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Booming for Rio: Australia's basketballing resurgence

Roar Rookie
16th December, 2014
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Patty Mills is getting better and better for the Spurs. (Source: Wiki Commons)
Roar Rookie
16th December, 2014
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In a year and a half, it will be that time again. The Olympic games will hit the samba capital that is Rio De Janeiro and millions world wide will tune in to support their countries on the biggest stage in the world.

Us Aussies, being the sports nuts that we are, will all pay close attention to these games and have high hopes that our athletes can snatch a gold here and there.

Some will watch the athletics where wonder-kid Jack Hale could make his Olympic debut, many will be watching the swimming and wondering if we can bounce back from the London disaster, but this writer will be watching our six feet and above athletes play basketball.

Australia’s mens basketball team is heading towards a golden period and the Rio Olympics is the perfect time and place to swish through the publics consciousness. We currently have seven players playing at the highest level in the American NBA. Our players are heavily gaining momentum to burst into something a whole lot bigger.

Dante Exum, currently at the Utah Jazz and is also an ex-AIS scholar, has been compared to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Manu Ginoboli and is set for stardom. Spurs duo Patty Mills and Aaron Baynes have already won NBA championship rings – a feat only a few Americans yet alone Australians can claim to fame.

LeBron James has an Aussie teammate in Matthew Dallavedova and ‘Delly’ is quickly gaining the praise from the the American media for his smarts and ability to get teammates involved. Andrew Bogut is no stranger down under, but the big man is enjoying a golden run with Golden State. The team is on a 10-game streak and Bogut is putting in strong performances.

Other Aussies in the NBA include Joe Ingles and Cameron Bairstow.

Now to throw a fun thought at you all. Imagine if Australian-born Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving jumped ship to join our rising Boomers team. We could seriously give the superstar USA dream team a scare.

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Ben Simmonds is heralded as the top prospect by the American media and is a former teammate and good friend of Dante Exum. When Simmonds finishes college at LSU, he will almost definitely find a NBA home and will go very highly in the draft.

Thon Maker is a 17-year-old Sudanese-Australian who could be the man Pelicans star Anthony Davis worries about in six years’ time.

Whether or not these top prospects will be ready for Rio remains unlikely but, the quotient remans the same. Basketball in Australia is only rise and Rio could be the stage where heads start to turn and Australia is recognised as a legitimate and scary team.

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