Hoops

Brown: Time for a Boomers medal

The way Burston has been training here - pretty impressive. In better training form than Ballinger or Schenscher. You'd think he carried that to Boomers training and impressed there also.

D-League is the best spot to be to get an NBA contract, so it would be excellent for Mills in that regard.

However, it wont help him develop international point guard skills one bit, so from a Boomers point of view Mills would be best off at a Euroleague club or in Spain, Italy, Australia, Greece etc.

Not sure that his game will be that successful in a slow down Euro context at his young age though, but would still be a good learning experience.

Spot on hustle on Mills.
I think the D-League would be terrible for Mills because of the fact it is an "I" league - and what I mean by that is that evry player in that comp is just looking out for themselves and trying to get that elusive NBA contract.
For his development and playing sake, he would be better of in Europe andhone his play making skills there.

Isaac, D-League may not be terrible for Mills. I have to say I have not seen enough of either that or Euro leagues to have a valid opinion on which would be better for development. You hear lots of people making negative comments about the D-League, but I've never heard someone give a reasoned explanation for why that is.

Since Mills was drafted second round and has not been offered a contract due to his injury, do the Blazers still have any hold over his rights? Anyone know?

If not, I guess the one positive is that he and his agent can try to find the perfect team for him to showcase his skills rather than have to accept going to Portland's D-League affiliate.

My biggest concern is such an inexperienced coach.

I think we have an excellent squad. If we can get the players who played so well v Russia and Lithuania to play together during a long, strong preparation next year, we would go into the WC’s as one of the top six teams.

C: Bogut, Jawai, Schenscher, Nevill
PF: Nielsen, Ballinger, Andersen, Ogilvy
SF: Barlow, Worthington, Rush, Wagstaff
SG: Newley, Ingles, Harvey, Weigh
PG: Bruton, Mills, Gibson

For my team, I would pick the first two in each position plus Gibson and either Schenscher or Andersen. None of the Emus from this year will be ready for men’s international by next year.

Barlow going to Europe is good for him experiencing another style, but going to a league that is not as good as the NBL is not ideal. Still, the quartet of he, Newley, Worthington and Ingles should give us good, height, length, athleticism and shooting for years to come.

Isaac, despite his tendency to shoot his mouth off, I like Wortho for his competitive spirit and think he has a good amount of ability. When it comes to the three spot though, after watching him at the Olympics last year, it is clear to me that he is too slow to cope with high quality SFs, and not really strong enough at times either. He'd need to do a good job of knocking down threes to justify much court time I reckon. If we're looking at guys like him, we might as well go the whole way and play Nielsen at SF - I don't think he is much slower than Wortho.

Barlow seems to be a better player than Ingles at the moment, but not by much, and he just seems a little too slow and clumsy to be a good option for the long term. So I still see Ingles as the ideal guy physique-wise. Just don't know if he has the mindset to really take advantage of those gifts.

Agree on the problems guys like Jawai and Mills face. I hope the Blazers will allow Mills to find a good Euro team where he can develop for the coming season. The one small blessing from the Boomers perspective is that Mills is more likely to be fresh and keen to play for the national team than if he was fighting it out for an NBA contract next year! Jawai seems a long way from being ready to compete for playing time in the NBA, so I hope he is sent to the D-League to develop this entire season, rather than sitting on the bench doing nothing.

While I love that Brown is aiming high, I think that every time we approach a WC's or Olympic games we tend to get a little carried away with our prospects.

While our general level of talent is good (particularly at the baseline), we lack any real standout stars. Bogut, Anderson and Neilson are solid international players, but not Lauren Jackson 'best player in the world' types. The rest of the Aussie contingent are stars in the NBL. But that probably says enough.

The problem is the general level of talent in any of the top 15 nations is 'good', and for the top 5 is very good to exceptional. Having 3 or 4 players that have had some success at international level is not enough to crack it.

I think we need to concede that absent a miracle (which I concede can happen in tournament play), a medal at international level will remain just out of our reach. Embedding ourselves consistently in the top 8 is I think a more realistic ambition.

Good call Isaac - Wortho is solid at the 3 spot.

Beantown - Agree on Newley and Mills - the potential is there for them to be very good starters, and then it is thin thereafter.
A younger and fit Sam Mackinnon would be a bonus for Coach Brown and the Boomers right now!
Barlow is putting himself in the right position by heading to Europe. Let's hope he takes his game up another level over there as he will prove crucial at the 3 spot. and we need Ingles to get a gig in Europe. If he comes back to play in Oz then his game will struggle to get to anothjer level. Both fit the bill of a tall reliable 3 point shooter (Barlow is more reliable).
Jawai is stuck in what is increasingly looking like a bad position in Dallas. Dallas just signed Drew Gooden. Let's hope he makes the most of any minutes he may get early on or it could be benchwarming all season and that would not be good for him or the Boomers.
Mills' position in the NBA this season is just about over unless he gets traded. He now also has to contend with Andre Miller who got picked up by the Blazers. I can't see him getting a contract now and with his broken foot. I hope he pops up in Europe on a big team - the NBA D-League would be terrible for him IMO.
Andersen getting an NBA gig finally is great news and the situation he finds himself in at the Rockets is just about perfect.

I hope guys like Nate Tomlinson (Colorado), Delly (Saint Marys) and Page (Saint Marys) come on quickly - we need them!

LC, provided Mills develops his PG skills and Newley becomes consistent at intl level, I think we will be okay at those starting positions. I agree that depth is pretty thin on the ground after that, but at least we have starters at the one and two.

Of bigger concern is the three spot. We have absolutely no-one with enough athleticism to contain world class wing players. Imagine where we'd be if Sam Mackinnon was 4 years younger! He was awesome for a couple of tournaments around 4-5 years ago when our team was basically in transition.

In the absence of a good athlete for the SF position, I think we need them to be a tall, reliable three point shooter. To me, Ingles is physically the most likely candidate, but we desperately need him to improve his shot and all around consistency in time for the worlds.

Its going to be critical that Jawai, Mills, Newley and Ingles all end up in spots where they are playing good minutes over the next year, and working on their weaknesses and inconsistency. If those guys can do that and Bogut and Andersen are healthy, we do have an outside chance at medal. Clearly a lot of IF's there for Brown to work through!

the Ozzy team looks good on paper

When are the worlds?

PS: I agree that our front-line is shaping as arguably the best Australia has ever offered. With guys such as Bogut, Andersen, Jawai, Nielson, plus with guys such as AJ Ogilvy (Vanderbilt) like to be drafted to the NBA next year, Aleks Maric, Aron Baynes and nto forgetting Luke Schenscher - we have serious big-man depth at our disposal for at least the next 10-15 years.
Let's hope our guards can provide the necessary support.

Our only main concern is in our guard rotation. We have Newley, but Mills in injured and who knows where he will be playing. We really need CJ Bruton to play at the World's for us to be up there and for him to contribute big time. I honestly believe the Aussie guard behind these 3 names are thin at best when compared to the talent on offer for USA, Spain, Argentina, etc, etc.
Ingles and Barlow can spot-check at the 2, but really both are 3 men. Who else do we have that can really make an impact internationally at the 1 and 2 spots?