Hoops

Opals Game 2: Australia vs Turkey

In which parallel universe was Hodges the replacement for Batkovic?

I thought Hodges was a lock the moment Burton was selected and Allen was cut.
Batkovic was a result of having too many worthy, but slow, bigs (Cambage, Tolo, George, Batkovic, Burton) in the squad and needing to lose one for balance. Tolo was touch-and-go after coming off a major injury so it was wise IMO to leave it until as late as possible before committing to her. Once that was done it needed to be either George or Batkovic that was left out. I probably would have gone with Suzy personally, seeing how little Cayla's defence has improved since it was badly exposed in the WNBA last year, but I also think that leaning Cayla's way is understandable given her ability to catch and shoot from the perimeter, and she did also lead the WNBL in rebounding this past season, 3+ rpg ahead of Suzy.

Laura's experience and versatility proved very valuable in the Oceania qualifiers and I'm pretty sure that would have stuck in Joyce's mind. She's also the closest thing we have to a true 4. I'm actually a little surprised she hasn't been tried more in the first 2 games. She used to have a very reliable medium range J.

I think anonymous is probably not far from the mark
1-true
2 - think it was a mutual decision lol
3- certainly makes sense
4- well can't blame him for lizziys issues
5- absolutely true and disgraceful
6- no one can dispute that

Yeah, it's getting pretty silly

Anonymous, nice comments, pity they are all here say and circumstantial. You can't provide proof af any of that. As for the Cambage/Kunik affair, the coach can't be responsible for that happening. Cambage made her own decision (and a poor one) to attend the music festival and was punished for it. If you hard going to post, make it factual.

Could be one of those situations where it is best not to win a medal and that will force BAs hand. What were they thinking hiring such a questionable coach in the first place

How can anyone judge Joyce's character? A few things to remember;

1) His Assistant got the gig for selecting his son when coaching the kings.
2) He refused to work with Jenna O'Hea
3) He made a deal about Abbey Bishop to fast track his Nat Burton fascination.
4) His group have had cultural issues since his appointment. (Cambage missing camps, Kunek vs Cambage... the list goes on)
5) Dragged out the Susy Batkovic decision and took Laura Hodges as a big instead?)
6) Has clearly provided a red carpet ride for Nat Burton who has embarrassed Joyce and herself.

If the team doesn't win Silver the Opals coaches all need a review and hand shake.

^ couldn't agree more, whoever it is posting this dam list, as has been proven by the choices made by Joyce..... Lots can and do come out of the woodworks at selection time,

Stop with the clueless lists

Early days...
In contention 2020? (Y.o)

PG
5'7 Lavey 27
5'7 Mansfield 30
5'10 Cole 28
5'10 Wehrung 24
5'11 Madgen 30
SG
5'9 Tupaea 23
5'10 Garrick 28
5'10 Ebzery 30
5'10 Cumming 30
5'10 Seekamp 28
5'11 Wallace 24
SF
6'1 Horvat 22
6'1 Sharp 23
6'1 Jarry 28
6'1 Allen 28
6'1 Talbot 26
6'2 Kunek 29
6'2 Blicavs 27
PF
6'3 Froling 24
6'4 Smith 24
6'4 Magbegor 21
6'4 Burton 31
6'5 Mijovic 26
C
6'4 George 31
6'5 Scherf 24
6'5 Bunton 27
6'5 Tolo 31
6'8 Cambage 28

Not sure theres many others showing opal potential at this stage IMO.
Might have missed a few though...
You can see we are severely lacking in depth and experience at the pf spot.

Fast tracking magbegor sound good to me. Maybe one of froling or smith also at PF.
I'm thinking Wallace will make the next olympics too as a cg.

Penny Taylor hasn't had a good first half for the Opals since Istanbul. It was this way during the exhibition games too. It'd be helpful if she could get it going (understatement).

"I would like to see George with cambage up front followed by hodges and tolo."

Why? So that there is no post defence rather than just a little bit of it every once in awhile? This is saying is a lot: George might be the absolute worst post defender I've ever seen in Opals uniform.

No defence and jacked up 4 3s. Exactly what you want from your PF.

No probs. Will be interesting to see. I think he'll be used as the US use LeBron, but he can swing through quite a few spots depending on match-ups.

Thought you were talking about Simmons the female player seeing as this is an opals thread, so apologies yes Simmons definitely, but not as power forward, he runs as a guard

Not for Simmons, considering he'll probably be starting in the NBA next year. Ezi has a bit further to go but she'll be fastracked into the Opals you would think.

^let these "kids" grow up before making such predictions, too many years ahead before they would be looking at this level,

Simmons will be an international PF, just as James, Durant and Anthony are for the US. With Magbegor we will see, will be a change for her, but she has amazing mobility and body control for a girl her size.

Haha, neither of them can or do, or will be able to play that spot.

Massive. It's important to have that mobile defensive PF to play the style that best suits Australian teams, but both the men's and women's team don't really have that player at a high level.

Lemanis has effectively gone without, changing his disruptive style to suit bigger PFs. Joyce has gone with that sort of player even though she has little to no offensive ability.

Of course, the good news is both Simmons and Magbegor can potentially give us some real star power in that spot.

Big opening for an agile stretch 4.

Going with Tolo and George at PF is fine, but they have to change the way they defend against mobile frontcourts with a bigger line-up.

With either of those two at the 4-spot in the second half the Opals got exploited by Turkey's quicker bigs, especially in ball-screen situations.

It's either got to be aggressive D with Burton or Hodges at PF or containment with Tolo or George.

'She had a bad game today'

When did she ever have a good game?

Mitchell is a poor defender unfortunately.

I'd like to see Mitchell and Lavey together for some real fast defence pressure.

You are certainly judging Joyce's character. I'm not a great fan of his coaching style but it's his job, his team and up until now he is winning. Suzi is a good player but she ain't the messiah and she is owed nothing. Yes Burton did nothing today but neither did Taylor or Phillips. Cambage proved she has a temper tantrum when she doesn't get it her way, I don't think I have ever seen her dish a pass back out for an outside shot even when she is under real pressure.

I would like to see George with cambage up front followed by hodges and tolo.
Maybe even put ebzery in as a starter instead of Phillips.

I agree with the other anon.
It's absolutely mind boggling she's there ahead of several others who have been in an around the program for 5+ years.

I'm not judging her character...
Her basketball skills..

I thought Joyce coached very well against Brazil, but he was poor against Turkey.

He made a good adjustment sitting Burton and Hodges in the first game because the Brazilian bigs were too strong for them, but then he went with George and Tolo at PF today against quicker opponents and those two and Cambage got abused in ball screen situations.

With the way they were defending they needed Hodges sharing the minutes at PF. If they were going with the bigger line-up they needed to defend differently and force the Turks to hit triples. They shot 29% at last year's Eurobasket and 32% at the 2014 WC.

There obviously could be factors we don't know about (like not wanting to give away how they'll protect Cambage defensively until later in the tournament) but from the outside it looks like poor game-planning.

Still, Turkey are a decent team, they had a good plan, executed it well, Penny and Erin struggled and the Opals still won. That's a good sign as long as they learn from this game re D, zone offence etc.

What a sarcastic comment Anonymous. Just like a spoilt brat who needs his arse kicked.

I think we all need to step back and congratulate Brendan Joyce for how well Natalie Burton has been playing and contributing.

Lets hope in game 3 after 33 plus minutes Natalie does us all a surprise and grabs her first rebound of the tournament.

Great choice Brendan, 33+ minutes a starter and hasn't grabbed one rebound all tournament. I suppose 2 points and 5 turnovers makes up for zero boards.

I hope Suzy Batkovic laughs at you when she sees you next she can stand behind the rest of Australia.

Way to embarrass yourself.

coffeepls, both were pushing/holding.

ref could have made no call, or foul either depending on his view angle.

I also reckon we can expect zones against us from now - after Turkey's great D.

Bear IMO the call that I could not understand was Liz's 4th - if anyone can explain what she did wrong I would appreciate it. From what I saw Liz was standing still on the defensive elbow and holding her ground against a player that was pushing into her that appeared to ease off then try to push through her not around Liz bringing them both to ground.

I'm surprised (shocked) at how mediocre the squad is. For all of the talk about athleticism and length from Joyce there is very little on display. Penny is now a warrior and much to admire in her efforts. Cambage has moments, but was exposed for her slow feet and lack of agility by the Turks - she was a flat out liability in the first half. You know she will let us down when she needs to stand up.

Tolo's lack of preparation is showing. I think Bec Allen's non selection is the biggest omission. Just someone with some athletic ability and inspiration please.

George, Burton, end the other plodders - wow.

I think Cambage has done a great job so far, in terms of the balance between staying aggressive enough to be an intimidating defender, and keeping herself away from foul trouble. Still not perfect by any means, but in the past that area has been a major issue for her and she is noticeably better now.
She still cops bad calls, like her 4th this morning, and needs to learn not to lose it over those. That's something her coach and teammates should be helping out with as well.
Her play really is the very least of our problems though. Without Liz we are 0-2.

So to modify anon's post above, I think it's really just 3 of our starting 4 that need to lift their games. It's great that our bench has been chipping in with some valuable contributions. That needs to continue, and preferably improve too. But our starting 4 is legit WNBA-calibre, and should be converting that ability into better starts.

well said Bear

Cambeige needs to get smarter and not put herself into situations that draw fouls when she's in foul trouble.

I thought the refereeing was great. It was stop start but to me that is less annoying then watching travels and fouls let go for the sake of a free flowing game.

Our starting 4 really to lift there game.

Well, the Opals won and continue through to their next tough assignment, good for them and well done to everyone involved in the team, coaches, assistants and players!

It is plainly obvious that oppositions will and have already scouted us, look at how they draw fouls on Liz, just because she is bigger than almost everyone else on the court doesn't mean she is fouling them.

My concern is that officials will get suckered into calling flops and straight up incidental contact where Liz's opponents throw themselves around like the Turks did a couple of times and she gets into early foul trouble.

Otherwise, I think she is doing great and showing genuine signs that she wants this...

Cambage clearly has an elite emotional petrol tank

I think there was a lot of emotional petrol used overcoming the home team and their crowd in game 1. Not surprised to see them have a let down in this game and Turkey are no slouches. Team didn't play well, but still got the W. 2-0 is the only stat that matters

I never mentioned his international coaching career. I thought this was his 1st time in charge. As an assistant your input is "minimal"in team selection etc.

Your "If they do win it won't be through his coaching," is stupid. You are saying no credit for winning, but all blame for losing. You cannot have it both ways.

You are letting a personal dislike for Joyce cloud your limited ability to look clearly at issues!

^ you omitted this part of the post

"If they do win it won't be through his coaching, I bet Taylor has a huge input as on floor coach, she won't want to loose "

IMO I'll stick to this thanks,


Joyce has NOT has a successful career at international level, he was "second assistant coach" for boomers ....... And his penchant for picking a personal fav be it son or otherwise is well known and he will run them to the detriment of the team.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Opals got the job done.

In a performance that was unconvincing of their number-two ranked status, Australia were composed late and defeated Turkey, 61-56, to go 2-0 to begin the Games.

Recap: Sloppy Opals survive Turkish scare

quote from anon above "I would love to see the girls get a gold or silver, but honestly if they do Australia will probably have to wear Joyce for another four years.... Not sure what's a worse senario loosing or winning"

The Opals have never won gold at the olympics despite having some great teams and also coaches in the past.

You are letting your personal opinion of Joyce cloud your brain. IF they win gold, surely Joyce has proven the critics wrong and should continue coaching the team.

In his career as a player and coach, he had good results, but let himself down by trying to promote SOJ above his ability. He is not and will not be the last parent to fall into this trap. SOJ aside, I would rate his career.

OPALS thrash Turkey !!!

61 vs 56.

USA coach Geno Auriemma was quoted as saying they don't have any idea how to handle Burton and just hope that she gets worn out from having to carry the Australian team by the time the medal round arrives.

Geno was quoted as saying "Australia's game against the Turkey powerhouse has given us many things to think about, we know something is happening out there because Australia is winning, but we haven't exactly worked out what it is yet or how to stop it"

meanwhile in WNBA news Seattle is urgently attempting to sign Lavey as a replacement for Sue bird - a spoke person saying " Sue has had her day, and from what we have seen so far, Australia is Tess's team, without her they really struggle, having to use a WNBA bench player Brendan tells us that basically, because Tess has just dominated Australia's PGs so much most have left for netball and he had to take Mitchell just to make up the numbers."

BA advises that on the outstanding progress of the Opals so far, they have offered both the boomers and opals coaching roles as lifetime appointments to an unnamed coach , whose verbal response was unprintable but apparently very positive.



WTF.....LMAO ..... best post for a while could be Joyce's PA with write ups like that


I would love to see the girls get a gold or silver, but honestly if they do Australia will probably have to wear Joyce for another four years.... Not sure what's a worse senario loosing or winning.

If they do win it won't be through his coaching, I bet Taylor has a huge input as on floor coach, she won't want to loose

Burtons stats say it all really, I know stats don't tell you everything, but she didn't get one single rebound, and next to Philipps she had the lowest efficiency rate at a -2
Running more minutes than 3 players put together who had better stats....
Come on Joyce wake up!!!!!

Penny can read the floor and find weaknesses all she wants, but it won't matter because reacting on that read is dependent on cuts from the perimeter wing to the basket, something Choco's game plan doesn't involve.

You can only have one naturalized player. Both Griffin an Mitchell are naturalized.

Firstly, there is no way in hell she plays the 2! What the?

But anyway what I meant is that we're only allowed one naturalised player in international basketball, so it's Leilani or Kelsey. Can't have both.