
Combined Australasian men's team?
Tier 1: Team North America then Team Europe, 30 points better than
Tier 2: Team South America then Team Oceania, 30 points better than
Tier 3: Team Africa then Team Asia


Are you sure anon'?
If they are serious about promoting the game and could find a sponsor (Nike perhaps), wouldn't this be exactly the type of event needed to give the game a lift in places like Australia, New Zealand especially?
Would be great for us here, really give the NBL a huge recognition boost I would think...
Yes, the yanks already have plenty of basketball exposure, so we don't play over there, we play this here or in another land (perhaps not Antarctica).

Ha, Antarctica, that's quite funny actually...
Still, it would be a nice spin on the world championships and to maybe level the playing field a little you could divide Europe into East/West and the USA into North/South!
(Please don't think I am being politically incorrect here either, this is nothing to do with the Berlin Wall or Gettysburg).

Brazil and Argentina produce some pretty decent athletes so I wouldn't be so quick to right off the South Americans.

Bear, if they had such an Inter-Continental Cup today, I reckon they'd finish
1. Team North America
2. Team Europe
3. Team Oceania
4. Team South America
5. Team Africa
6. Team Asia
If you went by Region instead, then I'd add 'Team Middle East and North Africa', and 'Team Central America and the Caribbean' to the bottom of the list.
I think we can forget about Team Antarctica until they get some good draft picks.

@Isaac, I don't think it would hurt the stock of the young kids playing a few minutes in a couple of games like that because any coach who hangs his/her hat on spare parts play in the Boomers team isn't worthy of their credentials as a coach IMO.
If a prospect coach (either NCAA or NBA) gets hold of highlights for the two of the young guns from this game or the first, it would just confirm their potential to the coach without drastically changing any possible decision based on only a few minutes I would think.
They both had their moments anyway, so if you were to focus on Ben's steals & fast break dunks or Dante's put back dunk/vision and ball handling skills you would be more than happy to say they are gonna be there, remembering how young they actually are of course...

Nice idea, that would be awesome, if we could ever manage to get around the scheduling of the NBA/NBL etc... it would be a dream event for sure!
Who wouldn't want to host a tournament of sorts with the senior men/women of say Team Oceania/Australasia, Team USA, Team Europe in a tri-series like the Tri-Nations of the Rugby Union, wow I'd go see that...



Me if I was scouting at that last game I'd wanna look more at Exum.
Simmons didn't do it for me.
Vukona played pretty good.

I'd go,
10 man roster
PG – Dellavedova/Mills
SG – Penney/Exum
SF – Ingles/Newley
PF – Vukona/Andersen
C – Bogut/Baynes
Depth Chart
PG – Dellavedova (25)/ Mills (15)
SG – Penney (25)/ Mills (15)/ Exum (DNP)
SF – Ingles (25)/ Newley (15)
PF – Vukona (20)/ Andersen (20)
C – Bogut (30)/ Baynes (10)
I think Delly has to start at the 1 with Penney in the line up. Will really help Penney get shots. Mills could be used as the spark plug off the bench, probably his best role, and sub for either Penney or Delly according to game day form.
Vukona and Andersen split minutes according to defensive match up and game day form.
Exum is just a young excitement machine who probably gets DNP just through lack of minutes in a 40 minute game.

The Tall Blacks don't have anyone with enough footspeed to stay in front of Mills so yes he got his.
That alone unfortunately isn't going to get Australia a medal at the WC's.
Who is going to provide the offense when Mills shot isn't dropping or he doesn't have a NZNBL player defending him?
Spain, Argentina, America and a number of other nations have guards who do have the pace to defend Mills so what is Plan B if the plan is to Medal?
Your points regarding Baynes are fair.

"To the people picking Webster, really? Maybe if you were picking a team solely from the two playing lists in this series. In that case Webster and Vukona would probably make the team. "
so you are happy to rest all your hopes on Patty's shot dropping?
Webster managed how many points with the whole Boomers squad full knowing he was the one who was going to shoot it?
The Boomers are weak at SG and are forced to play Mills who is a PG at SG and if his shot aint dropping , you aren't winning.

"Baynes and Andersen are not PF's and definitely not mobile enough to play this at International level."
I do think Anderson could play some minutes at the 4 Internationally and create match up issues with his length and he is pretty mobile.

"Abercrombie has hit his limit.
He wasn't even in the top 4 for the TB during the latest series with the Boomers."
he's short on fitness and conditioning currently and hasn't played a great deal of Basketball lately (much like Pledger) as he didn't get much court time in the NBA summer league.

"Probably based on Baynes being a five-year pro, who was dominant in Euroleague play, and who has Olympic and World Championship experience under his belt, compared to Adams who is coming off his freshman year, which really wasn't all that impressive."
are you just quickly comparing numbers on google from last years box scores or have you compared their play?
I could make the argument that Baynes has been pro for 5 years and has only just cemented a spot at the tail end of an NBA bench compared to Adams who only played a single season of College and was drafted as a 1st round Lottery Pick by a Title Contender.
I do tend to agree with you that Baynes as of today may be slightly better than Adams but IMO he will be better than Baynes come the WC's in Spain.
He's a very quick learner.

LC, I agree about Baynes & Andersen but I wasn't convinced we had any really strong PFs anyway.
I also don't like putting Patty at PG, or Vukona at PF.
I know Abercrombie plays Swingman for the Breakers, but I'm not convinced about his ball-carrying skills to play SG in internationals.

I disagree on Baynes not being a PF @LC, he can play the 4 behind the likes of a Bogut or Jawai for instance, no problems for me at all as he moves better than you may think...
He is so strong that he can play a 5, but at 6' 10" he is absolutely a lock for the 4 spot if the Aussie coach wants to go that way, IMHO!
A big power forward who can defend the 5 spot, gotta love that combination.
The only thing other international 4's may have on him at this time is a longer range, but he can improve his mid range game if he needs to. With a slightly longer range on his shot it changes everything I believe...


hoopie: Baynes and Andersen are not PF's and definitely not mobile enough to play this at International level.
Baynes is better that Adams at this point in time.
I would stick with the team Isaac selected.

For me, Vukona beats Newley. He'd give us a bit more mongrel at SF which Newley and Ingles don't give us, and could guard PFs better.
I like the look of
Delly/Webster
Mills/Penney/Exum
Ingles/Vukona/Simmons
Baynes/Andersen
Bogut/Jawai

for me.
Mills/Dellavadova
Penney/Webster
Ingles/Newley
Vukona/Anderson
Bogut/Adams
with Baynes and Abercrombie just missing out "last cut".

"Australia is currently ranked 2nd of 213 playing nations on the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rankings..."
read this line in one of the articles from NBL site
http://nbl.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=75281
that is some crazy things when league here is even STRUGGLING!!!
