Avoiding an early-round clash with the NBA-powered USA in this year's basketball World Cup might seem like an ideal scenario - but not in eyes of Australian men's coach Andrej Lemanis.
The Boomers were on Tuesday (AEDT) drawn in group D for the 24-nation tournament, pitting them against European powerhouse and world No.4 Lithuania, Slovenia, Angola, South Korea and Mexico.
Australia will play all five teams in the preliminary round in Gran Canaria, the capital of the Canary Islands, from August 30.
The top four will progress to the knockout rounds, to be played in Madrid and Barcelona.
While the draw means Lemanis' men avoid the world's top three sides - the USA, Spain and Argentina - early on, it increases the chance of them meeting in the sudden-death playoffs.
If the Boomers finish top of their group, they are likely to face the world No.1 Americans in the semi-finals.
Second place would probably result in a quarter-final match-up.
Fourth, and an unwelcome showdown in the first round of the knockout stages looms.
"I'd be more than happy to have the USA in our pool for that very reason - when you crossover you don't get to play them until the gold medal match, which would be a pretty good result," Lemanis told AAP.
"They're the reigning Olympic champions and reigning world champions. They're a force to be reckoned with. The longer you can avoid that match-up, particularly in a knockout situation, the better off you're going to be.
"But the reality is, it's the World Cup. All the teams are going to be pretty good and you've got to come out and play well to progress.
"We were confident coming into the tournament regardless who were drew in our pool."
Lemanis, in Barcelona for the draw, hopes to arrange up to eight warm-up games with other World Cup participants in the coming days and will also scout base locations in Gran Canaria.
The island city is the home of Boomers star Brad Newley's Spanish league club - something Lemanis is keen to exploit.
"When you're in a tournament situation like that, you've got six teams trying to access the same facilities and everybody wants what's best for them," he said.
"If we can go outside the local organising committee and have some local contacts on the ground, which obviously Brad will have, hopefully that can be of benefit to us."
