It's time to think Tokyo for the Boomers

It was certainly heartbreaking to watch the Boomers capitulate against Serbia. Up until that point, it really did seem like a fairytale run from the beginning.

It was a performance that not even the greatest sporting foresight could’ve predicted. The timing of that powerful Serbian display effectively denied us the gold medal. To me, Silver is the new Gold in Olympic men’s basketball.

The USA team should never, ever lose, such is the immense talent, skill and power of this team. We saw this in the final against Serbia. They may have coasted their way there, but all the dream team ever has to do is go up their seemingly endless shaft of gears. No one was going to deny them. It just wasn’t going to happen. That’s why silver is as good as gold if you’re not the US.

But there’s always bronze at stake too. After finding myself so disappointed that we’d missed the boat, I’d forgotten that we had an important showdown with another powerhouse. The Spanish.

So, after the anti-climactic denial of gold, we were forced to witness another heartbreaking loss. This time on the back of a very questionable refereeing decision that was borderline ludicrous, given what was a stake.

They hadn’t called those all tournament, so it seems strange they’d start at that untimely moment.

The Olympic Games is more or less the pinnacle of men’s basketball, so it’s even harder to accept that both we and the Boomers have to wait another four years for the next chance.

But the next Olympics may just be our best chance.

Australia is about to undergo its greatest ever talent-drive for men’s basketball in the country.

Never before have we produced the level of unique talent that’s residing in the NBA and Europe, or not far from it.

Australia had an all-NBA starting five at the Olympic Games. No other nation besides the USA did. This doesn’t guarantee success, as the international game is different to the style we’re used to, but it reflects positively on our system of development.

But it’s about to get even better. I predict that, by 2020, we could have a Boomers team entirely made up of NBA players. This is something no other country, that I can think of, has ever achieved (besides the USA) at any one time.

So let’s take a look at both the current crop and the up and comers:

Ben Simmons: The Philadelphia 76er is Australia’s second ever No. 1 NBA draft pick after Andrew Bogut. This guy is a unique talent that’s primed to take the basketball world by storm. Just having him alone would be a fantastic benefit for any national program.

Dante Exum: The Utah Jazz guard has gotten off to an unfortunate start, given he underwent a full knee reconstruction. Exum went at pick five in the 2014 NBA draft and is still young enough to overcome his injury. He would’ve played in Rio had he not been injured. Exum has the tools to be a star.

Thon Maker: Thon Maker was scooped up at pick ten by the Milwaukee Bucks, making it two Australian players within the top ten in the most recent draft. Like Simmons and Exum, Maker is considered a unique talent. He has also expressed his desire to represent the Boomers at some point.

Isaac Humphries: Humphries is still raw and is currently in the college program with the University of Kentucky. He’s a talented big man who’s dominated at the junior level. Although he wouldn’t be considered an absolute certainty for the NBA, Humphries will be the next best big man that Australia produce behind Thon Maker. NBA chances are certainly high.

Jonah Bolden: Like Simmons and Exum, Bolden is the son of past NBL American imports. Interestingly, Bolden passed up the college season to pursue a one and done career overseas with the expectation he’ll be drafted in 2017. I don’t disagree with him. He’s another huge talent on the horizon for Australian basketball.

William McDowell-White: McDowell-White is an interesting prospect. It depends on who you listen to as to what his future may hold. I’ll focus on the positives and say that he is raw, but like Humphries, he has the tools to make it to the NBA. At six foot five, McDowell-White is a rare type of point guard.

This group is, by no means, the only crop of players on the horizon for Australian basketball, but they’re the names you’re most likely to hear about.

Simmons, Exum and Maker are all currently in the NBA, taking our grand total to eight representatives in the big leagues.

Of the current group, I can’t see Andrew Bogut, and possibly Joe Ingles, still going around in four years. I don’t judge the commitment of Bogut, only the longevity of his battered body.

No one can question Andrew Bogut. He made sure he was ready for the Olympic Games even though he was racing time to be fit. It’s a real shame he’s now unlikely to fulfil what he himself considered his final goal in the sport. Winning a medal for Australia.

But it’s time to move on now for the Boomers, and with all these considerations, by 2020, the team may look something like this:

PG – Matthew Dellavedova, William McDowell-White
SG – Dante Exum, Patty Mills
SF – Ben Simmons, Ryan Broekhoff
PF – Aron Baynes, Jonah Bolden
C – Thon Maker, Isaac Humphries

If this is the team Australia bring to the next Olympics, it’d be safe to say we would be second only to the USA in NBA level talent.

No other country has the same forecast for its junior ranks as Australia currently does. A wonderful achievement for a country of 23 million people, where basketball, while not being a minority sport at all, is constantly competing with the big guns of the Australian sporting landscape.

So while it’s hard to accept that our medal hopes once again went begging, the silver lining is that the Boomers are about to enter a generation of basketball that this country has never experienced.

Rio was a shame, but there’s bigger fish to fry yet. Who knows, we may even become the mighty dream teams closest rival.