It’s hard to say how many Australian basketball fans got up at 5am on Sunday morning or had their Foxtel IQs rolling on ESPN, but those who did got a glimpse into the future of Australian basketball.
The Nike Hoop Summit, shown live from Portland, Oregon, featured the best young players from the United States against those from the “rest of the world.”
Numerous NBA stars have played in the Summit, including Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki and Aussie Patty Mills. Among the stars of last year’s game were the trio of freshmen who led Duke to the national title: Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones.
So to say the least, the game is a pretty big deal, with the stands full of college coaches and NBA scouts.
This year’s contest featured two Australians, Ben Simmons, the #1 high school player in the United States and Thon Maker, the #1 mystery man of Australian basketball.
Both were in the starting five and both finished atop the statistical charts as the World team beat Team USA 103-101. Simmons led the World team with nine assists to go with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Maker led all players with 10 rebounds, along with two points and one blocked shot.
It was a rare opportunity for Australian basketball fans to watch the two in action and what we saw was pretty much along the lines of what we’ve come to expect reading various reports and watching limited highlights packages (not including hyped-up, over-flattering YouTube mixtapes).
Simmons, as many of you readers will know, is the real deal. He’s 18, 6’10” and has the ability and desire to handle the ball on the perimeter. He’s a slasher, not a pure shooter and he can score and dish with equal aplomb.
Simmons is headed to LSU, where he’ll probably be a “one and done” player before entering the NBA draft. Most 2016 mock drafts, in fact, have him going at #1 or occasionally #2 behind 7-foot Haitian Skal Labissiere.
Maker, on the other hand, is a project. He’s a 7’1” Sudanese/Australian who has remarkable skills for a big man but still needs lots of work on his game. He doesn’t have much of a shot and he’s still growing into his body, which certainly needs to get stronger.
But as the old saying goes, “you can’t teach height” and Maker has plenty of that as well as a determined attitude and work ethic.
The other big difference between the two – and this will more than likely come to the fore on the international stage – is their backgrounds. Simmons, the son of former Melbourne Tiger Dave, grew up in Newcastle and Melbourne but has been at Montverde Academy in Florida for the past three seasons.
He’s helped them to three Dick’s National Championship tournament titles and was an early commit to LSU where his godfather David Patrick (a former St. Mary’s assistant) is a coach.
Maker, born in South Sudan and raised in Perth and Sydney, has been looked after by his somewhat controversial guardian, Edward Smith for a number of years.
Smith, who has worked with other Sudanese players (eg: Ater Majok, who went to UConn) and is viewed by some as a Svengali type, took Maker to the US, where he has been in and out of different schools and is now at the Athlete Institute in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada.
Maker recently “reclassified” as a senior, meaning this will be his last year of high school and next year he will either go to a prep school, a university or play professionally outside the US before more than likely declaring for the 2016 NBA draft. He too, has been talked about as a lottery pick.
Of course, what most Aussie fans want to know is how do these two potential stars fit into the national team which is already stocked with the likes of Mills, Dante Exum, Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova?
It’s a good question.
With the Rio Olympics just around the corner, you’d expect 2016 to be a learning exercise for Simmons, who has played with the Boomers, although sparingly. He won’t participate in the upcoming Oceania series against New Zealand.
Still, there’s no doubt – and yes, I’m happy to say it – Simmons is the future of Australian hoops.
Maker is an entirely different proposition. There’s little argument about a certain disconnect between Basketball Australia and the Sudanese community, with the fault probably lying with both sides.
Maker remains on the periphery of the Boomers’ program, although he has met with head coach Andrej Lemanis and there is hope he’ll play for Australia’s Under-19 team at the World Championships in June. On the flipside, there has been plenty of online chatter about him representing the United States or Canada.
Maker did list Australia as his home country at the Hoop Summit, and as writer Olgun Ulic pointed out on Pickandroll.com.au, “It was a welcome sign for Australian basketball fans to see him in an Australian jersey – albeit not an official one.”
Maker has yet to commit to a country through FIBA channels and has yet to represent Australia. And while he’s a diamond in the rough, Maker seems like a must-have for the Boomers if they intend to capitalise on this current wealth of talent coming through the AIS and the American high school, college and AAU systems.
One last thing. Thon Maker has a younger brother named Matur. He’s 17 and 6’10.”
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