Boomers stacked with NBA regulars

Coach Andrej Lemanis says results in Rio will determine whether the 2016 Boomers are Australia's best men's basketball team.

Members of the Australian Boomers basketball team

The Boomers will play two matches against an American College All-Stars side before the Olympics. (AAP)

For a Boomers sides stacked with NBA regulars who train and play daily with and against the likes of LeBron James and Steph Curry, there's no fear factor as Australia chase a historic first Olympic men's basketball medal in August.

Even with rising superstar Ben Simmons at long odds to play in Rio as he prepares for his debut NBA season and Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum also unlikely as he recovers from a serious knee injury, national coach Andrej Lemanis will be able to call on a squad including half a dozen who ply their trade in the world's best domestic league.

The Boomers head into camp in Melbourne on July 5, where the expanded squad of 17 will be cut to 12 the day before the first of two warm-up matches against the US Pac-12 College All-Stars team.

Golden State centre Andrew Bogut and Cleveland guard Matthew Dellavedova will be the last of the Australians to turn their focus towards Rio, although they have the best of all possible excuses.

For the second straight year, they will be squaring off in the NBA finals.

Utah Jazz swingman Joe Ingles said it was a far cry from his first two Olympic campaigns, when the Australian squad was dominated by NBL players, supplemented by those who played in Europe and a sprinkling of NBA experience.

"I don't think we've ever had the fear of playing people," Ingles told reporters on Tuesday.

"But playing against these guys on a daily basis, you see Delly is with LeBron every single day, Andrew is with Steph every single day and with Klay (Thompson) and other guys who might be in the US team.

"That helps in knowing tendencies, knowing what he wants to do, what he wants to do at this time, when he's aggressive, when he's not aggressive."

Lemanis said the results the Boomers achieved in Rio would ultimately determine whether they deserved to be rated as the best Australian men's team.

The Boomers were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by the United States at the 2008 and 2012 Games, although that cannot happen this time around as they have been drawn in the same qualifying group as the red-hot gold-medal favourites.

"The beauty of tournament play is you've only got to beat them once (in knockout)," said Lemanis.

"The reality of our guys being in the NBA and having success on the world stage and playing meaningful minutes is that they have a confidence level coming up against these guys.

"There's no longer any fear involved."

Lemanis said it was logistically impossible to entice another top-line national team to travel to Australia a month before the Olympics.

As such, Basketball Australia chose the Pac-12 Allstar team - to be coached by collegiate Hall of Fame and former NBA coach Mike Montgomery - as opponents for the July 12 and 14 matches at Hisense Arena.

The Pac-12 includes traditional basketball powerhouses such as Stanford, Colorado and Arizona.


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world