Isaac
Last year

Peak season of Australians in the NBA?

Interested in thoughts on which NBA season has seen a peak of Australian contribution to the league. Let's ignore Kyrie just to simplify things.

Right now, there are quite a few contributors down to occasional benchies like McVeigh or Furphy, and some usual rotation guys like Reath and Landale, but Mills or Ingles are rarely firing up and Daniels or Giddey seem to be the main names. Green has moments, Exum injured. Simmons is interesting but misses games and moves in and out of the starting group. Thybulle, not sure why he's missing games. Fair to say that Daniels currently seems to be leading the way?

I don't know off hand how much overlap there was between Bogut with the Warriors, Mills at his best with San Antonio or Ingles' rise in Utah, but suspect the peak year may involve these guys plus Baynes? Simmons early years might come too late?

Longley too early and without support, but won three rings.

Bogut strongest years: 2006-2012 with Bucks, then successful Warriors stretch was 2012-2016 (ring in 2015)
Simmons best four years: 2017/18 - 2020/21
Ingles main period in Utah: 2017-21
Mills maybe: 2013-21? (2014 ring)
Baynes with Boston/Phoenix/Raptors: 2017-21; had moments with Spurs 2012-15? Ring in 2014.
Exum best year was 2024
Delly: 2016 ring, played 20+ MPG from 2014-2017.
Thybulle's best years maybe 2022 and 2023?

Last year you could really count Bogut was 2017 and only for a couple dozen Mavs games, but this misses Simmons' best.

Probably picking between something that includes Bogut, Mills/Baynes at Spurs, Delly with Cavs but miss peak Ingles and Simmons. Or ignore Bogut to find a year when Simmons was strong, Ingles doing well, Mills still doing his usual and Baynes around his Boston jaunt?

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Cram
Last year

On a purely numbers basis we have more this year than ever, but you're right that a lot are young fellas barely getting any time or older guys in mentor roles barely getting any time.

Daniels absolutely the standout in that he's getting league wide buzz (not just among Aussies) while Giddey (although still young) might be confirming that he's more of a "good stats, bad team" kind of guy (of which there are many in the league) rather than someone who can be a key player on a good team. Green has probably settled in as a good rotation 3&D guy that will likely only ever be appreciated when he's on good teams (of which he currently isnt).

I think in terms of your question, the peak period has to be that "Bogut, Mills/Baynes at Spurs, Delly with Cavs" period you mentioned as this was when we had guys in the finals consistently and playing roles.

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pattymillsMVP
Last year

It's an interesting question. As far as impact we had some huge performances by Aussies in finals such as Patty in 2014, Delly in 2016-17. Bogut was a beast in the late 2000s and had high impact in the GSW run too. At any given time the absolute best years didn’t overlap too much but there has always been solid years since Bogut, Patty, Ingles and Delly have been in the league.

2019-20 comes to mind although it happened to be the year after Bogut was no longer in the league. Just looking at the numbers:

Baynes (PHX) 11.5pts (career high) 5.6rebs
Ingles (UTA) 9.8pts 3.9rebs 5.2asts
Patty (SAS) 11.6pts (career high)
Simmons (PHI) 16.4pts 7.8rebs 8asts AS DPOY-2 NBA3
Exum (CLE) 5.6pts 2.3rebs
Thybulle (PHI) 4.7pts 1.4stls
Maker (DET) 4.7pts 2.8rebs
Broekhoff (PHI) 4.2pts
A few others in the mix like Bolden. And Bogut was still going at Sydney Kings

But then 2024 is the deepest class. And what Dyson is doing now is some of the best basketball Aussie hoopers have produced. Giddey’s numbers are still up there with some of the best produced from an Aussie.

If the 2019 team faced the 2024 I’d probably take the experience and wisdom of the 2019 team but it’s close and the 2024 is the most exciting with a great future ahead.

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Isaac
Last year

As maligned as he is, I think peak-Simmons is a serious factor. And then Baynes/Ingles/Patty at or near their biggest statistical contributions and some benchies to round it out.

But maybe the pre-Simmons passage wins for impact? Those were Australians in real roles for successful teams? Delly had an outsized role, Mills too. Whether there's one single season that answers it, I don't know though.

Wonder what it would take for 2025 to push past? Daniels obviously has been great. Giddey and Simmons could put up the stats if they became more consistent, even if both are in fairly meaningless team situations. Exum and Thybulle back playing. But is anyone in rotation on a contender? Probably not Atlanta. Is Exum with the Mavs the only one?

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word14
Last year

Josh Green has been another, delivering up and down mixed performances on a hornets team ravaged by injuries yet again

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Peak season of Australians in the NBA?

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