd could make a big difference to our chances in the first game.

I think we probably progress in second spot. But Im basing that on if we play something like we did in Tokyo + the added talent and athleticism we have. If we play like we did at the last Cup we're not leaving the pool. We could equally win or lose any game in the group. But I think our ceiling is 'probably' second, and our floor is probably a close loss to Spain and dropping the other 2 games by 10-20.

Hoopie, the French crowd will most likely cheer against Spain in every game they play (pretty deep rivals) which is better for us, although you'd expect a pretty solid Spanish crowd as well given the proximity etc

Can people stop thinking Giddy can play the 2 spot. OKC tried that and found trading him was the right fit. Depending on this round of 3 games, Hornets might move him on too. If our offence is relying on Giddy as the 1st or 2nd scoring option, then we are bust.

NBA do not care 2 hoots about performances in FIBA games

Agree Kev, point or bench.

Hey Kev, what do the Hornets have to do with Giddey? Last I heard he played for the Bulls?

Mojave king
Rj Greer
future boomers?

Mojave's a Kiwi.

Watching the second half of Game 2 against China I still can't believe Goorj left Cooks out of the team. He's a unique player and would've given us that x factor like he was at the WC last year, 24 & 16 against Japan. Madness that he was left out. Should make Kings training camp interesting when Goorj arrives. Thybulle should feel a bit hard done by too but the Cooks omission is a shocker.

"Can people stop thinking Giddy can play the 2 spot. OKC tried that and found trading him was the right fit. Depending on this round of 3 games, Hornets might move him on too. If our offence is relying on Giddy as the 1st or 2nd scoring option, then we are bust."

So you're suggesting the Boomers trade Giddey for Caruso?

mojave king whats or wanted to be australian

He's a unique player and would've given us that x factor like he was at the WC last year, 24 & 16 against Japan.

If he had taken 24 & 16 against Germany or Slovenia he would have been a lock.

I don't mind the inclusion of Kay and Delly as I feel like we’ve been too caught up in the idea of individual players abilities rather than the full team as a cohesive unit. While I agree giddey can definitely be turnover prone I think it’s fair to say at this point he is our most dangerous offensive threat so at some point continuing to add athletes that cannot shoot such as thybulle and cooks it can nullify Giddey’s offensive effectiveness. Then I would assume the athletes we have taken such as exum and green will share a lot of the court with giddey due to his defensive shortcomings. Hoping that pick and rolls between landale and giddey with spacing pays dividends but I do struggle to see where our relatively simple offence will get points against the powerhouses such as France and US. Would have loved to see lemanis cook up some beautiful offence with a tall gifted passer like giddey at his disposal.

Well put Eagle.
We have the personnel and skill to compete well (although another shooter (CG) would've been handy.)

I was thinking the same thing regarding Lemmanis - if only he had the opportunity to draw some cohesive, multi-ootion sets with this current group, we'd be a tough opponent for any team.

Under the current coaching group, it remains to be seen....let's hope that we see an improvement from the disjointed, individual reliant stuff we saw at the previous WC.


One thing that no one has mentioned is that every player on the chosen roster will be well aware of the general public sentiment around the selections, and the teams over-all prospects given the group we're in. (believe me, they all read comments on instagram)
Woth that said, I feel it will serve as added motivation to prove a lit of doubters wrong, after all, they are competitive dudes with something to prove - and rightly so.
I think we'll see a determined group who are going to play their asses off 1 to 12 and as much as I wasn't entirely sold on both Mill's and Ingles' inclusion, I think if nothing else, that they'll provide a valuable experienced leadership presence that will instill instill an added confidence in guys like Daniels, McVeigh, Magnay etc

It's tough to exclude Mills or Ingles. Mills has a history of bad games in warm-ups, only to turn it on in the tournament. Although I think we have good reason to be a lot more skeptical this time.

Without Mills/Ingles/Delly, we'd only have Landale, Exum and Kay who'd have played meaningful minutes in knockout games in the later stages of major tournaments. I can see value in having vets in there who have plenty of experience in high pressure games. Giddey, Daniels, Green and Reath don't have so much experience/minutes in these kinds of games at the pro level.

I like McVeigh's addition as an option because he seems to revel in pressure situations, he's been a final MVP. Kay is a rock. Exum is a vet now. Landale another NBL Finals MVP with multiple final 4 experience in international tournaments.

I think our first game vs Spain could be our most important game of the tournament. Lose that and no chance we make it out of the group.

100% agree. Assuming Canada doesn't drop a game in the group stages we really need to not only beat Spain but try and do it by a fair margin to give us some slack with dealing with Greece. If we can't do that, we don't deserve to advance beyond the group stages.

Im a bit worried about Patty but it may only take a few shots to drop for him to get his eye in, and that would change the look of the team a lot. But beyond that I am watching some of the Tokyo team atm, and I feel like we have a better team now in a few ways. Im not sure if we're being unreasonably pessimistic, especially if guys like Patty can find some form.

Tokyo
Australia
Italy
Germany
Nigeria

Paris
Australia
Greece
Canada
Spain

Comparing it to the Boomers in Tokyo is meaningless.
We are currently in the group of death.

In terms of talent size, the Paris Boomers may be better than the Tokyo Boomers.
However, the Paris Boomers cannot be considered to have good balance. As you can see from Thybulle being cut, the lack of a prime time scorer is a big difference.

Paris Olympics Boomers can never win by relying on just one person. Every player has to defend and every player has to find a way to score.

Well lets see if they can do that rather than pretend they cant. A lot of teams like Lithuania in their prime did thinjgs without havbing a specific go-to guy.

Lithuania played under a very refined and highly efficient system that allowed them to perform so well without an established 'star'
(although Jasikevicius was a *very* good individual scorer)

We could potentially do very well with this roster, *if* we have a system in place with multiple actions/options.
We really won't know until game one......unless they show a bit in the upcoming practice games

Jingles is everything you need on the floor.
Serious 3pt threat when he can be bothered shooting. Annoying as hell in the pick and roll, not even at walk thru do teams work on practicing half walking pace pick and roll coverage and sloJo has mastered this.
His defence is ok. His length gives him the ability to cause issues for shooters (except when it is Kobe's last game).
He understands the game, he is a second coach, really good facilitator.
He can ride the Refs in multiple ways. There is good cop / bad cop then there is Jingles. He can abuse you, make you laugh, tap your butt and walk away disgusted all in the same 3 second snippet. His regular joking to players, coaches spectates and the Refs sees him get away with Murder.
He would be well aware there is not going to be campaign number 6, however his recent NBA signing gives reassurance to the fans that don't understand the game, that in the eyes to the people that do, he is in every teams 12.

NBL Instagram and Reddit still being rioted by Matisse lunatics. Avert your eyes people if you don't want to drop in intelligence.

Shane Heal: Baffling Matisse Thybulle selection call Boomers will regret

Australian basketball great Shane Heal has revealed he's still in shock over one baffling Boomers decision ahead of the Paris Olympics.

The Australian Boomers team is finally picked ahead of the Paris Olympics, and I’m still in shock that Matisse Thybulle was left out of the final team.

If Heal is shocked it probably means they made the right decision. :::)))

Why is there some sort of backlash against Thybulle missing out? Are these people just NBA numpties? Thybulle's not a good enough player to be frothing at the mouth over his exclusion.

Cooks missing out was the real shock both because of how well he played at the WC and because Goorj just signed him at the Kings. I thought Cooks would be in the starting lineup in Paris. Thybulle went backwards from the high of Tokyo at last year's WC. I still thought he should've been picked for Paris though at the expense of Daniels a guy I have no idea what anyone at BA sees in him.

Thybulle's not a good enough player to be frothing at the mouth over his exclusion.

Luka doncic, one of the best players in the world, scored 22 p against the Boomers at the 2021 Olympics. But the surprising thing here is that when Thybulle defended Doncic, he scored 0 p.
And in the 2023 World Cup, Doncic scored 19 p against the Boomers. And when Thybulle defended Doncic, Doncic scored 0 p.

What kind of player can defend Doncic to 0 p?

Exactly Zodiac. It's unbelievable the hype around a player that is very limited.

@Zodiac - NBA numpties for sure. And jokers like Patty"TheGOAT”Mills who can't look past basic statistics and don’t understand the game and it’s nuances.

Social media folks seem to think that being in the NBA should be an auto-inclusion... I strongly disagree with that, while also feeling Thybulle should've made the squad over Daniels at this stage of their careers. I wonder if Gooj's comments about wanting guys who would accept smaller roles was a dig at Thybulle after his minutes were cut last tourney though.

Or a dig at Giddey if he didn't become a better facilitator?

Thybulle is probably known to most NBA fans for his time at Philly so has a large enough profile. No one cares that Galloway wasn't even in the 17 man squad and he's in the NBA. Jack White was in the NBA too last season, crickets.

So Thybulle has the non-scrub NBA seal of approval and therefore should walk on to the Australian national team. Despite the fact he didn't play well at the WC, didn't do much in the China games and probably didn't have a good camp.

Honestly I'm not sure if Goorj has the awareness to take subtle jabs at anyone in interviews he's still trying to remember the names of his players in timeouts. Prior to camp he was banging on about this being Giddey's team now blah blah blah when anyone could see at the WC last year how much Giddey disrupts the flow of the offence, even OKC gave up on him and traded him after he refused to come off the bench next season. Goorj is so far gone it's not funny.

Zodiac, are you expecting or hoping that Delly gets more time at the point over Giddey?

I think depending on the line up, he might need to.

Very much so. Like Bogut said in camp Delly's teams won 90% of the scrimmages, he's a pure PG. Sure not the most talented guy around, broken shot etc but he knows how to play the point, smart guy, unselfish, tenacious defender and will always put his body on the line.

I'm just hoping that Goorj 'knew' he had to pick Giddey, Mills and Ingles otherwise face the wrath of the numptyverse but I'm hopeful that Goorj also knows those three guys, for various reasons, can't have large roles on the team if we want to play to our potential.

100% Agree re Delly and the numptiverse.....a daily glance at the relentless instagram condemnation of Thybulles' omission confirms it (

Thybulle is probably known to most NBA fans for his time at Philly so has a large enough profile. No one cares that Galloway wasn't even in the 17 man squad and he's in the NBA. Jack White was in the NBA too last season, crickets.

2023-24

Thybulle 65G

White 4G

Galloway 0G

To be fair Galloway hasn't really had an NBA career yet. Don't even think he's played a game, just on the Wisconsin Herd last year.

@Ben - Are you really an asshole? Have you ever read my comments properly?
After the second warm-up game with the Chinese team, my final picks were Giddey, Exum, Delly, Green, Mills, Thybulle, McVeigh, Ingles, Reath, Kay, Landale, Magnay. Some people may have seen my comment.
If I were just an NBA fanatic, I would have put Daniels on the final list and left out the other NBL players. But I didn't.
The reason I excluded Daniels is because I thought Thybulle defense was higher than Daniels.
And I thought that among the current 17 players, there were only two multi-position defenders, Thybulle and Cooks, and I thought there should be at least one.

Green and Exum can cover for Thybulle not being there, where as Daniel's can cover dangerous point guards.

Green covered dangerous point guards for Dallas.

It comes down to thybulle v Daniels for me, if Daniels seemed more willing to play a role that might have affected goorijans decision. Tough call

The situation ended anyway. I just felt that it wasn't Daniels time yet. I think that in the future, Daniels will be able to do what Thybulle can do on defense and play a bigger role on offense, so it's not that I don't understand why he was selected.

Also bear in mind, none of us saw a second of what transpired during training camp in the lead up the roster decision.
Daniels may well have out-performed Thybulle and been more consistent with his shot.

If Cotton had been at the camp instead of Thybulle, would the selections still have stayed the same?

They probably should have just brought in Landale, Magnay and McVeigh for White, Kay and Ingles.

That way if you want go real big atleast you have Landale/Reath/Magnay, if you want to defensive you have Cooks/Thybulle and if you want to go offensive you have McVeigh.

SF you'd have plenty of options between Green 3&D, Thybulle D and McVeigh shooting.

In that scenario, you have a core 10 with Delly/Goulding and Magnay filling specialist "as needed" spots.

Oh well.

"@Ben - Are you really an asshole? Have you ever read my comments properly? If I were just an NBA fanatic, I would have put Daniels on the final list and left out the other NBL players. But I didn't."


It appears you didn't read Ben's comment properly. He didn't say you were an NBA fanatic, in reference to you he said you "can't look past basic statistics and don't understand the game and it’s nuances".

If Cotton had been at the camp instead of Thybulle, would the selections still have stayed the same?

If Cotton had been able to play, the roster would have been different.
Cotton in, Delly cut
Cooks in, kay cut

Given Mills's struggles in scoring so far, it's fair to ask where our scoring will come from. Especially when the offense is stagnating and we need someone to create something. If Mills isn't productive, our whole offense will look completely different.

We really don't want Giddey to be our go-to scorer, as he tried to be at the WC. Landale and Reath have to be on target to stretch the defense.

Is McVeigh a 10 minutes per game rotation player, or a 10-12th man reserve?

I dont think Cotton is any more suited to FIBA than Chris Goulding is. If Chris Goulding couldnt make it I doubt Cotton, who is smaller and of about the same age, would.

Cotton was underestimated.
Cotton and Goulding are actually about 4-5 years apart. They are not of similar age.

Facundo Campazzo 5' 10"
Tremont Waters 5' 10"
Carlik Jones 6' 0"
Bryce Cotton 6' 0"
Patty Mills 6' 0"
Dennis Schroder 6' 1"

I didn't write everything, but there are many players who do well in FIBA ​​even if they are short.

Cotton has better off-the-ball movement and is faster than Goulding, and has better ball handling, passing, and shot-creating abilities.

While I love Goulding, I do agree with PTGM ^^^ above. Cotton is a bigger loss than Thybulle is everyday of the week.

Anyone want to predict where we finish ?
1st-12th?

If only it was that easy, Weedy.

On paper, we could end up ... anywhere in our group, after which 5-8 is likely.
Based on our confidence in our team and coach, 9-12.
Based on our ability to do better than expected cos we're Aussie battlers and have Super-Delly, again 5-8 is likely.

My gut feel cos we’re going in with too many slow defenders and an out-of-sync offense is 9-12.

What will the rotations be?

I think 4 of the starters should be Giddey, Green, Exum and Landale

Reath probably the 5th.

2nd unit I'd run with Delly, Patty, Thybulle, McVeigh, with Landale and Reath playing extra 5 minutes.

So it's effectively a 9 man rotation.
Landale/Reath
Reath/McVeigh
Exum/Thybulle
Green/Mills
Giddey/Delly

That group has a bit of everything. Scoring, D, size, pace, length, inside/ outside. Experience.

10-12 insurance players:
Magnay- for size and rim protection.

Ingles- as a 3rd option to run the offense. A point forward option.

Jack White - plays 3 or 4, better defender than Kay. Better outside shooter than Cooks.

I'm leaving behind:

CG- I love him as a shooting spark plug but Patty's playing that role for me, and CG is weaker in other areas than the others

Daniels- I prefer the experience and leadership of Delly at back up 1

Cooks- a poor outside shooter doesn't fit when you've got Giddey and Delly running the show.

Kay- Has been a great servant but defensively was exposed last year. McVeigh similar player but better these days.

DJ- Never really in consideration.

To clarify, that's my Boomers team

I assume the starting 5 I picked will be the actual starting 5 (or perhaps Kay or McVeigh takes the 4 spot). I like Patty as a 6th man.

Otherwise, Daniels might get minutes over Delly in reality.

I'm curious to see McVeigh's role moving forward. From the NBL Finals to Boomers training to the warm-up games, he seems to remain in top form.

The FIBA power rankings have us sat at 7th right now which feels like a fair read of the situation. Where we actually end up is anyone's guess, given the weird rules on the pools and the fact we are legitimately in the group of death. The other groups have a Japan, SSD to beat up on, or a mid-tier Puerto Rico or Brazil. We've got four teams that wouldn't look completely out of place in a semi final game. That's a big problem for us.

And then I wonder how the hell the crossovers work. You've got three groups, two will allow three qualifiers, and one will allow two. So who ends up playing all? All 1s cant play 3s. And then who do the second ranked teams play, the other second ranked teams and one play the top team?

Makes NO sense.

If for whatever reason we come second and are then sat with the third best team in the other pool then I am quite comfortable that we can win that and move to the semi finals. But I think a third place finish could be particularly rough and likely pit us against one of USA or France. Equally Serbia is another team we'd probably prefer to avoid.

Here's how I see things sitting at the moment as far as talent and likely ability in this Olympics.

--------
USA
France
Serbia
Canada
--------------
And then in no particular order, anyone can beat anyone here

Australia
Germany
Greece
Spain

-----

SSD
Puerto Rico
Brazil
Japan

I thionk teams can leapfrog from the second group into the first but I see the third group as pretty well set.

I agree with your groupings, ME. Puerto Rico would be the most likely of the bottom group to get an upset, I think. SSD seem the weakest of them all.