Australian basketball.

sherrif

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I might be more excited to have Thon if he was actually 21 and not 25
I can confirm your right. He's 25. I went to a barbecue a couple of weeks ago and meant a bloke who taught him 8 yearts ago at Armadale High School. Thon came up in conversation because I was talking to a friend of mine about who I though would win the nba this year. I said probably Golden State, but the Bucks could yet surprise.
 
Bolden could be big the loser from the 76ers' trade for the Clippers' power forwards Tobias Harris and Mike Scott. Played 0 minutes in yesterday's game.
Hope he can find a team to play regular minutes for. Kid looks the good for me, fits the Baynes mould in a way IMO, but could be even better
 

Xhoquelin

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Ben needs a FT jumper and better post moves, I honestly wouldn’t mind if he bulked up a bit and could start playing smallball 5 minutes for Philly.

Due to his skill athleticism and size he should be pretty good as a roll man for the likes of Exum, Mills, Ingles. I think he should be doing most of his work out of the high post, passing to Mills/Broekhoff/Green curling around screens or fake handoffs with guys like Exum Mills Green who are a threat to get to the cup.

I’m quite worried about Exum personally. I think he’s coming off the bench for mine regardless because Mills has to start and Green just has more size and shooting at the 2 right now. That being said I expect him to close games; if we can get Exum/Green/Ingles/Simmons/jumpshooting C lineup working I think we are by far the team best equipped to take down USA.
 

sherrif

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Ben needs a FT jumper and better post moves, I honestly wouldn’t mind if he bulked up a bit and could start playing smallball 5 minutes for Philly.

Due to his skill athleticism and size he should be pretty good as a roll man for the likes of Exum, Mills, Ingles. I think he should be doing most of his work out of the high post, passing to Mills/Broekhoff/Green curling around screens or fake handoffs with guys like Exum Mills Green who are a threat to get to the cup.

I’m quite worried about Exum personally. I think he’s coming off the bench for mine regardless because Mills has to start and Green just has more size and shooting at the 2 right now. That being said I expect him to close games; if we can get Exum/Green/Ingles/Simmons/jumpshooting C lineup working I think we are by far the team best equipped to take down USA.
Green is miles away from regular courtime for the Boomers barring the most dramatic improvement in the next twelve months by any aussie player ever. Unless the above view is talking about a minimum of 2 or 3 years away then there's no chance he'll be playing big minutes when he's competing against nba level players for that court time. If you're referring to the next basketball event on the horizon the World Champs then at best he'll be the 12 man selected. If he is selected but rarely plays that would be a truly great effort considering he'll only be 19 (ben didnt make the team at 19) at the time of the World Champs and is competing against the likes of Adel, Cooks, Sobey and Goulding for a position on the squad.

Exum has consistently been one of the better players at getting to the hoop for players coming off the bench in the nba since coming back from the shoulder injury. He actually fits the description nicely of some of the players who have dominated at world champs level in terms of being a very good athlete with nba experience, but not a star. Milos Teodosic from the Clippers is widely considered a superstar at international level and he's averaging 4 points compared Exum's 7.4 this year. Like Telo Exum's game as a playmaker on limited minutes for Utah means its highly likely he'll star at international level. The nba reserve playmakers pretty much always are able to penetrate and dominate because of the fact the defence at international level, bar medal rounds always contains significantly less all round athleticism and size then nba level.

Ben's been lauded by pretty much every commentator for his improvement in his low post play. Including a mention in todays game against Lakers. Not sure what you are going about he's good enough to be one of the youngest all stars, but apparently according to you he needs to 'work' on things. Id recommend watching him play a bit. He doenst ever go to the high post and I mean ever. In half court sets he either receives the ball in a position to drive or in the low post after passing the ball off. Rubbish he needs a FT jumper to play at a high level. He shoots free throws at 60% which is far from a disaster considering the skill set he provides outside of that one skill.

Ill trust the judgment of Lebron and the Greek Freak who both wanted him on their all star squads. He's already playing at an exceptional level for such a young player. World Champs he will almost certainly dominate like few international players have in recent years. Just like nearly every nba all star international player has at pretty much every World Champs in recent memory. If you want to respond a bit of basic research wouldnt hurt.
 
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splendidham

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Ben needs a FT jumper and better post moves, I honestly wouldn’t mind if he bulked up a bit and could start playing smallball 5 minutes for Philly.

Due to his skill athleticism and size he should be pretty good as a roll man for the likes of Exum, Mills, Ingles. I think he should be doing most of his work out of the high post, passing to Mills/Broekhoff/Green curling around screens or fake handoffs with guys like Exum Mills Green who are a threat to get to the cup.

I’m quite worried about Exum personally. I think he’s coming off the bench for mine regardless because Mills has to start and Green just has more size and shooting at the 2 right now. That being said I expect him to close games; if we can get Exum/Green/Ingles/Simmons/jumpshooting C lineup working I think we are by far the team best equipped to take down USA.

I like Mills but I don’t think he’s starting ahead of Exum. Exums per 36 stats for the month leading up to his injury have been phenomenal. I heard on a jazz podcast (sorry can’t ember which one) somewhere that he was getting to the basket at a rate per possession that even had the GFreak beat. Nobody drives as much as him obviously but Exum is up there. On top of that, that last month of play his efficiency was Uber efficient and had him in elite circles.
Even Quinn has started coming around to him which was half the battle. Gotta believe that the Jazz, the same Jazz that wouldn’t give Up on Ex for Conley, know a little more than we do. He’ll be the Jazz’s starting pg barring injury. Might even end up happening this season.



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They would defs have mills in the starting 5 with Ben. Most likely playing a similar role to JJ. Prefer exum on the bench as it gives some size to match opposing guards/wings and some scoring. Not convinced that green would be selected for 2020 games, especially if we have other nba guards/wings. Would love it if he was selected, just for the experience alone. Either way it's fun thinking about this teams potential with plenty of spots up for grabs!
 

sherrif

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I like Mills but I don’t think he’s starting ahead of Exum. Exums per 36 stats for the month leading up to his injury have been phenomenal. I heard on a jazz podcast (sorry can’t ember which one) somewhere that he was getting to the basket at a rate per possession that even had the GFreak beat. Nobody drives as much as him obviously but Exum is up there. On top of that, that last month of play his efficiency was Uber efficient and had him in elite circles.
Even Quinn has started coming around to him which was half the battle. Gotta believe that the Jazz, the same Jazz that wouldn’t give Up on Ex for Conley, know a little more than we do. He’ll be the Jazz’s starting pg barring injury. Might even end up happening this season.



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Important to remember even some of the top six ranked teams in the world like Serbia and Lithuania have less than five nba players on their roster.Non nba international players from European nations do play in quality leagues, but using Milos as a reference point again, he was widely considered the best playmaker in the world outside of the nba before he entered the league. Exum's playing better than him in his given court time this season.

I personally like the idea of a starting five full of speed. Mills, Exum, Ingles, (the exception to the speed rule) Bolden and Simmons. With Simmons playing powerforward in defence and operating in the post with half court sets. Having three genuine speed demons in Ben, Mills and Dante should allow us to score and lot of fast break point and also have a lot of steals in defence.
 

Xhoquelin

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Green is miles away from regular courtime for the Boomers barring the most dramatic improvement in the next twelve months by any aussie player ever. Unless the above view is talking about a minimum of 2 or 3 years away then there's no chance he'll be playing big minutes when he's competing against nba level players for that court time. If you're referring to the next basketball event on the horizon the World Champs then at best he'll be the 12 man selected. If he is selected but rarely plays that would be a truly great effort considering he'll only be 19 (ben didnt make the team at 19) at the time of the World Champs and is competing against the likes of Adel, Cooks, Sobey and Goulding for a position on the squad.

Exum has consistently been one of the better players at getting to the hoop for players coming off the bench in the nba since coming back from the shoulder injury. He actually fits the description nicely of some of the players who have dominated at world champs level in terms of being a very good athlete with nba experience, but not a star. Milos Teodosic from the Clippers is widely considered a superstar at international level and he's averaging 4 points compared Exum's 7.4 this year. Like Telo Exum's game as a playmaker on limited minutes for Utah means its highly likely he'll star at international level. The nba reserve playmakers pretty much always are able to penetrate and dominate because of the fact the defence at international level, bar medal rounds always contains significantly less all round athleticism and size then nba level.

Ben's been lauded by pretty much every commentator for his improvement in his low post play. Including a mention in todays game against Lakers. Not sure what you are going about he's good enough to be one of the youngest all stars, but apparently according to you he needs to 'work' on things. Id recommend watching him play a bit. He doenst ever go to the high post and I mean ever. In half court sets he either receives the ball in a position to drive or in the low post after passing the ball off. Rubbish he needs a FT jumper to play at a high level. He shoots free throws at 60% which is far from a disaster considering the skill set he provides outside of that one skill.

Ill trust the judgment of Lebron and the Greek Freak who both wanted him on their all star squads. He's already playing at an exceptional level for such a young player. World Champs he will almost certainly dominate like few international players have in recent years. Just like nearly every nba all star international player has at pretty much every World Champs in recent memory. If you want to respond a bit of basic research wouldnt hurt.
60% is not good enough for a guy who plays the way Simmons’ plays. He’s a guy who in his prime will probably shoot at least 10 FT a game.

And Simmons is not going to be posting up 6’6” wings in international basketball. NBA is going small and Ben plays in a lineup where he has Butler demanding the opponent’s best wing defender as well as Embiid demanding the opponents’ C, a lot of which would be playing the 4 in international basketball.

There will be more traditional fours in international basketball. The low post doesn’t make the best use of Ben’s superior speed and athleticism relative to basically anyone his size, and whilst he’s got great touch and skill in the paint his ability to get good post position consistently against stocky 6’9” PF is not something I’d rely on in international basketball. His strengths are his athleticism vision and finishing around the basket, and the Aussie team is a lot different to Philly who have multiple all stars on one team.

It’s important he develops a low post ability for his NBA team but right now he’s not a top 20 player in the game and certainly not good enough to be the best player on a silver medal contending team. Ben playing out of the high post and having that FT jumper opponents have to respect opens up the paint for Exum Ingles Green Broekhoff Mills to slash/cut and also opens up his own offence further as he can start incorporating those FT jumpers, pump fakes, fake handoffs into his game.

Apart from Ben we have some great guards we need to take advantage of to be a chance for Silver. You know that Patty Exum are athletic enough to get free curling around screens, why would you ditch that potentially ball movement based offence just to throw Ben in the low post.

I wouldn’t like to Ben receiving the ball on the perimeter much in international ball with his current skillset given there are no defensive 3 second violations and you’ll see a lot more traditional rim protectors camping under the rim ready to challenge Ben at the cup.

I think Green will have to be ready to come in and knock down shots and play passable defence because Ingles by 2020 won’t be able to play 40 minutes a night. He has the athletic profile to be a legitimate pest as a perimeter defender. You say he’s not ready but he’s ranked very highly by recruiters, sure there’s a LOT of competition at his spot but with his combination of skillset and athletic profile he’s probably got the potential to be a much bigger contributor than Deng Adel or Chris Goulding.

* I can’t believe you think Ben will be anything more than a borderline all star every year without him either bulking up and playing small ball C and truly moving to low post based offence(which will never happen in the same team as Embiid and Butler) or without developing a fkin FT line jumper. It’s not that hard of a shot for anyone with touch and skill and Ben has been knocking down his FT at a better clip recently anyway.

Giannis is taking pull-up Js but also he’s much stronger than Ben right now which helps his low post game. If Ben doesn’t either bulk up or start taking and making Js he won’t ever be a top ten player.
 
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Xhoquelin

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Important to remember even some of the top six ranked teams in the world like Serbia and Lithuania have less than five nba players on their roster.Non nba international players from European nations do play in quality leagues, but using Milos as a reference point again, he was widely considered the best playmaker in the world outside of the nba before he entered the league. Exum's playing better than him in his given court time this season.

I personally like the idea of a starting five full of speed. Mills, Exum, Ingles, (the exception to the speed rule) Bolden and Simmons. With Simmons playing powerforward in defence and operating in the post with half court sets. Having three genuine speed demons in Ben, Mills and Dante should allow us to score and lot of fast break point and also have a lot of steals in defence.
Big responsibility to Bolden to play C defensively in international ball, do you reckon he can do it? If he can it is huge, we’d be getting a lot of points off transition with that lineup
 

Xhoquelin

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I like Mills but I don’t think he’s starting ahead of Exum. Exums per 36 stats for the month leading up to his injury have been phenomenal. I heard on a jazz podcast (sorry can’t ember which one) somewhere that he was getting to the basket at a rate per possession that even had the GFreak beat. Nobody drives as much as him obviously but Exum is up there. On top of that, that last month of play his efficiency was Uber efficient and had him in elite circles.
Even Quinn has started coming around to him which was half the battle. Gotta believe that the Jazz, the same Jazz that wouldn’t give Up on Ex for Conley, know a little more than we do. He’ll be the Jazz’s starting pg barring injury. Might even end up happening this season.



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I hope so, I damn hope so. He does need to become a better off ball player to succeed next to Simmons unless Simmons develops a spectacular jumper though.
 

sherrif

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I hope so, I damn hope so. He does need to become a better off ball player to succeed next to Simmons unless Simmons develops a spectacular jumper though.
Exum's already a good shooter whenever he gets his feet set at the deeper nba three point line, just not off the dribble. He's showed that he's off ball play has developed a heap whenever he's had the chance to play more minutes in games in this season, its just whenever his minutes are less his role is to play primarily onball. With Dante's athleticsim dont be surprised if he leads us in scoring. In the Aussie side only Ben's better at getting to the hoop, but Dante has shown he can hit open shots at a high clip in the thirty or so games ive seen in recent years. In the off season the Utah Jazz twitter feed they were talking about Dante hitting threes at a better rate than anyone in the team including Ingles during training drills. With the better looks he'll get at international ball we will be able to see more of his massively improved shot mechanics and three point stroke.

For what its worth I think its important to note Ben doesnt need to develop a jumper to dominate international ball. He's an nba all star. Decent nba players like Patty Mills dominate international ball, so Ben's a near certainty to dominate just like star Nba players the Gasol's have in recent events.
 
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sherrif

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Big responsibility to Bolden to play C defensively in international ball, do you reckon he can do it? If he can it is huge, we’d be getting a lot of points off transition with that lineup
Yes. Bolden's developed a heap and shown he can defend the centre at NBA level in recent months.
 

sherrif

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60% is not good enough for a guy who plays the way Simmons’ plays. He’s a guy who in his prime will probably shoot at least 10 FT a game.

And Simmons is not going to be posting up 6’6” wings in international basketball. NBA is going small and Ben plays in a lineup where he has Butler demanding the opponent’s best wing defender as well as Embiid demanding the opponents’ C, a lot of which would be playing the 4 in international basketball.

There will be more traditional fours in international basketball. The low post doesn’t make the best use of Ben’s superior speed and athleticism relative to basically anyone his size, and whilst he’s got great touch and skill in the paint his ability to get good post position consistently against stocky 6’9” PF is not something I’d rely on in international basketball. His strengths are his athleticism vision and finishing around the basket, and the Aussie team is a lot different to Philly who have multiple all stars on one team.

It’s important he develops a low post ability for his NBA team but right now he’s not a top 20 player in the game and certainly not good enough to be the best player on a silver medal contending team. Ben playing out of the high post and having that FT jumper opponents have to respect opens up the paint for Exum Ingles Green Broekhoff Mills to slash/cut and also opens up his own offence further as he can start incorporating those FT jumpers, pump fakes, fake handoffs into his game.

Apart from Ben we have some great guards we need to take advantage of to be a chance for Silver. You know that Patty Exum are athletic enough to get free curling around screens, why would you ditch that potentially ball movement based offence just to throw Ben in the low post.

I wouldn’t like to Ben receiving the ball on the perimeter much in international ball with his current skillset given there are no defensive 3 second violations and you’ll see a lot more traditional rim protectors camping under the rim ready to challenge Ben at the cup.

I think Green will have to be ready to come in and knock down shots and play passable defence because Ingles by 2020 won’t be able to play 40 minutes a night. He has the athletic profile to be a legitimate pest as a perimeter defender. You say he’s not ready but he’s ranked very highly by recruiters, sure there’s a LOT of competition at his spot but with his combination of skillset and athletic profile he’s probably got the potential to be a much bigger contributor than Deng Adel or Chris Goulding.

**** I can’t believe you think Ben will be anything more than a borderline all star every year without him either bulking up and playing small ball C and truly moving to low post based offence(which will never happen in the same team as Embiid and Butler) or without developing a fkin FT line jumper. It’s not that hard of a shot for anyone with touch and skill and Ben has been knocking down his FT at a better clip recently anyway.

Giannis is taking pull-up Js but also he’s much stronger than Ben right now which helps his low post game. If Ben doesn’t either bulk up or start taking and making Js he won’t ever be a top ten player.
Captain obvious call. But this is one of the least informed post ive read on any online forum for any subject anywhere. If you think Green will be ready to go and play regular minutes then you break new ground in being clueless on aussie basketball. The kids highly rated (last I checked 12th in nation in terms of college prospects) for a player who's only just turned 18, but no where near where Ben was rated at the same age (ranked 1 0r 2 ) and Ben didnt even make the team when he was the age Josh will be a the World Champs. Ive followed the World Champs since 1990 and medal winning teams have had a handful of nba players, so its beyond very bizzare to not think an nba all star wont dominate.

You do realize at 22 Ben' was the youngest player selected by an nba superstar to play in the all star game before the late change of Russell. He plays for a successful team at nba level, yet you are saying he'll struggle at international level where decent nba players dominate. If you watch Ben play he finishes at the rim at one oft he highest efficiency rates of any player in the league. Im pretty sure he can handle any of the predominately slower moving (compared to the nba) Euro bigs. He also already plays a lot in the lost post in half court as Embid spends significant time on the perimetre. Im not saying he will be good in the post if he develops. Im saying he already is and I watch 70%ish of all his games. The needs to play small ball C doesnt even make sense. Magic Johnson describes him as potentially the next truly great point guard. Im pretty sure he's a better judge of playing ability than the above poster. To be fair its getting pretty hard to work out who knows more about Ben. LeBron, Gianiss, Magic or some random who's clearly never seen him play. Hang on a sec, no its not.
 

tombomb

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Captain obvious call. But this is one of the least informed post ive read on any online forum for any subject anywhere. If you think Green will be ready to go and play regular minutes then you break new ground in being clueless on aussie basketball. The kids highly rated (last I checked 12th in nation in terms of college prospects) for a player who's only just turned 18, but no where near where Ben was rated at the same age (ranked 1 0r 2 ) and Ben didnt even make the team when he was the age Josh will be a the World Champs. Ive followed the World Champs since 1990 and medal winning teams have had a handful of nba players, so its beyond very bizzare to not think an nba all star wont dominate.

You do realize at 22 Ben' was the youngest player selected by an nba superstar to play in the all star game before the late change of Russell. He plays for a successful team at nba level, yet you are saying he'll struggle at international level where decent nba players dominate. If you watch Ben play he finishes at the rim at one oft he highest efficiency rates of any player in the league. Im pretty sure he can handle any of the predominately slower moving (compared to the nba) Euro bigs. He also already plays a lot in the lost post in half court as Embid spends significant time on the perimetre. Im not saying he will be good in the post if he develops. Im saying he already is and I watch 70%ish of all his games. The needs to play small ball C doesnt even make sense. Magic Johnson describes him as potentially the next truly great point guard. Im pretty sure he's a better judge of playing ability than the above poster. To be fair its getting pretty hard to work out who knows more about Ben. LeBron, Gianiss, Magic or some random who's clearly never seen him play. Hang on a sec, no its not.

Yeah it is a seriously odd take to be thinking Simmons is a problem ... and Green is going to be a solution.

I think the poster is seriously confused about the difference in standards between high school/NBA. This time next year, Green would be lucky to get minutes for an NBL team, let alone the National team. terrence ferguson is a relevant comparison and he averaged 4ppg in the NBL as a College freshman.

Green would need to make a massive leap to be even in contention of a spot at the 2020 olympics.

As for simmons, his style of play is absolutely perfect for international play and Australia finally has the depth to compliment his style. A serviceable jump shot would be great, but isnt necessary for him to be completely dominant.
 
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Good to see Landale and Mathiang selected along with Creek and Humphries for the final 2 WC qualifiers. No idea about their respective availabilities, but would've liked to have seen some of the other Europe based players like Xavier Cooks, Makur Maker and Duop Reath.
I particularly like Cooks, I hope they are keeping a tracking of him. Hopefully a smokey for the WC.

https://australia.basketball/nine-boomers-debutants-named-for-final-fiba-world-cup-qualifier-window/
Tim Coenraad Illawarra Hawks
Mitch Creek Long Island Nets (NBA G-League)
Harry Froling Adelaide 36ers
Daniel Grida Illawarra Hawks
Isaac Humphries Erie Bayhawks (NBA G-League)
Jock Landale Partizan (Serbia)
Jack McVeigh Adelaide 36ers
Mangok Mathiang Guerino Vanoli Basket (Italy)
Emmett Naar Illawarra Hawks
Lucas Walker Cairns Taipans
Jarrad Weeks New Zealand Breakers

Tom Wilson Sydney Kings
 
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sherrif

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Dellavedova finally get back into the grove at Cleveland. Getting some resptect for passing and selfless play just like old days.
https://kingjamesgospel.com/2019/02...ve-stride-reportedly-due-matthew-dellavedova/

Thon maker's also finally getting some court time upping his minutes to around 17min in recent times. Hit the game winner againt atlnata https://www.detroitbadboys.com/2019...core-thon-maker-hits-game-winner-in-wild-game

Jonah Bolden's also getting some court time again with Embid sidelined.

All three are keys for Boomers so hopefully upward trend continues.

Ingles and Mills also keep on keeping on with Patty playing great of late. While Baynes and Exum are sidelined with minor injuries and Broekhoff does alright in limited minutes.
Adel and Creek not on active rosters as far as I can tell.
 

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Adel got dropped to the Cavs G-League affiliate. Creek wasn't kept after his 2nd 10 day contract with the Nets.
 

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Green is miles away from regular courtime for the Boomers barring the most dramatic improvement in the next twelve months by any aussie player ever. Unless the above view is talking about a minimum of 2 or 3 years away then there's no chance he'll be playing big minutes when he's competing against nba level players for that court time. If you're referring to the next basketball event on the horizon the World Champs then at best he'll be the 12 man selected. If he is selected but rarely plays that would be a truly great effort considering he'll only be 19 (ben didnt make the team at 19) at the time of the World Champs and is competing against the likes of Adel, Cooks, Sobey and Goulding for a position on the squad.

Exum has consistently been one of the better players at getting to the hoop for players coming off the bench in the nba since coming back from the shoulder injury. He actually fits the description nicely of some of the players who have dominated at world champs level in terms of being a very good athlete with nba experience, but not a star. Milos Teodosic from the Clippers is widely considered a superstar at international level and he's averaging 4 points compared Exum's 7.4 this year. Like Telo Exum's game as a playmaker on limited minutes for Utah means its highly likely he'll star at international level. The nba reserve playmakers pretty much always are able to penetrate and dominate because of the fact the defence at international level, bar medal rounds always contains significantly less all round athleticism and size then nba level.

Ben's been lauded by pretty much every commentator for his improvement in his low post play. Including a mention in todays game against Lakers. Not sure what you are going about he's good enough to be one of the youngest all stars, but apparently according to you he needs to 'work' on things. Id recommend watching him play a bit. He doenst ever go to the high post and I mean ever. In half court sets he either receives the ball in a position to drive or in the low post after passing the ball off. Rubbish he needs a FT jumper to play at a high level. He shoots free throws at 60% which is far from a disaster considering the skill set he provides outside of that one skill.

Ill trust the judgment of Lebron and the Greek Freak who both wanted him on their all star squads. He's already playing at an exceptional level for such a young player. World Champs he will almost certainly dominate like few international players have in recent years. Just like nearly every nba all star international player has at pretty much every World Champs in recent memory. If you want to respond a bit of basic research wouldnt hurt.



Captain obvious call. But this is one of the least informed post ive read on any online forum for any subject anywhere. If you think Green will be ready to go and play regular minutes then you break new ground in being clueless on aussie basketball. The kids highly rated (last I checked 12th in nation in terms of college prospects) for a player who's only just turned 18, but no where near where Ben was rated at the same age (ranked 1 0r 2 ) and Ben didnt even make the team when he was the age Josh will be a the World Champs. Ive followed the World Champs since 1990 and medal winning teams have had a handful of nba players, so its beyond very bizzare to not think an nba all star wont dominate.

You do realize at 22 Ben' was the youngest player selected by an nba superstar to play in the all star game before the late change of Russell. He plays for a successful team at nba level, yet you are saying he'll struggle at international level where decent nba players dominate. If you watch Ben play he finishes at the rim at one oft he highest efficiency rates of any player in the league. Im pretty sure he can handle any of the predominately slower moving (compared to the nba) Euro bigs. He also already plays a lot in the lost post in half court as Embid spends significant time on the perimetre. Im not saying he will be good in the post if he develops. Im saying he already is and I watch 70%ish of all his games. The needs to play small ball C doesnt even make sense. Magic Johnson describes him as potentially the next truly great point guard. Im pretty sure he's a better judge of playing ability than the above poster. To be fair its getting pretty hard to work out who knows more about Ben. LeBron, Gianiss, Magic or some random who's clearly never seen him play. Hang on a sec, no its not.



Sorry, I don't agree with what he wrote about Simmons, but your post is a little bit ill-informed also.



Green is miles away from regular courtime for the Boomers barring the most dramatic improvement in the next twelve months by any aussie player ever. Unless the above view is talking about a minimum of 2 or 3 years away then there's no chance he'll be playing big minutes when he's competing against nba level players for that court time. If you're referring to the next basketball event on the horizon the World Champs then at best he'll be the 12 man selected. If he is selected but rarely plays that would be a truly great effort considering he'll only be 19 (ben didnt make the team at 19) at the time of the World Champs and is competing against the likes of Adel, Cooks, Sobey and Goulding for a position on the squad.

Whilst Green isn't probably as highly rated as Simmons coming out of Montrose, he isn't far behind what Ben entered the college system at LSU at. He's a five star, 96 grade SG/SF by ESPN, #8 overall. The current #1 pick of that class is ranked 97.

Ben Simmons was ranked 5 star, 97 grade out of Montrose & #1 in 2015.

Zion Williams and RJ Barrett were both rated 96 coming into this year....

Tatum and Embiid were 96 & 95 rated players respectively...

Also, I'm not sure the bar has to be set as the consensus #1 NBA pick through senior high school and freshman college to get a spot in the Boomers side. Being the #8 ranked player in the US class of 19/20 probably puts him in the best 15 players under the age of 19 in the world at that stage of the world champs and he's likely to be freshly drafted by the next olympics.

Ben didn't even make the team

This was a shock at the time, so I wouldn't exactly hang your hat on it as some sort of yard stick against Green. It's also come out in the last few years that Simmons was a bit slighted by the decision by Lemanis as well. It's still relevant that Simmons HAS played for the Boomers, he did so as a 16 year old in a world cup qualify series against New Zealand.

Most dramatic improvement in the next twelve months by any aussie player ever

Are we talking about the same prospect? He's a 5 star prospect from the 4 different recruiting sites in the USA, he's signed for one of the biggest basketball programs in the USA and turned down the likes of Villanova, NC and Kansas. Dante Exum made the 2014 world cup squad after being drafted the month before, despite dodging the USA college system and essentially got picked for the world cup side in 2014 out of the Canberra High School basketball circuit, the Australian underage sides and his draft hype.

Green could quite possibly challenge Simmons for one of our best ever players, it's as much about planning for future Olympic sides with experience as it is this one...

If he is selected but rarely plays that would be a truly great effort considering he'll only be 19 (ben didnt make the team at 19)

Simmons had just turned 18 when he entered the 2014 World Cup squad camp, he wasn't 19. Simmons had just started his senior year of high school at Montrose, when the squad was picked for 14'. He made his debut for LSU pretty much 1 year to the day after the 14' World Cup. Green will have completed his pre-season for Arizona with the start of the NCAA season coinciding with the world cup. There is a big difference there.

You are also missing the fact he was selected for the Boomers last run of World Cup qualifiers and couldn't play because of a shoulder injury. He's already in the frame, let alone in another 6 months.

at the time of the World Champs and is competing against the likes of Adel, Cooks, Sobey and Goulding for a position on the squad.

- Adel: is 6 months out of college where he averaged 14 points a game for Louisville as a senior and is currently in and out of the G league. Hardly earth shattering stuff for him to match.

- Cooks: Sorry are you serious? He's also 6 months out of college where he played in one of the lowest ranked conferences in Div 1, a NBA summer league match for the GSW and 6 months of basketball at one of Germany's smallest ranked Div 1 sides shouldn't put him up the pecking order. He's also probably more competing with Ingles and Broekhoff rather than Green.

-Sobey: NBL all second teamer who has moved over to the French league at age 28? Who will have 6 months of experience at that level before the Olympics? With Simmons, Delly, Exum and even Ingles as ball handlers, he's not really relevant.

- Goulding: Will be near 31 years old, hasn't set the world on fire against top opposition is the past, whats the point when he might not get many minutes anyway?




He's not some savior, yet, but an elite, athletic, 6"6 combo guard/wing who's in the best handful of u/20 kids on the planet and at one of the biggest and most well funded basketball programs in the world will have a place on any current Boomers bench.
 
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Sorry, I don't agree with what he wrote about Simmons, but your post is a little bit ill-informed also.





Whilst Green isn't probably as highly rated as Simmons coming out of Montrose, he isn't far behind what Ben entered the college system at LSU at. He's a five star, 96 grade SG/SF by ESPN, #8 overall. The current #1 pick of that class is ranked 97.

Ben Simmons was ranked 5 star, 97 grade out of Montrose & #1 in 2015.

Zion Williams and RJ Barrett were both rated 96 coming into this year....

Tatum and Embiid were 96 & 95 rated players respectively...

Also, I'm not sure the bar has to be set as the consensus #1 NBA pick through senior high school and freshman college to get a spot in the Boomers side. Being the #8 ranked player in the US class of 19/20 probably puts him in the best 15 players under the age of 19 in the world at that stage of the world champs and he's likely to be freshly drafted by the next olympics.



This was a shock at the time, so I wouldn't exactly hang your hat on it as some sort of yard stick against Green. It's also come out in the last few years that Simmons was a bit slighted by the decision by Lemanis as well. It's still relevant that Simmons HAS played for the Boomers, he did so as a 16 year old in a world cup qualify series against New Zealand.



Are we talking about the same prospect? He's a 5 star prospect from the 4 different recruiting sites in the USA, he's signed for one of the biggest basketball programs in the USA and turned down the likes of Villanova, NC and Kansas. Dante Exum made the 2014 world cup squad after being drafted the month before, despite dodging the USA college system and essentially got picked for the world cup side in 2014 out of the Canberra High School basketball circuit, the Australian underage sides and his draft hype.

Green could quite possibly challenge Simmons for one of our best ever players, it's as much about planning for future Olympic sides with experience as it is this one...



Simmons had just turned 18 when he entered the 2014 World Cup squad camp, he wasn't 19. Simmons had just started his senior year of high school at Montrose, when the squad was picked for 14'. He made his debut for LSU pretty much 1 year to the day after the 14' World Cup. Green will have completed his pre-season for Arizona with the start of the NCAA season coinciding with the world cup. There is a big difference there.

You are also missing the fact he was selected for the Boomers last run of World Cup qualifiers and couldn't play because of a shoulder injury. He's already in the frame, let alone in another 6 months.



- Adel: is 6 months out of college where he averaged 14 points a game for Louisville as a senior and is currently in and out of the G league. Hardly earth shattering stuff for him to match.

- Cooks: Sorry are you serious? He's also 6 months out of college where he played in one of the lowest ranked conferences in Div 1, a NBA summer league match for the GSW and 6 months of basketball at one of Germany's smallest ranked Div 1 sides shouldn't put him up the pecking order. He's also probably more competing with Ingles and Broekhoff rather than Green.

-Sobey: NBL all second teamer who has moved over to the French league at age 28? Who will have 6 months of experience at that level before the Olympics? With Simmons, Delly, Exum and even Ingles as ball handlers, he's not really relevant.

- Goulding: Will be near 31 years old, hasn't set the world on fire against top opposition is the past, whats the point when he might not get many minutes anyway?




He's not some savior, yet, but an elite, athletic, 6"6 combo guard/wing who's in the best handful of u/20 kids on the planet and at one of the biggest and most well funded basketball programs in the world will have a place on any current Boomers bench.
Appreciate the effort in response to my post. Not taking the piss.
Ill respond as I strongly disagree with most of what you've said. But fine with anyone who disagrees.

Ive said I think Green will be in contention to make the team for experience as part of building for the next Olympics, so we agree on that. Green has moved up the rankings to be considered the 9th ranked pick on some of the 2020 draft boards. Yep he's moving up. But no chance he's a certainty to contribute at a World Champs. LIke I said if he makes the team its a great effort and will require a lot of improvement. Ben obviously improved a heap, like you said to go from a Top 5 prospect to the highest ranked high school player in the nation in his final year of high school.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=no+1+ranked+high+school+prospect+ben+simmons
Thats exactly my point. Green would have to improve a heap to make a team that looks a lot better than the team Ben was competing to make at the last world champs. Yep Simmons was a slightly controversial omission. Doesnt change the fact he didnt make the team despite being considered a great prospect in a weaker world champs team. THere was also nothing stopping him coming into the team if the Boomers coaches thought he could contribute straight away. We've got a history of doing that at high level basketball events. There's eleven months between the age Ben didnt make the team and Josh's age at the World Champs. Simmons was competing with the likes of Jawaii, Gibson, Newley and Bairstow in it though. Competition for the less than a year older Green is far greater.

ITs important to note we also agree that Exum hardly dominated in the games he played for Australia in the first few years after being drafted. He had already been selected in the nba draft by the last world champs and contributed very little at that event, so how does it work that Green is likely to at roughly the same age? Exum had already shown enough potential to be a top 6 pick. Green would have to be miles ahead of an nba top 6 pick to play a significant role. Its therefore pretty far fetched based on past experience to consider it likely Green will be competing for regular minutes for what could be our best ever team when history points to the fact that is beyond highly unlikely. Hope it happens.

Sorry, but a selection for qualifying games at this point in time in for the Boomers in extended squad means less than nothing. Have a look at the 24 man squad Josh was named in https://www.foxsports.com.au/basketball/basketball-australia-names-24man-boomers-squad-for-upcoming-fiba-world-cup-qualifiers-featuring-17yearold-josh-green/news-story/03672bd1248b5cc9aa3a9f1b3721c8a3T
There are plenty of non starting nbl bench players who make the squad with the likes of Anthony Drimic, Barlow and Moller.

I think we've had a misunderstanding if you think I dont know Ben's game. Im saying he posts up, but probably need to explain Im referring to both when he gets the ball down low, but also when he dribbles in and turns his back to the basket to score. He does both regularly. If not Id love to know what Im missing. I watch him play 40 times a year since the start of his career, coach basketball and talk on-line with Philly fans who universally agree withj my views.. Im also talking about the role he'll play for the Boomers, which will be different to the role he plays for Philly.

In recent times since the Embid injury Ben's played even more like Ive described. He has spent significant time in the post like I said. The recent Thunder game was a terrific example of what Im talking about. Actually, with the Embid and reserve centre Boban being injured for Philly in that game the role Ben played is pretty much exactly the role I see Ben playing for Australia. That game showed how Jonah and him can combine playing in the front court with Jonah scoring 14 points and Ben defended the centre at times. Very exciting for Aussie basketball.

Disagree massively with your comments on Sobey, Adel, Goulding and Cooks. Might be an idea to research what you are talking about there.

Sobey's actually done very well playing at a level just below nba level in recent years. The Greek1 League is widely regarded as a top 10 league outside of the nba. http://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/...-rankings-world-top-12-basketball-leagues-nba
In 2017 Sobey averaged more points than Joe Ingles did playing in a better, but comparable league in Spain in the year before he was drafted.

Goulding is also the guy who scores a heap for Australia in qualifying games. That has to come into contention in regard to selection. Disregard that if you want, but both Creek and Goulding are massive keys to get us to the championship to begin with. Goulding's also very much the perfect 12th man as he can come into games and play limited minutes and get hot quickly. He actually has a proven record in that regard and did well playing that role at the last world champs as he got hot coming in for only a few minutes a number of times. Thirty one is hardly old at international level where a lot of teams have experienced bench players.

Adel is on the fringes of the nba as proven by him earning a partially guaranteed nba contract with the Raptors in 2018. Mills and Delly were in similar positions in their first year out of college and both Ingles and Baynes werent even in the frame for a contract. Its pretty ridiculous to think he wouldnt be in contention for a berth in comparison to a player who will be 19 barring (and perhaps even if it happens) an improvement like Ben had before in the year before his college career from Josh.

Cooks is more of a wildcard selection. However, he's actually doing great in another top 10 ranked league from the above link. The GermanyBBL. Averaging 12 points a game in a top euro league is not too shabby at all. His team s.Oliver.Wurzburg is actually consistently rated as one of the top teams in the EuroLeage.
http://www.fiba.basketball/europecu...urzburg-s-time-to-shine-in-the-power-rankings Cooks is doing better than Motum has been playing Europe and he's made Olympic and World Champs teams.

I dont have a problem saying i hope you're right and Josh Green plays himself into a place in the team. Making the team for experience is possible. Contributing to a team with nba rostered players, highly unlikely. The good news is he'll be tracking to be an all time Boomers great if he's even on the squad at 19.
 
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Boomers drawn in a pretty challenging group with Lithuania, Canada & Senegal. Canada in particular have a lot of NBA players.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/basket...y/news-story/737130a8a70bf536aae794f78fe60a57

We need to finish above NZ to qualify for the Olympics. NZ grouped with Greece, Brazil & Montenegro. Could be a tight result.
I'm not saying that we definitely can't do it without him, but if Simmons legitimately wants to play in the Olympics, he needs to help them qualify because potentially there may be no Olympics to play in if things don't go our way.
The World Cup & the Olympics are a package deal now. The World Cup has been made a lot more important than to used to be. I hope that Simmons actually understands that when he makes his decision.
 
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