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Opinion
We’re on the verge of awards season in the NBA where trophies will be handed out in all sorts of individual categories.
It’s been a pretty good season for just about all the Australian players in the NBA so if we isolate the traditional awards to them, who deserves the honours?
The recent addition of Sydney Kings forward Xavier Cooks to the Washington Wizards roster brings the number of Boomers on basketball’s biggest stage to a record-breaking 11 this season.
It’s a far cry from a generation ago when Luc Longley flew the flag solo for nearly a decade – apart from brief stints by Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal here and there – after becoming the first Australian to play in the NBA in 1991.
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In honour of his pioneering stint, the Aussies in the NBA Awards shall henceforth be known as The Longleys.
Xavier Cooks (Washington)
Dyson Daniels (New Orleans)
Matthew Dellavedova (Sacramento)
Josh Giddey (Oklahoma City)
Josh Green (Dallas)
Joe Ingles (Milwaukee)
Jock Landale (Phoenix)
Patty Mills (Brooklyn)
Ben Simmons (Brooklyn)
Matisse Thybulle (Philadelphia/Portland)
Jack White (Denver)
Josh Giddey dunks. (Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
Giddey is the standout here for the main award for the Longleys and to be frank, it wasn’t even close with Green probably the main challenger after his breakout year at Dallas.
He’s been Australia’s most consistent performer all season, shown no sign of a sophomore slump after an outstanding rookie campaign and he’s one of the main reasons the young Thunder outfit is still in the playoff picture heading into the final few games.
Giddey has been on fire this week with 18 points, five rebounds and seven assists on Thursday as OKC scraped past Detroit a day after he put up a career-high 31 in an upset loss to Charlotte.
He’s improved his scoring from 12.5 to 16.5 per game this season while maintaining his 7.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists, his three-point percentage is still a work in progress but improving at 33% while his field goal average has also risen significantly to 48.9%.
Giddey is the future of the Australian men’s basketball team in the post-Patty Mills/Joe Ingles era and the Boomers couldn’t be in safer hands.
There were high hopes at the start of the season that Simmons, as Australia’s only ever all-NBA or All-Star, would return to the form which made him elite in Philadelphia but his 42-game campaign with Brooklyn after a controversial year out was dismal in pretty much every way.
Simmons averaged 6.9 points, 6.1 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game and was not the defensive dynamo that rose to prominence at the 76ers. This is a guy who was pretty much a lock for 16, eight and eight in his first four seasons but the lustre of the former No.1 draft pick is fading fast.
The Nets shut him down earlier this week citing a nerve issue in his back – he has six months to get fit and rediscover the form that made him a star otherwise his promising career could be over within a couple of years if he remains on his current trajectory.
There are technically three options for the Longley here – White and recent NBA graduate Cooks have been given a few minutes here and there but Daniels has shown plenty in his first season at the Pelicans.
A recent ankle injury sat Daniels for 12 games but he’s managed 54 for a playoff contending team in the West. His raw numbers are not amazing with just 3.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game but it has not been easy to get regular game time (averaging 18.3) due to New Orleans’ deep roster.
Daniels has handled his defensive assignments at a much higher level than the average rookie and the signs are there for the No.8 overall pick to develop into a starting point guard in the next year or two.
Dyson Daniels steals the ball from Luka Doncic. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Green has been impressive, it’s not hard to stand out at the Mavericks on the defensive end, but Thybulle has taken Simmons’ mantle as Australia’s best all-round defender.
“Mathief” had fallen out of favour in Philadelphia (not nearly as badly as Simmons did), geting just 12.1 minutes on average through the first 49 games so it was a blessing for the forward when he was traded to Portland on deadline day.
He’s getting 27.3 minutes per game at the Blazers, improving to 7.6 points per game and knocking down threes also at a career-high rate (38.2%).
And that’s the key to Thybulle having longevity in the NBA – you can’t be a three and D specialist if you can’t or won’t shoot from distance.
Green gets his long-awaited Longley here after starting more games off the bench than he should have at Dallas.
He’s only started in 21 of 56 and even since the trade for Kyrie Irving when the Mavericks’ defensive deficiencies have been laid bare by placing him alongside Luka Doncic, coach Jason Kidd has used fading veteran Tim Hardaway jnr on the wing ahead of Green in the starting five.
The Mavs’ play-in hopes let alone their playoff chances are looking shaky after they dropped to 11th in the West at 37-40 following Thursday’s loss to Philadelphia and Kidd looks set to be canned for a third time after unsuccessful stints at Brooklyn and Milwaukee.
Green’s upside is one of the few bright spots for their season – he’s shot up to 9.2 points per game in his third season, shooting 53.5% from the field including an impressive 40.5% from three with 1.1 makes on average, all career-highs that should only get better next season.
Ingles gets an honourable mention for this Longley for his efforts at the Bucks since returning from a torn ACL. The 35-year-old has strung together 41 games after his comeback in December, playing 20-plus minutes most nights and giving Milwaukee’s second unit a savvy playmaking option off the bench.
He’s the Aussie best placed to be collecting a memento from this season in the form of a championship ring.
Josh Green. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
This should have been going to Jock Landale after a promising start to his second season in the NBA after being traded from San Antonio to Phoenix.
But the 27-year-old centre’s minutes have been dwindling in the second half of the season with Suns coach Monty Williams preferring veteran journeyman Bismack Biyombo as his back-up big. Landale got his first back-to-back DNP-CDs in a few months this week.
Still, he’s shown enough to stick in the NBA next season whether at Phoenix or elsewhere – he’s unlikely to get much game time in the playoffs now Kevin Durant is back.
So this Longley is another race in two between Green and Giddey – they’ve both improved sharply this season.
Giddey, as a No.6 overall pick, was supposed to continue his rise this season so the Longley goes to Green, whose chances of becoming a long-term player looked shaky after his first two seasons but the former No.18 pick frm the previous year’s draft has not only shown he belongs but that he can thrive if he’s placed in the right situation.
Joe Ingles drives to the hoop for Milwaukee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Giddey, Daniels, Green, Ingles, Landale.
And there’s your starting five for the Boomers at the World Cup at the end of August and the Paris Olympics next year.
With Mills bombing off the bench, Dellavedova unleashed for spot minutes when perimeter defence is required, and Cooks and Daniels getting a taste of the NBA, two more podium finishes should be on the horizon after the 2021 historic run in Tokyo.