Hoops

Patty Mills - firmly in 2nd spot GOAT Boomers

I still remember watching it on 10 Perth, it's just a shame we were handed the NBA side of the draw. The Wildcats have something the Boomers have yet to win - an international medal!

"Nostraballmus suggests that between Gaze, Mills, Davies and Palubinskas you have your top 4."

Hard to argue too much with this. Perhaps the only argument would be at the other end of the floor, but it's hard to think of a two-way player who has made as big an impact as these guys at multiple tournaments.

I like your thinking, nostrils

Loving what Patty brings to the Boomers on and off the court. The chemistry in the team is evident and his leadership has to be a part of that.
Kind of hesitant to speak ill of Gaze, given his fine record, contribution to the game and i think he is an all round nice guy, but for those of us old enough to remember, his effort was pretty much all at one end, which was out of kilter for the Boomers of his time. The team thrived on toughness, which was mostly driven by the big men, who may have lacked the skill and athletism of todays group, but who set the tone for toughness. Gaze had the benefit of an offence that was constructed for him (esp when his Dad coached) and to say he was questionable on defense would be very polite.
Patty can create for himself and his teammates and his contribution to Australian basketball has some years left, before it can be assessed.

Yeah talking strictly on Boomers achievements, Gaze is still clearly number one, but Mills has a real chance to join the conversation, especially if we start having team success.

As far as club careers go, I have no doubt Gaze would have had a good NBA career in the current environment. There's more roster spots, more focus on international talent and more focus on shooting the long ball. His ability to be comfortable as a creator or off ball would have made him a valuable player.

Saying someone is the greatest of all time is so subjective and you need to take into account your own confidence in the athlete and in basketball terms when Drewey of Patty are in foul trouble would you want to sit them out for several minutes or play through it?

I am more than happy to have Gaze as our #1 and hope that Patty keeps doing his thing and make it impossible to seperate them.

It wasn't that long ago that there was a post on here where Heal was getting some support for being better than Mills.

They are both undoubted legends in our beloved sport and if they got statues (I know Loggins has one outside of Brisbane Entertainment Centre) then all power to them. We have got so much joy from them putting on a Boomers jersey and Long long may it continue with Mills career.

I also want to add that Baynes has had a far better career for the Boomers than I expected from him when he first represented us, he's been a massive contributor and he'd have left a gaping hole in the front court had he not developed quite like he did.

Gaze in his prime was a much better player than Patty Mills ever was. I'm sure Patty himself would admit that. Just because Gaze was never given an opportunity to do so in the NBA doesn't mean he wouldn't have starred if so.

Gaze in his prime was on Drazen Petrovic levels of greatness both elite scorers who couldn't be stopped at the Olympic/WC level and it took Petrovic a few years in the NBA before they finally gave him an opportunity and he was a star there too when they finally did.

Keep in mind back in their days foreign born players were treated poorly in the NBA Petrovic for instance was never even an all-star in the NBA despite the fact he was clearly one of the better players in the league, Gaze never got a fair go with Washington (even then he was a 11 year pro) and was way past his prime with the Spurs in the late 90's.

Gaze in his 40+ppg NBL prime would've done some serious damage in the NBA if given the opportunity to play and a team tailored their offence around him.

Not an anon, but yikes.

Here's a hint anons, if you think that 1+1 = 11, maybe get your mummy to check your posts first.

Applying a label such as "GOAT" requires an actual understanding of the game, and actual observation of the players concerned, rather than simply regurgitating some stat you heard at your club's quiz night.

Also need to understand how different World Basketball is now.
In 1988, Australia finished 4th at the Olympics.
Which may sound similar to Rio, except that in those days World Basketball was basically USA, Soviets, and Yugoslavia.
In 1995 when Gaze was in his prime, the NBL Champions beat the Euroleague champions.

Mills is 3~4 times the player Gaze was, and even as a Boomer outshines him, and that's with at least one more Olympics to go.

If your question is who is our greatest ever Scorer, or maybe even greatest ever SG, then sure it's Gaze. But he wouldn't even be in the top 3 for GOAT.

What has Gaze done at the highest level (NBA)?

Mills is way superior than Gaze.

So is Bogut, Baynes and Ben.

Don't know why the OP started a whole new thread?

Just to hate on Mills?

Gees

SGOAT

It doesn’t have quite the same ring.