The Australian Boomers boarded a Tuesday night flight to Europe ahead of this month’s basketball World Cup in Spain and coach Andrej Lemanis believes his 12-man roster is a fair chance at a medal.
Despite the absence of injured NBA stars Andrew Bogut and Patty Mills, the Boomers still feature four massive talents playing in the world’s premier basketball league- Aron Baynes of the championship winning San Antonio Spurs, Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova and 2014 draft selections Dante Exum (Utah Jazz) and Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls)- plus a host of fringe NBA talents.
Also ready to take on Slovenia in Australia’s opening Group D match against Slovenia on August 30 are Europen stars Joe Ingles (Last in Israel), Nathan Jawai (Turkey) and Brad Newly (Spain).
With so many top-tier options available, Lemanis was forced to leave teenager Ben Simmons off the team, who is currently tearing up the US high school scene.
“There’s always difficult decisions to get to the final 12 but I think that’s a good reflection of the state of Australian basketball at the moment, the fact that good players missed out,” said Lemanis.
Bruisers Baynes, Bairstow and Jazz camp invite Brock Motum compliment the Boomers’ skilled perimeter players including Dellavedova and the highly touted Exum, the fifth overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
“We’ve got a good mix of inside and outside players, we’ve got good energy and we’ll play hard, so I’m looking forward to getting over there,” Dellavedova said.
Boomers FIBA World Cup team: Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls, NBA), Aron Baynes (San Antonio Spurs, NBA), Matthew Dellavedova (Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA), Dante Exum (Utah Jazz, NBA), David Andersen (Strasbourg, France), Ryan Broekhoff (Besiktas, Turkey), Adam Gibson (Adelaide 36ers, NBL), Chris Goulding (CAI Zaragoza, Spain), Joe Ingles (Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Israel), Nathan Jawai (Galatasaray, Turkey), Brock Motum (Bologna, Italy), Brad Newley (Gran Canaria, Spain).
Photo: Timothy A Clary/Getty Images
