Hoops

David Barlow replaces Bolden in Boomers team

I don't watch any nbl
But whatever happened to Cameron Bairstow

I'm intrigued by the Boomers wanting to play big? With most the world going to a more uptempo play. It's weird that the Boomers are still stick in the idea of 2bigs and shooters around them

Isn't Green recovering from an injury or something and wasn't really in consideration, or am I thinking about someone else?

If healthy, would have preferred him over Sobey for sure, bloody future Boomers early as deep bench players and having them able to prove themselves, getting them hungry to want to earn their Green and Gold colours instead of being entitled brats, is what the team should be built on...

Dave, I agree with you in blooding youngsters early, and have pushed that point many times in this forum, but I reckon Green is just too ‘green’ for the WC (but will be ideal for the Olympics if he keeps improving). Adel would be great as a wildcard, just like Goulding, but if the comments are true then he may cause issues with team chemistry and playing in the system.

You need 8-10 guys you can rely on to play as a team when under pressure, while the others need to earn their places and the respect of their teammates; otherwise, they’ll never get the ball and the whole thing will go toxic.

Dave and Makur Maker same IP, FWIW.

Dave and Makur Maker same IP, FWIW.

I Don't think players like Durant, Harden and LeBron would get into the boomers team because they don't know the bookmers system. What a joke lemanis is.

"Mathiang, Humphries and Reath"

Can you argue for these selections in more detail? For example, what do you like about Humphries? He went for 6.9 ppg and 3.6 rpg just over a year ago in the same league that you value so low. Project players in the NBA don't necessarily make for good national team players.

You are advocating a lineup of Bogut, Baynes, Mathiang, Humphries and Reath -- you seem to not value mobility nor shooting in your 4/5 rotation.

Mills was picked young and was a success. So were Gaze, Longley and Vlahov. But there were also a lot of other promising players who couldn’t cope on the international stage. From memory, players to have short international careers include Dwight, Jensen,

In other words, just cos they can get onto an NBA roster or do well in G League doesn’t make them budding superstars and ready for the Boomers

When citing players that were young on debut and played rotation minutes, such as Mills and Bogut:
- we lacked depth at those positions (PG in 2008, C in 2004)
- they starred in the junior world championships (Bogut MVP of gold medal junior team; Mills 2nd leading scorer in 5th placed 2007 team)
- there were instances of trying out but not making the national team (Mills was part of the 2006 national team squad, but not selected in the final team)

As for Delly, he wasn't expected to start in his first Boomers tournament, but he earned more and more minutes as he proved his worth in practice games. This also happened to Bogut. This is also where Bolden, while an NBA player, should have proven his worth by playing good minutes, instead of packing his bags when his opportunities were not to his liking.

Mills was 18, an exceptional talent, Deladova was 22 on his senior debut.

"Hope the boomers lose all WC matches so we will not have lemanis as boomers for the tokyo olympics. "

If that happens, the Boomers might not even qualify for the Olympics.

"mathiang, humphries, green, adel, reath"

- Mathiang: still has question marks at international level and may not have impressed enough in the Asia qualifiers; one of the only Boomers players to have a negative +/- in the qualifiers
- Humphries: with Bogut and Baynes, he is strictly a 3rd string 5-man; wouldn't get minutes unless lose Bogut/Baynes; not versatile enough to play other positions; might only be able to offer something as insurance at this stage.
- Green: could leave a spot for him as experience; a future star, but hasn't even played college level yet, so unproven at higher levels; realistically, 11th/12th man only
- Adel: definitely good enough to make the A-team, but may be disadvantaged by having no experience in the system.
- Reath: it would be nice to get a better look at him after being used sparingly in NBA summer league and his first pro season. Not convinced he is an obvious selection ahead of Landale, Kay, Motum etc.

A lot of unproven talent, mostly without any experience at international level. The Boomers have to rely a lot on chemistry and knowing the system, especially the new role players.

Mathiang is the only one on that list that’s done anything at the top level. Green is still very young, Humphries was total waste at Sydney and G league doesn’t stack up. The others the same, you see we all have different points of view. Lemanis and the coaches have to pick there squad and they have.

Please name the players you should have in there, half a dozen and please don’t name players who made them selves unavailable. Name the six you would take out and the six replacements. I’m waiting MM or who else thinks they have some idea.

Johnson should’ve got the spot and imo if he wasn’t available I’d brought in Moller to play a roll, very long and defensively sound, knows the system. He is also only 24.

Olgun again:

Fit and familiarity. Andrej Lemanis made his reasoning relatively clear, when talking about his decision to fill the vacant Australian Boomers spot with David Barlow.

Apparently Lucus Walker spent all day at training shadowing Barlow ;P

I haven’t seen much of Adel.

DJ is obviously a better player than Barlow, but Barlow has some factors in his favour:

1. More versatile defender

2. Better 3 point shooter

On the Boomers chances, people have short memories.

This starting 5 ripped through the Rio Olympics. The Boomers lost 3 games for the entire tournament- to the 3 medalists! 2 of those games were tight. They won all their other games by 15 or more, including a 15 point win over silver medalists Serbia in the group stage. They destroyed France. Destroyed Lithuania. Missed a medal by a solitary point after some shocking refereeing.

The reaction to Lemanis reminds me of St Kilda fans and Ross Lyon. So many people hate Lemanis, yet if one more jump shot falls into the net, then he’s the undisputed saviour of the Boomers and into the history books. Sport is cruel like that.

The bench is weaker than Rio, sure. Bogut and Delly may have declined. But regardless, this group has runs on the board. Landale looks a nice addition too.

Bottom line- If the starters find form, then Australia’s a chance.

Isaac, I agree with those sentiments. Bolden needs to have a very good reason for pulling out at the last minute like that. It’s possible he has one, but I think he should do better than ‘personal reasons’. If it’s an unexpected family issue then fine, but if it’s just because he’s unhappy with minutes, or would rather spend his time preparing for the NBA season then he should’ve said that much earlier. Now he’s hurt the team preparation and a guy like Motum, who has been a committed representative in the past, has missed an opportunity to wear the green and gold.

So Barlow has apparently brought an injury with him into the Boomers team and will not play tomorrow night.

You can't make this stuff up. Farce

Isn’t it funny how losing 5 Boomers, 3 who haven’t even proven themselves on the international stage, has suddenly seen us going from massive optimism about Boomers strength and depth to scratching our heads about who the next replacement should be?

Creek had his doubters but is in, Motum and Adel had some doubters and aren’t in, Blanchfield and Cadee have heaps of doubters ... seems like the only one who comes out as a popular replacement (except to those who will always point out that he couldn’t guard Terrico White), and a long way behind are Humphries and Green and various others.

Olgun:

Andrej Lemanis said everyone except Dave Barlow (back) will be active for Thursday’s Australian Boomers vs Team USA game.

Who will replace the replacement?

— Frugal Howard (@jonnytfor3) August 21, 2019

“This is what I feel strongest about as someone who wants the Boomers to win a medal and do really well: you’ve made a commitment.”@liam_santa regarding the Jonah Bolden situation on #NBLOvertime last night. #GoBoomers pic.twitter.com/eREiNox2DK

— NBL (@NBL) August 21, 2019

Sorry anonymous but the only things Barlow has over DJ is that he’s a bit better with catch and shoot 3’s and he’s played more Boomers games in Lemanis system. If Barlow is so strong and good defensively, why can’t he guard DJ in the post? DJ would just back him down and score over him at will - which is exactly what most other 4s at international level will do.

To be clear, it’s possible Lemanis asked DJ and was turned down because he’s just flown out to the Phillipines, but I suspect he just went with Barlow because he was the easiest realistic option. Nothing against Barlow, but he’s not a 4 at international level.

Do we have confirmation that Deng Adel was definitely available?

As much as the Barlow selection makes sense, it probably would have been more exciting to see Adel play. There are good arguments for either player to replace Bolden.

A great role player with high IQ....

Personally I think that a wooden deck chair is the best type for us to add to the Titanic. Just has a classier feel to it than a metal one, and 5 years from now it will be suffering less from the effects of corrosion from that salty Atlantic air.

You guys need to watch NBL a little more closely if you think Johnson is slow. He is one of the most agile bigs in the league. He has also become a better defender over the past few seasons. If you can't get Motum, but want the nearest thing to him, then DJ is that guy.

Personally I think he would have been a better option, because he is:
1) agile enough to defend the high pick and roll Bogut was having so much trouble with against Canada;
2) he is a much better rebounder than Barlow
3) he has more length to challenge shots than Barlow
4) he can stretch the floor on offence better than any other big on this team
5) you can actually put the ball in his hands offensively and he can create his own shot or set someone else up

I just think that if Baynes and Bogut can't defend the high pick and roll then we basically only have Landale to fall back on as a small ball centre. It just would have been handy to have DJ there because he can play that small ball centre role and he can also play minutes next to any of our other bigs because of his shooting. With Barlow, the options are just less IMO.

Motum was presumably unavailable

Barlow is a good fit and knows the system. At this point, those are very significant factors.

Grego, yes the pre Olympics qualifying will be an option but they're gonna be tough.

Team on our day we're a chance to beat almost anyone. Put enough good days together and we can medal. But I think we're equally capable of losing any given game.

And then ya gotta convince Simmons and co to play a qualifying tournament. More time committed. Imagine the face they'd lose if losing?

Jawai? You're kidding yourself and Johnson? Mate i setup witches hats and they play harder D than Johnson could ever hope to

So basically your complaint is that:

We didn't play to win a meaningless game at the 2014 World Cup.
We played to win a meaningful game at the 2016 Olympics.
We didn't play to win the meaningless warm-up game vs Canada.

Your priorities may need adjusting.

David Barlow? Oh my. If word comes out that Motum was available and overlooked for Barlow someone needs to tap Lemanis on the shoulder.

Were DJ or Jawai even asked? Barlow, unreal.

Johnson would have been a better option than Barlow. Shoots the three better, doesn’t play tough defence because keeping him on the fooor is the priority at NBL level. Playing backup big, he can get tough on D because a few fouls ain’t going to hurt his minutes.

Koberulz the voice of reason lel but legit is

Honestly, I'll hear it all after the tournament if we fail.

Griffin in the womens and Barlow in the mens - my favorite players..

Bit of an indictment on Adel as the word is he doesn't understand the system which is a heavy part of Boomers play, probably gets away with it in the G league and NBA as they're more free flowing comparatively

Miss out on the Olympics is a chance what cram says is true, Lithuania and Canada will be very tough just to get out of the group. At least the nba guys won’t have damaged their cred. Barlow for 12 man I’m not certain and good luck to him but some younger talent would be nice and I’m not fan of adel.

2012 called. They want their Boomers back.

"Australia needs to finish higher than NZ to get an auto olympic qualifying spot. Australia could easily get knocked out by Canada and finish 17-32. Kiwis could sneak into top 16. Players who were unavailable for WC could be throwing away Olympic spot as well."

Correct

Do englighten us Greggo

"Frankly a good result will be if we can finish above The Kiwis and qualify for the Olympics. I'll be happy if we do that but have to say I’m worried "

Agreed

Broke NBL record in season 2007-08 for the ‘perfect game’ scoring 37 points at 100%, 8 of 8 threes and 14 of 14 from the field

I'm pissed Cadee didn't make it,he can play the 4 spot can't he?.How did Barlow make it and he doesn't even play for the Bullets.

Good point, Greggo. Just to advance to the 8 we need to perform better in group stage than at least 3 of Lithuania, Germany, France, Canada, not to mention avoiding possible upset losses against those other lesser nations. Look at the rosters of those teams. Even at full strength, that's no easy task.

I respect barlow, had a great couple of seasons, but really he is just an overall very good role player. Doesn't strike me much as the kind of person to make much of an impact at a world cup, plus he's like 35.


Lets be honest coming in now especially as the 12th man he likely won't play a lot. If guys like Motum/Adel declined (which I'm assuming they did) I would have rathered someone like Froling or heck even Grida given a shot to just tag along on the end of the bench instead of Barlow.

Difference between Barlow and Adel is four centimetres. Seems strange to me given Adel is a chance to play in Rio and Barlow has 0% chance and that Barlow won't even be playing more than 5 mins a game. At least Adel could learn from the experience.

Even before the replacements, realistic for the Boomers at this World Cup was anywhere from 1st to not progressing past the group stage. Now its looking towards the second. Top 8 would be a great result from here

Congrats barlow but what disappointment, #lemonass wtf are u thinking, barlow wont play in Olympics so why not put in younger talent??

We not shot creators not a bloke that can't shoot off the dribble to save himself.

I cant see us even getting out of the pool yet to medal, hope im wrong but as boomers fans know we never get our hopes up as we still waiting on that elusive medal.

Really amateurish stuff by all involved it seems (Barlow aside, no knocks on him personally). There's just no world that Motum isn't the best choice here.

If Motum decided he wasn't interested that would be interesting. Even then it throws up questions about management of players considering last minute injuries are always a possibility.

In the short term we're now paying heaps of $$$ to watch a guy who "had a good NBL1 season" and long term sending a 35 year old to the WC in a position that, by all accounts, won't see much court time and could have been used on a developing player like Adel.

I don't think there's any good scenarios out of this

Hey hoopie, for the record, Dave is definitely tall enough.