Despite the absence of formidable big man Andrew Bogut, our Australian Boomers are a serious threat to take out a medal at the upcoming 2012 Olympics.
The Australian public might not realise it, but our current crop of players – even without Bogut – is without a doubt our strongest.
This is in no way an insult to past greats such as Shane Heal, Andrew Gaze or Luc Longley, but rather a huge sign of admiration to what our current Aussies are achieving in their respective careers.
Many Australians are competing overseas which is an achievement in itself, but it is the calibre of the clubs they compete for week in week out which is really impressive.
Seven players named in our 25 man preliminary squad play for European powerhouses like Aleks Maric of Panathinaikos Athens, David Andersen of Mens Sana Basket, Matt Nielsen of BC Khimki, AJ Ogilvy and Brad Newley of Valencia BC, Joe Ingles of FC Barcelona Bàsquet and Nathan Jawai of UNICS Kazan.
These clubs might not arouse a typical member of the Australian public’s attention but each of these teams year in year out are championship contenders within their own domestic leagues and in Euroleague or Eurocup competitions.
Throw into the mix the NBA’s team of the last decade San Antonio Spurs who Patrick Mills calls his own and you can quickly realise that this crop of Aussies are something special.
We enter this Olympic campaign with arguably the world’s most feared front court with the likes of David Andersen, Aleks Maric, Matt Nielsen, AJ Ogilvy and Nathan Jawai up front.
This combination should out play and out muscle any other, including Team USA. Rising stars Patrick Mills and Matthew Dellavedova bring much needed skills to the point guard position, which has been lacking since Shane Heal left after the 2004 Olympics.
Throw into the mix small forwards Joe Ingles and Brad Newley and you have a team that really has no reason to fail.
Our weakness in recent years has been our ability to shoot the ball from three. Mills, Ingles, Newley and Andersen have for too long been our only shooters but now with the addition of Dellavedova, they get some much needed help.
Throw into the mix potential additions like sharp shooters Peter Crawford or Adam Gibson and the Boomers should enter London with another strength rather than a weakness.
Expect the Boomers to surprise many this year. Come the knock-out stages, I certainly expect the famous fighting Aussie spirit to rear its head and cause an upset or two en-route to medal glory.
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