Matt Nielsen Named Boomers Assistant Coach

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Basketball Australia have today named former NBL and Australian Boomers star Matt Nielsen as assistant coach of the Australian senior men's national team under head coach Brian Goorjian.

A three-time Olympian during his playing days which included 132 games for the Boomers, Nielsen recently was named the head coach of the NBA G League's Austin Spurs, serving as an assistant coach with the Perth Wildcats under Trevor Gleeson prior to making the move to the US.

Goorjian and Nielsen link up once again, having won two championships together with the Sydney Kings in 2003 and 2004 as coach and player.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Matt 'The Rockstar' Nielsen put together a pretty impressive NBL résumé with the <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> ?<br><br>2× Champ (03, 04)<br>MVP (04)<br>Grand Final MVP (04)<br>Scoring champion (04)<br>Gaze Medal winner (03)<br>Rookie of the Year (97)<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlashbackFriday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlashbackFriday</a> Mixtape ? Cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/austin_spurs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@austin_spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/GGW7eaNYH0">pic.twitter.com/GGW7eaNYH0</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1314420333395341312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Nielsen played 244 NBL games all with the Kings as well as having a decorated career abroad spending time playing in Greece, Russia, Spain and Lithuania before returning to the Wildcats in 2015 where he joined their coaching staff.

Nielsen said he was excited to join the Boomers with Goorjian.

“I am extremely honoured and excited about this opportunity. The current group has done such a fantastic job on the world stage and are primed to take that last step,” he said.

“Goorj’s knowledge of this team and his international experience make it a perfect match-up and I can’t wait to assist in this process.”

Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian echoed the excitement of having one of the great leaders in Boomers history as part of the coaching staff heading into Tokyo.

“I have tremendous respect for Matt Nielson as a player, a person and a coach,” said Goorjian.

“As a player, he was an integral part of my time at the Sydney Kings playing a major role on the club’s first NBL Championship team. He then became my Captain the following year when the Kings won back-to-back Championships.

“Matt was a natural leader with a superb work ethic and a real competitive streak. He then left Australia to play for powerhouse clubs in Spain, Greece, Russia and Lithuania where he developed a real understanding of European basketball. However, he was always available to wear the green and gold and it was a real pleasure to go into battle with him again at the Athens Olympics, the Beijing Olympics, and a World Championship”.

“I saw first-hand his passion for the green and gold, how his basketball astuteness was developing, and the respect the other players and coaches held for him. I am delighted that he will be a big part of our Australian team going to Tokyo and I know that this appointment will be extremely popular with our National Team players and a huge help to me,” Goorjian added.

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled for 23 July – 8 August 2021.