Boomers' "incredibly hard" call looms

Three-time NBL champion and current Director of Senior National Teams for Basketball Australia Jason Smith has the current roster conundrum as “one of the hardest decisions the coaches will ever have to make”.

Prior to his current role in charge of both the Boomers and Opals programs, Smith won an NBL title alongside current South East Melbourne coach Mike Kelly at the Magic in 1996, and added two more titles and a Larry Sengstock Medal as a member of the Sydney Kings.

He was also a member of Australia’s Commonwealth Games gold medal side of 2006.

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The Boomers have entered their pre-tournament camp in Cairns, prior to a trip to Melbourne for friendly games against Venezuela, South Sudan and Brazil. Following that, the squad will need to be trimmed from 18 players to just 12 final representatives.

“The difficulty is the talent is ridiculous,” Smith told SEN of the current group. “The secondary aspect is they’re all good dudes.

“It just makes it incredibly hard for the coaches to decide … all the guys that are in here – in all the conversations I’ve had – their number one goal in basketball is to represent Australia at a World Cup, at an Olympics.

“They’ll make a preliminary selection while we’re in Cairns, and the reduced numbers will come into Melbourne to make final decisions. Most of the preparations will be made here.”

One player almost certain to be included on the plane to Asia is NBA star and Boomers veteran Patty Mills.

The performances of Mills on the international stage have long been crucial to any success Australia has had, as evidenced by his 42-point match-winning performance against the Luka Doncic-led Slovenia in the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal match in 2011.

Smith says Mills’ penchant for insisting his teammates pull everything they can from themselves is indicative of the high regard in which he holds the Boomers’ jersey.

“He’s not the kind of guy that beats his chest all the time. He’s a quiet guy, but when he steps onto the court he just demands it,” he added.

“The best thing is he’s willing to make the big play when it counts. He’s willing to take the shot. He’s willing to take the team on his shoulders.

“A lot of the guys haven’t interacted a lot since Tokyo and we’ve got a lot of new faces as well, but once they put on the green and gold the mateship and the bond they have is innate.

“Even if you’re Matisse [Thybulle] or Josh Green who have spent a lot of time in the US, they get back into this environment and it just takes over and they gel really quickly.

“It’s a real pleasure to be able to watch it on the sidelines and just know we have an incredible mass of talent here that’s going to do the country proud.”

The Boomers will take on South Sudan, Brazil and Venezuela in the ‘Boomers vs World series between August 14 and August 17.

They'll then travel to Japan for the group stage of the World Cup, facing Japan, Germany and Finland.