See the game John? What happened?

on live radio. Anstey didn't do much... sounded like Bogut didn't play, or didn't play very much. Tab Baldwin played a zone defence against our shooters... and it worked... Boomers didn't shoot well against the NZ defence (again!!!)

Out coached perhaps?

How was Newley?

No McKinnon... No Anstey tonight.

Anstey down with medial ligament damage... severity not known at current moment... but sounded serious bad.

Hinder seemed to play a fair bit, and actually played OK.
Bogut was really sick (heard he has been on a drip lately), but he did play well and a fair bit.
I'm just sick of Kendall playing so much over Bruce and Markovic, both are better players IMO, and should be sharing minutes at the point, with Kendall just playing a few minutes here and there.

exactly right twenty four,
good to hear some honest and true words bruce and stev are both, at least going to be, better then kendall. Brian should give the young blood a chance to shine like they did in the under 22 world champs.

As for the loss we gave a less then perfect side to a fully fit tall black side the results speak for themselves!?

Keeping in line with their past efforts I guess Basketball Aust will have to sack the coach.

Are these not 'trial games'?

Goorjian is lucky the Worlds are only a month or so away and there's not enough time to get a new coach in now. But I think if the Boomers don't show huge improvement in the Worlds, he has to go!! He's had 5 years at the helm now and we don't have much to show for it apart from the Commonwealth Games, basically an Aust A v NZ A series! Losing to NZ this close to the Worlds and with guys like Bogut available to play is really a bad effort. His overuse of players like Kendall are a crime, his underuse of guys like Newley cannot be explained.

Personally, the only way I'd be happy to have him stay on is if we finish in say the top 5 or 6 at the Worlds. That is nearly impossible I'd think, so unless there is a miracle, he has to go. Injuries and players missing will be the excuse this time, but even with the players like CJ and whoever else in the team, it still means we might only beat teams like NZ. What about when we face USA, Argentina, Greece, Lithuania, Spain, France, and Serbia (defending champs)!! We've got no hope if we can't beat NZ, even if we have got lets say a 75% strong team at the moment. Add back CJ, Saville, maybe Andersen??, not sure who else&but in my mind, it's not going to get that much better. Anstey and Mackinnon played at times in this series, so their presence won't change much.

We're gone.

Only good thing to come of our probable 11th or 12th placing (if we're lucky) at the Worlds is Goorjian will be gone shortly after!! YAY!!!

Goorj coaching both Kings and Ozzzie B's is a conflict of interest. One or the other. I favour "buying in" a national head coach.

At least Australia are improving...

We only allowed a young Kiwi to get 25 and 8...

Does anyone know if Sean Marks is playing for NZ at the Worlds? If so, NZ's problems at the C are taken care of. Was the only position we beat NZ in all series.

Going by the stats, we barely did that except in the first game.

I think I read somewhere that Marks has retired from international basketball.

OK so we sack Goorj who would be the next in line to take the Boomers?

Don't know who will take over next, but eventually mart Clarke from AIS will be Boomers coach, NO doubt especially if he dosn't go coach an NBL team.

He would bring a certain dicipline to the boomers which at the moment it is lacking.

Did people know that newly got sent home in the 1st boomers camp at AIS cause his attitude was so bad towards the coaches and other players!!

So say 5 years from now Marty Clarke Head coach??

Not trying to defend Boy Goorj here but there were a few "outs" that would of made the difference i.e. Neilsen, Anderson, Schenser and CJ Bruton to name a few.

Do you think we could lure Guus over from the other side?

I wonder whether Phil Jackson is interested in some philanthropic work...

(#89293)MW; You dont have to defend boy gorj. You must remember that when Phil got the sack he also had a lot of outs from the squad he had available.

At the time of Phils signing he was the outstanding best coach in the NBL with Gorj running 2nd. Its pretty obvious that BA dont think much of Phil or anything from SA for that matter.

IMO they gave phil the job because they would have looked stupid not too. He then took over a decimated squad and got a hiding from an emerging NZ side. It played right into BA's lap to then put in their prefered choice.

Gorjs record at an international level speaks for its self. He has had 5 years at the helm. Prehaps the boomers should flash their commonwealth gold medals at teir opponents at the worlds. Once the stronger teams fall over laughing we might just have a chance.

Lets get back to a format that has the national head coach only concentrating on the national team, not "every ones 2nd fav team in the NBL".

I agree with Axe Man. I think we need a national coach from outside the current NBL coaching panel. Heck, if we have to go abroad like Soccer has, then maybe even look into that. Although I doubt basketball has the funding to be able to appoint an overseas coach.

My other concern is with the way we makeup our team. Somewhere, possilbly on Ozhoops?, I read a comment about NZ should be well drilled and understand each other as they have had basically the same team for 5+ years now. Boomers have only been together recently and have some players still missing....well its only 4 weeks to the Worlds now, how can those missing players like CJ, Anderen and Saville fit into the rotation properly in such a short time???

Why can't we have a team that has been together for 5 years? Sure, Gaze, Heal and Co. have all gone now and we had to bring through some new blood, but most of those guys left the national team in the few years after 2000 in Sydney. We seem to have this setup similar to how the US operates where guys turn up when they feel like it - eg. CJ wanting conditions met

We need to get a core group together who is committed to playing year in, year out for the national team at all events so we can get this team cohesion which NZ and other OS teams like Argentina, Lithuania, Serbia, etc all have. Following the US style where guys turn up now and then for a run is proven not to work...

4 weeks from the Tournament and our full team to contest the Worlds - excluding serious injuries - hasn't played a full competitive game yet....Even with players back in the side, I can't see us being a threat in Japan...

Twenty Four, do you have any idea what you're talking about? Don't suppose you watched the game? Markovic and Bruce are better than Kendall hmmm... Markovic came on in the crucial last couple of minutes and turned the ball over twice. Bruce had a few good assists and other than that made 1 of 6 from the field. Sure Kendall wasn't outstanding but when it comes to athleticism, speed and vision Markovic and Bruce doesn't even rate compared to Kendall. Deciding who are better players is a lot more than just looking at the box scores and going 'oh Kendall got 24 minutes and only scored 3'...

I saw the game live and found it entertaining despite our loss. With CJ comming back, I dont think there will be much court time for Kendall, I expect Bruce would be the first option comming off the bench. Hopefully there is a way that Matty Neilsons insurance can be covered. I think theres positives to take from all this, we have alot of talent in the squad that is yet to gel, however there is good chemistry between Bruce, Newley, smith, bogut, hinder and Anstey. Hinder was really working well in the block with Bogut and surprised me,.... So I wouldnt be all doom and gloom, our biggest problem is discipline and backcourt, and our backcourt should look OK with CJ in.... OK hes no DMAC, but he is a good point with experience and level head. I think we could actually do well in the worlds given that the team finds its feet, which it may in the series V china. aboiut the series just gone, we must remember NZ is a better then average shooting team, there also been together for 4 years, since they came 4th in the worlds.... It was a good test to find what the balance is for the team, and we might do OK.

Cool = Mrs Kendall ;P

Cool, do you have any idea what you're talking about?

While I haven't seen Games 3 & 4, I have seen the first 2 and let me tell you, Kendall was flat-out terrible.

Bad shots, bad passes, that's what I base my opinion on. His stat lines aren't that impressive either, I think 1/13 from 3, poor assist to turnover ratio.

Bruce IS a better player, thats why he will be in the NBA, if not next year, then the one after.

And you are kidding yourself to think that LK has better vision then Bruce and Markovic.

If he has such great vision, why did he commit those turnovers? Why did he have the NZ commentators asking if actually has played point gaurd before? Why does he have SO MANY doubters?

If anyone saw game 2, they wouldve seen Kendall try to bounce pass the length of the floor to anstey while he was covered by 3 people, yea he can see the court... but can he see the defenders?????? Bruce is our best point (after CJ).... Markovic is safe with the ball, he is also a good defender.... so having CJ, Bruce and Marko for defensive prowess on the boomers would be good.

haha, good reply Skyhook, kinda funny but severely lacking in originality. Give a different opinion to you people and I'm straight away Kendall's mum.

Just trying to spark some debate with all you anti-Sydney, anti-Goorjian people. Rather than "I agree with you, blah blah blah.."

Bruce and Markovic obviously have talent and look like they should be good players in the future, but right now they lack experience. Playing college in the US is a lot different to playing international basketball.

Given your comments doesn't surprise me either that you haven't seen games 3 and 4.

By the way who are all Kendall's doubters?

Kendall was the whipping boy for nearly everyone who's commented on the game. In loads of pages of posts on OzHoops over the series, he easily copped most of the crap.

I'm not anti-Sydney (without Smith we were toast, we all think CJ should be in there, and Hinder performed when given the chance), nor anti-Goorjian (though it looks like his offense was ineffective with the squad we had), but Kendall struggled.

In the final game, we started Bruce, Kendall and Smith. Why not bench Kendall after three bad games and start Newley? If you want a spark off the bench, give Barlow a run even.

That's what I thought, copping it from all the 'experts' here. His series has been below his best. But he is quality.

And as I said before Hurley, Marko turned the ball over twice in the last two minutes when the pressure was on. That's when the good players should stand up.

Cool

Kendall is not a starter at NBL level competition. That Australia apparently has to resort to starting him for the National team during even one international trial series match is horrifying.

You say his series has been 'below his best'. For Kendall's sake, I hope that is a gross understatement.

Incompetence is not a good excuse for failing to perform adequately. Kendall is not up to the task. Bruce and Markovic (Bruce particularly) at least show potential to be able to play at this level.

It is clear that Kendall is not up to running point at an international level. Why Goorjian has persisted with him in the face of criticism throughout the last NBL season, the boomers selection process and now this series is mystefying.