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The Australian men’s basketball team should have their sights set on a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
The Boomers have the talent to not just win their first medal at a senior men’s basketball tournament, but should aspire to finish in second place behind the mighty United States.
Heck, anything can happen in a game of basketball – they should even be thinking about knocking off Team USA for the gold.
Ok, I should probably settle down a touch and get back on my medication. I’m getting a little too excited. Defeating the Yanks at basketball is not the absolute pipe dream it was 20 years ago, but it would still be a major upset for any nation to beat them at the Olympics.
Complete 2016 Rio Olympics basketball schedule
Yet the reason for my exuberance is somewhat justified. Barring injury or some other form of unavailability, the Boomers squad in 2016 could consist of a starting five of:
Patty Mills
Dante Exum
Joe Ingles
Thon Maker
Andrew Bogut
Along with a seven-man bench selected from the following players:
Matthew Dellavedova
Chris Goulding
Brad Newley
Ben Simmons
Cameron Bairstow
Aron Baynes
Nathan Jawai
Brock Motum
That’s without even taking into account that some other talented young Aussie may burst onto the scene in the next two years. Nor does that squad include David Andersen, a fine servant for the Australian team over the years, who will be 37 when the Games roll around.
In any case, that is an extremely talented line-up, with the ability to compete with any team in the world.
Apart from the US, the other strong basketball nations include Spain, Argentina, France, Greece and Brazil. However, the core of most of those teams is starting to get on in age, and the 2016 Olympics may provide the opportunity for a new nation to emerge.
Lithuania has been earmarked, but considering the talent listed above Australia should be a big improver over the over 24 months.
A three-guard rotation of Mills, Exum and Dellavedova has unbelievable potential, with an abundance of playmaking, speed, penetration, hustle, scoring and basketball IQ.
Ingles, Newley, Goulding and Simmons provide plenty of athleticism, scoring and dynamism at the wing spots, and Simmons may even be ready to play power forward internationally in a few years’ time.
Upfront, the team is stacked. I’m salivating at the thought of how Bogut, Maker and Bairstow could be used together, while Baynes, Jawai and Motum provide plenty of muscle.
I don’t know too much about Motum, but he impressed enough in the NBA Summer League to be invited to the Utah Jazz’s training camp, in the hope of winning a spot on the roster for the 2014-15 NBA season.
The team is a little light in the perimeter-shooting department, with only Mills and Goulding considered long-distance sharpshooters, but they have all other bases covered.
They have the quickness and ball-handling to play small when required, while conversely, there is plenty of height across the squad if the team needs to go big. The team has the potential to be a defensive juggernaut, and there is plenty of unselfishness within the unit, which should ensure they’re hard to match-up against on offence.
Needless to say, Australian teams always play hard and hustle. So all the ingredients are there for a tough match-up for other countries.
Maker, a 7″1′ 17-year-old, originally from Sudan, is predicted to be the first pick in the 2016 NBA draft, and he provides the Boomers with some serious x-factor. He’s been compared to NBA greats Kevin Durant and Kevin Garnett, and though he’s obviously still very young, footage like this has people gushing.
The majority of my potential squad will represent Australia in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which tips off in Spain in just over three weeks’ time. Though the team will be without NBA stars Mills and Bogut – who are both recovering from injury – along with Maker and fellow future star Simmons, whom weren’t selected, the tournament should still provide a nice gauge of where the national team currently sits.
It’s probably a little early for the rest of this collection of players to make a big noise on the international stage, but in two years, with a little more experience – both internationally and in the NBA – along with the hopeful return of Mills and Bogut, the Boomers could really challenge the world’s best teams.
In fact, merely challenging the world’s best basketball nations may not be setting Australia’s goals high enough. Some metal should be the ultimate target.