Hoops

Nba lottery picks would dominate nbl

That's your way of judging the standard of the league? A preseason game where a new hyped-up recruit tries to assert himself, with NBA scouts watching, using the league as a stepping stone to the NBA? I remember watching Thalo Green come on and dominate a pre-season game while trying to secure an import spot. Let's see what happens in the regular season. LaMelo should be given a lot of opportunities to prove himself then.

ROFL, Makur/Dave/Todd on fire (like a flaming bag of shit) with those last two posts. Never change.

Don't forget Andrew Gaze who turned 19 at the 84 Olympics.

Phil Lynch after a made Gaze 3 "He gave back his own present there!"

Good list, PeterJohn. Add Bogut in 2004 there at age 19, as one of the few that earned rotation minutes. Players like Bogut, Mills, Exum were still known quantities to some extent as they starred on junior national teams. Notice that we typically lacked depth in these positions, so it was easier for them to rise up the ranks. We didn't have many good alternatives when Mills, Bogut and Delly first played for the Boomers.

Also notice that the list of young players who didn't command rotation minutes, and just sat at the end of the bench, is comprised nearly entirely of players who never made the Boomers rotation in subsequent tournaments. Think players like Drmic, Dwight, Melmeth (1998). So if you are filling end of bench spots for players based on potential, who aren't yet up to international level, it's arguably more of a gamble than using those spots for veterans for insurance.

Nothing to do with young age. If a kid is young and he proves he can play for the Boomers he'll make the team. But I don't see why all the complaining. Deng Adel and Josh Green have made Boomers training camps. I believe even Tamuri Wigness made a Boomers training camp. Dante Exum was in a Boomers training camp at 15 years old. If they were genuinely good enough at that time to play, they would have played. If they were out there outplaying the older guys they would have played. But they weren't. Simple as that. Too many guys here watch YouTube mixtape videos and go "wow, Thon Maker dunked, therefore he's better than Nick Kay who can't dunk like that". It is basically the lowest common denominator of basketball understanding that fuels these kinds of opinions. The fact that you don't put your medal hopes on highschool kids who have not proven themselves in camp, or in competition seems lost on them.

It's worth remembering that the Boomers have a long and consistent history of taking young prospects to Worlds and Olympics. Younger players (20 and less) have been given even more opportunities to develop as Boomers in regional championships and friendlies.

Phil Smyth played at the 1978 Worlds at age 20. Bradtke, Vlahov and Longley all were in the Boomers 1988 Olympic team at 18/19 years of age. Sam MacKinnon was 20 in 1996 Olympics. Frank Drmic played the 1998 Worlds at 20. Ingles played the 2008 Olympics at 20 years of age. Exum at 2014 Worlds was 19.

Schenscher was at high school when he played for the Boomers in the East Asian Games. Dellavedova played at 19 in the 2009 Oceania Championships. Bradtke had debuted in friendlies against Russia in 1987, when he was 17. Simmons played for the Boomers in 2013 Oceania championships at 17. etc. Exum debuted at 18 in the 2013 Oceania Championships.

There are a bunch more players who were similarly given their chances at young ages and who didn't develop into consistent Boomers' team members.

In light of that history, it's unlikely that it's their young age that's keeping these younger players out of the senior sides for major tournaments.

I really liked his poise but I wouldnt expect him to average a triple double for the season.

Yes he will be scouted and have things taken away that he excels at and I'm fascinated to see how he and the coaching staff react to that.

I agree with above that we should have blooded atleast one super potential player for World Cup and as long as their attitude was aligned with the Boomers mentality of aiming for gold and team first then yes sitting on the bench and absorbing knowledge like a sponge would be just as helpful in Green as it was in Gliddon/Sobey/Barlow, if not moreso

Sportsbet's LaMelo NBL MVP special is still avaialble at $12 for the true believers.

Remember that pre-season game where Brad Hill went for 50?

LaMelo's performance is vindication that young players should be given a chance. When 13-year-old Billy Douglas turned up to a training session this week for the Brisbane Bullets, he was told to take a seat in the stands. Not once did Andre Lemanis offer him minutes as a backup point guard. Billy thought that this must be how Green, Makur Maker and Adel feels. Little Billy might be young, and just 150cm, but he has the most valuable asset in all of basketball on his side: youth. If we are not going to let ballers like Billy play NBL, he will just take his huge potential elsewhere, like the local U14 league.

"Doncic and Hachimura were ready for their national teams at 18."

Pretty sure with Japan, they don't really have the talent to be picky. Are you over 6'3? Yes? You're on the team.

"When are Australia going to have a 20 year old as it's best players ?"

When a 20 year old is ACTUALLY our best player? Sorry but these guys being listed aren't there yet and will be as useless as Sobey and Gliddon at the Olympics if selected.

Makur and Green better than Lamelo, lmao. It’s a long season and they will be great but give it a rest.

And I am saying this as somehow who was extremely impressed by LaMelo's game, and RJs. But it gets ridiculous when you take one good game per player and then extrapolate all this extra stuff from it. NBA lottery picks have come over here as imports and not dominated.

Oh shut the hell up, seriously. Kids come in and dominate a preseason game. Kyle Adnam has had some absolutely incredible preseason games and hows that turned out in the scheme of things? It's impressive but the real stuff hasn't even begun. Call me when he does it in a game that means something. Until then this just means he's got a bright future. He's done nothing yet.


And this ONE GAME in PRESEASON does not suddenly mean that any kid who is athletic with a nice YouTube mixtape can suddenly mix it with the Boomers. Take a look at who performed best in the world cup - the veterans of Spain. Who came second? A team that was led by a 40 year old. Who came third? A team of veterans. There weren't any 19 year old mixtape pros on those teams.

Saying that Josh Green can now be a player at the world cup because LaMelo had one pretty good preseason outing is fairly ridiculous. Wait until NBL teams start scouting his tendencies and taking away the things he likes to go to and THEN we'll talk.