Hoops

Opals tour of Europe

There is a lot of talk about the selections of Joyce and little to none with Lemanis.

There was Ben Simmons being left off the team in 2014 and AJ Ogilvy not being selected in this current squad.

It seems like Joyce loves to 'discover' players and feel like he has something to do with their development. Almost the power to make or break a player. A person with a very healthy ego would thrive in this position of power.

Lemanis seems happy to take ready made name brand players and fit the style of play to their strengths.

If Lemanis took say Lucas Walker and Kyle Adnam to Rio over say Brock Motum and Delly there would questions asked (not a great comparison to taking Burton and Lavey although not too far off).


I think its fine to back a coach to select his own team although perhaps some sort of committee could be looked at in the future, especially when the head coaches last head coaching role involved stuff like this... http://www.hoops.com.au/forum/14692-brendan-joyce-takes-it-to-another-level/

Bishop and Blicavs cut. Down to 15 now.

Rebecca Allen ‏@becallen8 17h 17 hours ago
@gottawearshades @nyliberty no im still part of selection to make the Olympic team for Rio. Will find out in the coming weeks!

Ebzery, Talbot and jarry get the nod to go along with Taylor which pushes out Allen.

Bec Allen leaving for the USA and Abby Bishop heading back for camps in Australia at the same time is a little strange.

Lavey is a Joyce favourite as well as Burton. The WNBL finals was her best chance to impress but her main claim to fame was endless over dribbling and unreliable rushed shooting. Phillips, Mitchell at the point, Taylor, Ebzery covering the 2 spot

Bec Allen has re-signed on with New York Liberty

http://www.wnba.com/news/new-york-liberty-sign-australian-forward-rebecca-allen/

Does this mean anything for her Opals aspirations and camp participation? Going by the article it sounds like she is playing soon.

She is listed as a forward only because Whalen is on the team. Ben Simmons will play the point but he is listed as a foreword also. she is the Lebron of the WNBA. Can play multiple positions which includes playing the point when Whalen is out.

Mccoughtry plays mostly 2 and occasionally 3.
Moore plays mostly 3 spot and rarely 2.

No they aren't Jay, not even close. They both play forward in the WNBA.

Umm they are in every team they play in except team USA

Maya Moore and Angel McCoughtry aren't guards, Jay.

I'm more concerned about BA choosing Abby Bishop for the side so they don't have to go another round of media bashing regarding the childcare issue for a player who isn't good enough to play.

The reason I say penny Taylor is because some may not have seen Maya More, sue Bird, Dianna Tourassi, Lindsey Whalen or Angel McCoughtry play. And they are all at or above Penny's standard as Guards..

No disrespect to penaluna , but she can't stay sound long enough to,play a game, she may be a better player than burton, but she's not reliable enough fior a national side.
But the rest definitely should be ahead of burton.
Not Burtons fault though if Joyce seeing something no other person on the planet does .

No ones bashing burton as a person.

She just isn't one of the best basketball players for her position in Australia at this current time.
Imo, about 7-8 players ahead of her.

Batkovic, George, tolo, hodges, griffin, bishop, penaluna, Tomlinson.

Not a Trump supporter (at all), and never said she should be in it. I was simply saying he likes her for an obviously mysterious reason (for some), and it isn't for her stats. No amount of Burton bashing is going to change the outcome and quite frankly it's in poor taste.

we should ditch our pfs and go smaller, quicker and stretch the floor.

5'8 Phillips/5'5 Mitchell/5'7 lavey
6'1 Taylor/5'10 ebzery
6'1 Jarry/6'1 Allen
6'2 Talbot/6'2 Blicavs
6'8 Cambage/6'5 batkovic/1 of 6'5 tolo or 6'4 George

No burton, hodges, madgen.

Another Donald trump supporter....
Burton shouldn't be anywhere near the opals squad.

Penaluna not being given a chance is a joke.

What he likes about Burton isn't statable. So there is no point trying to decipher her stats and interpret what he sees. Her game fits his structure and that's why he likes her. It is obviously hard for people who prefer individual brilliance in terms of scoring/rebounding etc to understand. But it looks like everyone will have to get over it and accept it cause he seems to want to pick her.
As someone else asked, who would you put in ahead of her? And the article Boti wrote should definitely be titled "Don't Pick Burton."

Who would you pick as the next 3 opals point guards for the opals?

Lavey, Mansfield, madgen, Cole, ebzery, Garrick, Clydesdale, Wallace, wehrung, nakkasoglu etc etc

Even though some are 2 guards...

Why are we even asking whether Lavey could guard Taylor? Bird and Whalen sure can't guard her either. I guess they must be shit point guards.

"Can Lavey guard at the Olympic level?? can she guard Penny Taylor or Erin Phillips as they are the closest Aus equivalent to the US guards"

No she can't. Although last game Erin Phillips couldn't guard Penny Taylor during Erin's (very limited) minutes, so Penny might be a tough standard lol.

Lavey is fine as long as no one plays defence on her !!!!.

She did deserve more mins in WNBL than what she got at Bendigo, but to me she's still only at development level for the international stage and has a limited game.
And not really sure they need her on this team, but she is better than burton that's for sure

Think what annoys people is Joyce's blatant favouritism that he has for certain players regardless of their ability and also his blatant dislike of others again regardless of their ability, O'Hea is a prime example., a player of her size and ability and experience Joyce won't even consider.

Can Lavey guard at the Olympic level?? can she guard Penny Taylor or Erin Phillips as they are the closest Aus equivalent to the US guards

Lavey doesn't belong on the international stage either, but it's not like Phillips and Mitchell are top of the international crop either so that's where we are nowadays.

#589541

I think Lavey has proven she belongs on the international stage.

Joyce was right on that occasion when he plucked her from obscurity a few years ago when she couldn't get off the wnbl bench.

Boti made a lot of good points about Burton. With her age and lack of development I find it hard to see how 20+ minutes a game is justified.

I'd like to see spot minutes for Allen at the 4. She is very light although her length makes it possible for her to hold up defensively as a small stretch 4. Although it looks like she is very much out of favour with Brendan "The Special One" Joyce.

Abby Bishop leaves Storm to chase dream of playing for Australia in 2016 Rio Olympic Games

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/storm/abby-bishop-leaves-storm-to-chase-dream-of-playing-for-australia-in-2016-rio-olympic-games/

when does the team get picked?

Joyce hates to be proven wrong, will never admit he's wrong , his ego outweighs any form of rational thinking. He has HIS ideas and is not interested in looking at anything else...... That is a total recipie for disaster as far as coaching goes, only have to look at his past track record, though anyone who's been around him while coaching will tell you he will tell you constantly how well he's done, how many Olympics he's been too..... He omits to say as assistant with no say, and his epic fails as head coach with men due to having eyes only for his son on the court

So you can put down any amount of suggested lists, only thing for certain is burton and Lavey WILL be on it, stats mean nothing

Just hope they do well, but then in some way I hope they tank so BA will get rid of Joyce and the women's program can get back on track.

If past performance is any guide BJ will become more stubborn as the criticism mounts.

To me the selection is puzzling in itself but the amount of minutes Burton gets is just mind boggling.

Putting Burton aside, who is in your best 12 out of Cambage, Batkovic, Hodges, Tolo, George and Bishop and why? What criteria do you use?

Same for Taylor, Allen Talbot, Ebzery, Jarry, Blicavs and Madgen on the wings? Do you go on individual performances in the WNBL, individual performances for the Opals or who has played best with other combinations for the Opals?

The article should have been called Don't pick Natalie Burton, because it didn't touch on the concept of the 'best 12' at all.

I hope that doesn't dig him in his trenches even deeper.

I hope it's not too late

Boti comes through with the clutch article.

Great job!

No, the best team isn't necessarily the one comprised of the 12 best individuals. But the best team also doesn't include someone with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The stats do all the talking needed in this case. She does not excel in any area even at WNBL level. Joyce is more concerned about saving face than he is about Olympic success. It is pathetic. There's no shame in admitting he was wrong about the future he projected for her. He gave her every chance and then some but it didn't work out. So time to cut his losses on that one and face reality. His reputation will suffer a lot more if he starts her every game and misses the semi finals in Rio than if he admits he was wrong about that one thing, picks a proper team, and wins the games we are capable of winning.

2016 Rio Should be...

Phillips/Mitchell/lavey
Taylor/ebzery
Talbot/jarry
Hodges/George/tolo
Cambage/batkovic

Burton, Allen, madgen out

Great article Boti!

Of course you must select the best 12, it's what criteria you use to judge the best 12 that makes it tricky. If you could just pick the 12 best scorers and they'd magically function as a team then you wouldn't need a coach, but sadly it doesn't work that way.

http://www.botinagy.com/blog/opals-must-select-best-12-for-rio/

Joyce's subtweet is barely intelligible. I had to concentrate like I was reading a foreign language.

Yeah Nah

Doubt it. She's already like 28 and the next major tournament isn't till 2019.

2019-2020
Maybe something like...

G
Lavey
Mansfield
Ebzery

G/F
Jarry
Allen
Talbot
Blicavs

PF/C
George
Tolo
Cambage

Real possibilities...
Seekamp
Wallace
Wehrung
Sharp
Horvat
Bibby
Froling
Magbegor
Smith
Mijovic
Bunton

If Sami Whitcomb is naturalized as the Lynx expect as per their articles is she a shot at the Opals in the future?

https://twitter.com/Brendan_Joyce12/status/741542056473075713
@Brendan_Joyce12
When you score 1must then be part of another important part of the game.It's called defence its not measured by many but measured by us!+-s

This is perhaps the first national team head coach subtweet to the hoops.com.au community.

Its clear the guy is a basketball genius and nothing he does should be questioned. Hopefully BA sign him up to a new 12 year deal.

Burton is behind everyone but the PGs in terms of blocks and 3rd last in steals overall.

According to Joyce she's a defensive stalwart, but only the coaches understand this apparently judging by his most recent tweet.

#clown

The per 40 doesn't really come into play when some didn't even play 40 mins the whole series.

^^agree totally, not buttons fault at all, and hopefully BA sees sense

Top 5s from tour per 40 mins:

Scoring - Cambage, Ebzery, Batkovic, Tolo, Lavey

Rebounding - Cambage, Batkovic, George, Burton, Talbot

Assists - Mitchell, Talbot, Lavey, Burton, Hodges

TOs (fewest) - Madgen, Hodges, Burton, Allen, Mitchell

2pFG% - Cambage, Tolo, Lavey, George, Madgen

3pFG% - Ebzery, Lavey, Madgen, Talbot, Mitchell

No fault of Burton's but if Joyce continues down this path then hopefully it costs him his job and we can put in a women's basketball coach who understands and has experience with women's basketball at the elite level.