Hoops

The look of the 2010 Boomers?

In your second 11, I'd have Luke Nevill in for Petrie and move AJ into the PF spot although he can also play centre.

CJ is a born and bred Aussie.

Andersen will make the Boomers team if fit and healthy. He offers a pick and pop option on offence, as does AJ Ogilvy. Ogilvy may or may not make the team, ut I reckon Ando will. I also reckon Neilson will make it too.

Harvey will be a borderline selection, and even if he makes it he will find himself at the end of the bench ala Rillie.

Paul, not in anyway saying Newley is not our #1 option at SG, just that he doesn't appear to give us a top drawer 3 point shot. Therefore, my question is, what, if anything, do we need to do about that? Maybe its nothing - we just accept we aren't a great 3 point team with Newley and Ingles/ Barlow at the wings.

Don't know who was saying Andersen should be an automatic selection. IMO its just that there isn't anyone who really has a shot at beating him out just yet. As I said earlier, I think Andersen is better than Nielsen, because while neither are good post-up players at the intl level, Andersen can shoot much better and therefore has much greater ability to score. Nielsen may be a slightly better defender, but their rebounding is about the same.

Andersen is also better than Jawai right now because of his defence issues. I think Ogilvy is not far behind, but Andersen's experience puts him ahead of AJ for now too. All the other guys like Schensch, Baynes, Maric, Nevill, etc still seem a notch below.

Anon, regarding Wortho, what I was saying earlier was that I don't think he is agile enough to use as a SF very often. I think if you use him, it is predominantly as a mobile PF who will stretch defences.

I think this is the way Brown wants to use him - once he went down, it looks like Brown stuck to his game plan and inserted Oscar Forman to perform the same role.

So yes, if he can keep improving his rebounding, he could be a serious consideration for big mins at PF, but I don't think he is versatile enough to solve our defensive problem at SF.

And LC, right with you on Andersen. He's good enough and can be a real weapon for us if used correctly. Still rate him above every big man we have other than Bogut, though I hope Jawai and Ogilvy will both surpass him in a couple of years.

Paul, you're right, the volume shooter thing does seem to have been an issue with Harvey in the past. I know first hand how this has affected a great shooter like Ray Allen in recent times!

So if we think he is realistically only going to be a change-up option off the bench and will not be able to have an impact with spot minutes, maybe you have to consider dropping him altogether?

That would create a slot for Dellavedova, who would provide insurance if there is concern about Bruton's fragility going into the Worlds, and could perhaps see spot mins at the two when teams press us.

Am in two minds about this, because would love to get Delly in to the team, but was also impressed by Harvey in Boomers colours for the first time in the Stankovic Cup.

Also, although Newley shot very well from the 3pt line at the Olympics, I just did a bit more research and it seems he shoots barely above 30% from that range in Europe! So he does seem to blow a bit hot and cold from long range (I recall he also broke a record with 8/8 threes in Greece).

In the end, I think you still have to give the nod to Newley purely on age, because he has the time to build experience for the Boomers, whereas Harvey is at the other end of his career. But it does take me back to my original thought about whether we have have enough 3 point firepower out there with a Newley and Barlow/ Ingles combo on the floor.

No he shouldn't - even though he just inked a deal with Houston to be their starting centre in place of Yao Ming this season!

He is good enough, don't worry about that!

All good and valid points.

Personally I think Ballinger could be a great option for the Boomers too. Just not sure if it will work out that way under Brown. Time will tell I guess!

Thanks Anon, I think you meant 9/20 from 3pt? Looks like I may have unfairly maligned Newley based on his recent form! So I think we can safely put the Harvey to start for the Boomers option to bed.

How many of Newley's shots were threes? I really like the guy, but he seems to blow hot and cold from the 3 point line and appears to be more comfortable slashing to the basket.

Nice that Australia had the second best shooting % for the tournament, but I wonder if that number was artificially inflated by the big wins against Iran, Lithuania and Russia?

We really seemed to struggle for good shots against teams like the US and Argentina.

On Andersen, he was a bit up and down in Beijing, with really good games against Argentina, Iran and Russia (11-21, 3-5 3pts, 16 rebs, 3 stls) and poor games against Lithuania, Croatia and the US.

He has his problems getting moved out of position because of his lack of strength and weight, but he was still a decent rebounder and is a deadly shooter with the height to get his jumpshot off nearly anytime he wants to. I thought he was much more useful than Nielsen, who is supposedly about as tall, but seems to play small internationally.

Ballinger is an excellent shooter and it would be a good idea to give him another go before the Worlds, but he isn't very tall by intl standards and might struggle to find room to get his shot off against other PFs. So I think Andersen's height gives him a big advantage over Balls there.

Good looking teams guys. There's clearly a consensus about quite a few players.

Other than the 6'6 SF defender I have been harping on about, the other glaring problem these Boomers have is very poor 3 point shooting. Does anyone think this problem could warrant putting Harvey into the starting lineup at the expense of Newley? Or perhaps playing Newley at SF (he is 6'7) if we think he is too good to start on the bench?

Doing this would weaken our rebounding and good teams might expose Newley defensively if they have a big, strong SF, but it would help us to spread the floor a bit better than running Newley/ Ingles or Newley/ Barlow, because both Ingles and Barlow seem inconsistent from that range and don't exactly have rapid fire releases.

Tough call really, because I think Newley is our best slasher by a long way, but his inconsistent three is a glaring hole in his game.

Anyone else having trouble getting onto NBA.com?

Mills
Bruton
Harvey or Gibson/Dellavedova
Newley
Ingles
Worthington
Barlow
Neilsen
Jawai
Ogilvy
Anderson
Bogut

Bruton will get a guernsey IMO, and the last guard spot will be between Harvey, Gibson or Dellavedova.

Those also in the running to push someone out are Baynes, Schenscher, Nevill & Rush.

I too like AJ and think he should go.

Obviously this all depends on everyone being healthy and available for selection.