With the highly anticipated Rio Olympics only days away, many eyes will be on the basketball, where Australia’s Boomers have established themselves as a potential medal threat.
The luck of the draw abandoned them in London, facing the eventual gold medal winners Team USA in the quarter finals, making for consecutive seventh-place finishes in the last two Olympic games.
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Still, this has increased the footprint Australian basketball has on international competitions.
With a record amount of Australian natives playing in the NBA, the Boomers have a great chance to flourish and win their first international medal this year.
The roster features the likes of NBA champions Andrew Bogut, Aron Baynes, Patrick Mills and Matthew Dellavadova, as well as past and present NBA players Joe Ingles, Cameron Bairstow and David Andersen.
The roster is rounded out by 3andD wing Ryan Brokehoff, scoring threat Chris Goulding, stretch-four Brock Motum, and NBL sensations Kevin Lisch and Damian Martin. The balance of the squad is imposing, even after Dante Exum, Ben Simmons and Thon Maker opted not to be considered for selection or withdrew their name from selection consideration.
Coach Andrej Lemanis has gained a reputation for playing a grind-it-out style, bucking the current trend of basketball where shooting and small-ball line-ups feature heavily in leagues around the world.
Australia feature multiple post-players, with poor or non-existent shooting. Bairstow, Baynes and Bogut will struggle to share the court together due to their lack of speed and agility, as well as their poor shooting capabilities. Teams such as USA, Serbia and France will present match-up issues for the Boomers, with all three nations playing a lot of small ball.
Australia was drawn in group A with team USA, France, Venezuela, Serbia and China. The quality of opposition outweighs the quality in group B, alluding to the fact that if Australia qualify they may be able to advance through the rounds. China and Venezuela will present Australia with the greatest chance for victory, with China’s imposing size presenting no fear for the Australians.
The Venezuelans, participating in their first games, were somewhat of a shock, defeating Canada on path to qualifying. Their lack of star talent will be a defining issue as they’ve struggled against elite talent.
On paper, both France and Serbia pose a bounty of talent, however on the opposite ends of the spectrum. France has a range of savvy veterans with NBA experience stretching eight-plus years. Serbia, on the other hand, features young and up-and-coming studs who will present more of challenge in 2020 than 2016.
Lemanis will rely on multiple factors to defeat both nations, none more important than the play of guards Patrick Mills and Matthew Dellavadova. Tenacious defence and elite three-point shooting will be the key, and Mills has been sensational in the green and gold, leading the competition in scoring at London (21.2 ppg) while being named to the all-second team.
Dellavadova, although not noted as a premier scorer, has shown flashes of his ability to take over games and come up with clutch baskets. Recently he hit a go-ahead pull-up jump shot to give the Boomers a huge win against powerhouse nation Argentina. Performances like that will be essential for Australia to have a realistic medal shot.
Overall, the Boomers have an uphill battle to end up on the podium, however is not wild to believe Australia could be fighting for the bronze medal in a few weeks.
commonwombat
Guest
That's a fair read. Group B is more even in standard. In any case, the Boomers would be underdogs is ANY QF match-up given they're most likely no4 from Group A.
Brendon
Guest
Group B is only weaker because of no USA. Theres 5 teams from Group B that can make the quarters: Spain, LTU, ARG, Brazil and Croatia. I'm picking Argentina to miss out. Only Nigeria has no chance from Group B whereas China and Venezuela will struggle from Group A. Only question in group A is will Spain and Serbia finish 2nd and the other 3rd.
Vance Abreu
Roar Rookie
I completely agree with both of you, the Opals have been respected enough for the success they have had. Even though we got demolished by LTU i still believe we can beat them on our day. The quarter final draw will need to be in our favor but still am optimistic if our chances
Torchbearer
Guest
Ahh, the four yearly 'Booomers will medal' hype, while the women quietly go about winning medal number 6. The men's team have lost 2 out of there 3 warm up matches this week, including to the mighty Lithuania last night!
commonwombat
Guest
A very long shot, given at best they're only likely to finish 3/4 in their group. Whilst group B is weaker, they are likely to come up against no1 or 2 from B & in all honesty, either LTU or SPA are likely to kick their backsides off the court. IF they were to somehow finish 2nd in their group, then they would meet 3rd in GrpB, which most likely would be ARG .... but that would be contingent on them beating both FRA & SRB. Fortune might smile once but twice is pushing it. A hypothetical case CAN be made for them making the semi finals due to a lucky cross-over and playing out of their skins in the QF ....... but is is likely ?? Hardly The Opals have a realistic shot but they're no longer the "pencil em in" medal certainties that they've been for much of the past 20 years. Taylor is still a very significant weapon but Jackson's retirement leaves an unpluggable hole. Cambage has immense talent but lacks maturity. There are some quality smalls but not sure how deep this squad really is. Their crunch game is the pool match against FRA. Win this one and they should win their pool & therefore a softer QF & it takes out the possibility of meeting USA in the SFs. Finish 2nd in that pool and whilst you probably should get through QF, you're then up agst USA in SF ..... and its bronze medal match for you.