The Boomers have announced a revised 17-man squad for the upcoming Paris Olympics, cutting five players ahead of next month’s training camp.
Coach Brian Goorjian had initially named a mix of experience and youth in an extended 21-man squad which featured future NBA hopefuls Rocco Zikarsky and Johnny Furphy.
Both Zikarsky and Furphy were among the five names cut on Thursday, joining Will McDowell-White, Keanu Pinder and Sam Froling as the unfortunate few to miss out.
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“The standard of the tournament is going to be at an all-time high and we’re excited with the group that we’ve put together,” said Goorjian.
“It’s a special group and an exciting time for basketball and the country. We will get the guys together and get the energy right.
“The level of talent that the country is producing is at a new level. We’ve got guys competing against the best in leagues around the world and the NBL continues to advance as a world class level for Australian talent.
“We won’t over-complicate things here. We’ve got an exciting group of players that all present unique strengths and advantages. Our goal is to maximise that.”
The revised squad will report to camp in late June before a hit-out series against China in Melbourne from the 2nd to the 5th of July.
Those games will help coach Goorjian then further reduce the squad, with a final 12 to be selected to travel to Abu Dhabi for games against the USA on July 15 and Serbia the following day.
REVISED BOOMERS PARIS 2024 SQUAD
Xavier Cooks, Jock Landale , Dyson Daniels , Will Magnay, Matthew Dellavedova, Jack McVeigh, Dante Exum, Patty Mills, Josh Giddey, Duop Reath, Chris Goulding, Matisse Thybulle, Josh Green, DJ Vasiljevic, Joe Ingles, Jack White, Nick Kay
The NBL Finals are here but first we must find out who will join the Perth Wildcats and Melbourne United in booking their spot in the race to the title.
The JackJumpers and Hawks will be battling it out for one spot while the Kings are looking to keep their three-peat dream alive against the Breakers.
Read on for the key storylines to follow ahead of the NBL Play-In games!
JACKJUMPERS – Is this the year they bring a title home?
The Tasmania JackJumpers were the fairytale story of NBL22, eliminating top-of-the-table Melbourne United on the way to a Grand Final Berth in their maiden season in the league.
But now, after becoming the only team to finish inside the top four in the past three seasons, Tasmania head coach Scott Roth said it is time to deliver a championship for the state.
“They’ve been the underdogs for quite a few years down there,” Roth told reporters at the league’s official finals launch press conference.
“They have a chip on their shoulder and for me personally, I’d love to win one, but it’s not going to make or break me. I’d really love it for the state and everything we’ve built over the last three years – the consistency, the sustainability.
“A lot of these clubs have a lot of history on their side, we’re just starting to create our history and to have our third year in a row in the top four is a remarkable achievement by the organisation.
“To win a championship for Tasmania would be a thrill of a lifetime obviously and we’re going to do everything to defend the island.”
Tasmania JackJumpers Head Coach Scott Roth. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
It was not all going to plan last month though, with Tasmania losing six of its last eight games as Roth conceded he wasn’t sure if the team was going to be able to turn it around.
In fact, he went as far as to say the JackJumpers could’ve gone on to drop all six games.
Instead, they won five to enter the Play-In as one of the league’s most in-form teams and threatening to make a push for another grand final.
And for ex-NBL player Lanard Copeland, as much as winning a championship is more about Tasmania than Roth, he believes a lot of the team’s success goes back to the man who has been there right from the start.
That extends to off the court too, where Roth understands the power of every word.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Lanard Copeland said on NBL Overtime.
“That was reverse psychology [when he said] we’re going to lose six in a row because he knows what he’s working with. He’s done it since he’s been there.”
Now he may have the JackJumpers on the verge of another magic run, this time with expectations of going all the way.
Cotton joins Gaze with 4th NBL MVP | 00:56
HAWKS – The doubters fuelling stunning rise of ‘slighted’ Hawks
Tasmania winning its first-ever championship would obviously still qualify as a feel-good NBL story, but when it comes to underdogs to get behind this season it is hard to go past the Illawarra Hawks.
The Hawks have been on a fairytale run of their own to the post-season, led by new coach Justin Tatum who last week re-signed with the club for an additional three years.
Tatum, the father of Boston Celtics superstar Jayson, was appointed caretaker coach of the Hawks back in November after Jacob Jackomas was sacked following the club’s 2-7 start to the season.
Illawarra looked on a downward spiral having won just three of its 28 games the season prior to finish with the franchise’s worst-ever record, only further removing it from previous success under former head coach Brian Goorjian, who had guided the Hawks to back-to-back playoffs berths.
Tatum was assistant coach at the time of Jackomas’ departure, taking over the struggling club with little external expectation it seemed of achieving much this season.
But sometimes a fresh voice and approach is all that is needed and fast-forward to Wednesday night and the Hawks play the JackJumpers after securing an unlikely Play-In berth, having won 12 of their 19 games under Tatum.
BEFORE TATUM WAS HIRED
Record: 2-7
PPG: 84.4
Opp. PPG: 95.3
AFTER TATUM WAS HIRED
Record: 12-7
PPG: 94.1
Opp. PPG: 87.1
Justin Tatum helped the Hawks turn things around. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images for NBL)Source: Getty Images
“When I took over and talked to the guys [I said] everybody starts with a clean sheet,” Tatum said at the NBL’s official finals launch press conference.
“Everything we’ve done the prior seven weeks we’ll just throw it out the window and let’s rewrite our own story.”
The Hawks have done just that, beating the second-placed Perth Wildcats three times this season while also overcoming a tough late stretch of games to punch their ticket.
“Unbelievable,” Tatum said of the way his team rallied to book a Play-In spot.
“We probably had the toughest stretch of teams to play to make it to the playoffs and we knew it was going to be a grind.
“It was a real testimony to the guys who stayed locked knowing what our focus was because we had to win so many games… we got tested towards the end which is going to help us for the run.”
It is why Tatum – and the Hawks as a whole – still don’t’ feel like they have quite got the respect they deserve, with the Illawarra head coach telling AAP this week they “still feel slighted”.
“But at the end of the day we’re OK with that because we have our self-respect,” he added.
He also has the admiration of superstar son Jayson, who was asked about his father’s success at the Hawks ahead of the recent NBA All-Star Game, revealing the pair had been talking earlier that day.
“Extremely happy for him. Happy for what he’s been able to do over there and kind of turn that organisation around,” Jayson said.
“He loves it. He loves it over there. He loves being in Australia. He says the games are extremely competitive. The atmosphere is crazy. Hopefully they can continue and go all the way. But it’s been great to see him turn that thing around and have a lot of success over there.”
Hawks cement NBL playoff spot | 01:14
BREAKERS – Will the mind games work for NBL underdogs?
Finn Delany had no problems calling it a “rivalry game” but Mody Maor doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere near that word, or any other one close by that matter.
Since last week’s official press conference ahead of the post-season, the New Zealand Breakers coach has played down talk that their Play-In game against the Kings brings added motivation.
Specifically, he was asked if it would help them banish any “demons” remaining from Game 5 in last year’s Championship Series, where the Kings went on a 14-0 run late to secure a comeback win.
“Demons kind of insinuates this is something terrible that happened to us and it’s not how I feel,” he said.
“This is part of our learning curve, this is part of our growth as a club, me as a coach, the players that where there. This is an experience we can draw upon conclusions we’ve made and put them into practice. But definitely not exorcising demons.”
Mody Maor carefully chose his words. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images for NBL)Source: Getty Images
That kind of messaging was consistent from Maor this week too, telling media that it wouldn’t matter who was on the other side of the court — dressed in purple and gold or not.
“The reality is whoever we would face now I would want to beat the living you know what out of them,” he added.
“Does the fact that we lost Game 5 of the Finals over there give us extra motivation? No, it doesn’t, because we’re chasing something that is relevant only to this year.
“The only thing that is relevant to the past is the lessons learnt. As long as we learned the right things, and hopefully they come into play and help us in this one, it’s all that matters.”
Whether you believe him or not is one thing, but the mind games continued when the Breakers coach was asked about the underdog status his team carries into the game.
“They’re right,” he flatly said, adding the Kings are “definitely favourites” and that people are “right to write us off”, which will especially prove true if Will McDowell-White (shoulder) and Finn Delany (back) are ruled out.
It is all set up for an ambush but will the Kings take the bait?
KINGS – Are the defending champions feeling the pressure?
Well, they’re the defending back-to-back champions for a reason and so you’d expect an experienced group like this one isn’t going to get drawn into mind games too easily.
After all, the Kings have their own problems to worry about, namely the outside noise surrounding the organisation as it faces the prospect of premature elimination.
Sydney entered this season with much loftier goals, chasing a three-peat after becoming the first club to achieve the feat back in 2005.
It was always going to be challenging without coach Chase Buford and key duo Xavier Cooks, DJ Vasiljevic while the team’s new-look import trio was hardly a guarantee to hit the ground running right away.
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But an inconsistent season has left the Kings in a perilous position and there is little room for error now, although the way Sydney finished the regular season has Mahmoud Abdelfattah confident, having cruised to a 122-67 win over South East Melbourne.
“The guys are aware of the situation but we finished the season off on the right foot,” he said.
Abdelfattah ran out a different starting line-up in that game to the one that played in Sydney’s 106-95 loss to Illawarra the game prior, with Alex Toohey, Jonah Bolden and Shaun Bruce all getting the start alongside Jaylen Adams and Denzel Valentine.
The Kings coach though told media last week that wasn’t necessarily a sign of things to come ahead of the do-or-die game against the Breakers, pointing out the fact he has experimented with the starting team quite regularly this season.
“We’ll see. I’ll talk with the coaching staff,” he said.
“I’ve changed the starting line-up five of the last six games. I’ll probably change the starting line-up again. I’m not worried about keeping the same starting line-up or mixing things up.
“Whatever I feel is going to work for the collective unit, I’ll do my best to do that.”
WHAT TIME ARE THE NBL PLAY-IN GAMES?
The JackJumpers host the Hawks at 5.30pm AEDT on Wednesday in the first Play-In game at MyState Bank Arena, with the Kings in action against the Breakers right after at 7.30pm at Qudos Bank Arena.
HOW CAN I WATCH THE GAMES?
You can watch every game of the NBL Finals LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
Olympic medallist and Aussie veteran Matthew Dellavedova is one of two cuts as the Boomers further narrow down their FIBA World Cup squad.
The 32-year-old NBA champion, who captained the side during the qualifying window last June, misses out along with NZ Breakers star Will McDowell-White.
The squad has now been cut down to 13 players, with another set to be cut after three warm-up games in Melbourne against Venezuela, Brazil and South Sudan across August 14-17.
Almost 50,000 people have already attended the NBL Championship Series leading into the deciding Game 5 on Wednesday night with the New Zealand Breakers owner hoping his team and the Kings are allowed to duke it out without the outside noise becoming a factor.
The swings have been wild throughout the opening four games of the NBL23 Championship Series and the way the games have been officiated have been different on each night, leading to frustrations growing on both sides of the Tasman.
The Breakers were frustrated in Game 3 especially in front of an NBL record crowd of 18,049 at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday night where almost half their team were battling foul trouble.
That changed significantly in Game 4 in front of a New Zealand record crowd of 9728 at Spark Arena where the Breakers beat the Kings 80-70 to force the deciding Game 5 this Wednesday night at Qudos Bank Arena.
Kings coach Chase Buford let his feelings known post-match, Breakers owner Matt Walsh has labelled that as tactical and gamesmanship since.
Despite all that, once it gets on the court on Wednesday it’s going to be quite the spectacle with the championship on the line.
With 49,351 fans already having attended the opening four games of a tantalising Championship Series including the biggest ever NBL crowd and highest ever attendance in New Zealand, let’s hope the basketball is allowed to do the talking now on Wednesday.
Williams tips Breakers to cause GF upset | 03:23
KINGS COACH FUMES OVER REFEREEING INCONSISTENCIES
Sydney Kings coach Chase Buford was pushed to breaking point during and after Sunday’s Championship Series Game 4 loss, and made his feelings clear about the difference in officiating in the win for the New Zealand Breakers and why he felt it happened.
The Kings had all the momentum in the Championship Series after bouncing back from losing Game 1 at home to win the next two both in Auckland and Sydney, including a 23-point win in front of a record crowd of 18,049 at home on Friday night.
However, Game 4 went anything but to plan and as far as Buford was concerned, the trend for the game was set back on Friday with how the Breakers felt they had been officiated out of that game.
Whether they had a good point to make or not, once Breakers owner Matt Walsh made his thoughts public on the officiating, Buford knew that it had a chance to change the way Game 4 was called in Auckland.
According to him, that’s exactly what happened and you can understand his point. The Breakers ended up taking 26 free-throws to 14 for the game, but perhaps more significant was the calls not made on New Zealand that allowed them to control the physicality and tempo of the contest.
After the game in Auckland, Buford let his feelings known about how the game was called and how unsurprised he was after a tweet from Walsh after Friday, saying “Maybe they’ll just foul our entire team out.”
“After Matt Walsh’s tweet, I knew exactly how tonight was going to get called and it was called exactly how I planned it to be,” Buford said.
“They were allowed to get away with the stuff they weren’t allowed to in the last few games. There was no freedom of movement and at one point it was 11 to two the foul count in the second half. We were playing five on eight out there, it was clear. That’s my opinion.
“We knew we were going to get hosed and we just said that we needed to weather the storm and stick together. I don’t think we did a great job of that to be fair, but we just have to handle it better.”
Chase Buford has been less than pleased with the refs.Source: Getty Images
Breakers owner Walsh saw straight through Buford’s claims though.
“I think the talk coming into Game 5 is all wrong if they are talking me and Chase Buford, and the officials after such an amazing season,” Walsh told NBL Today.
“I also think that Chase knows what he’s doing and he is doing what he thinks is best for his team and I respect that. I respect Chase as a coach, he’s a very good coach and earlier this year he said we play like the All Blacks and then for three quarters they got called for three fouls, and we got called for 25.
“That’s tactical and that’s part of it, that’s gamesmanship. I don’t begrudge Sydney or Chase at all, but both teams have worked so hard and let’s let the players duke it out on the court.
“I don’t take it personal and I just look at it that Chase is very tactical, he knows what he’s doing and he came in with the intent of leaving everyone saying ‘Oh did Sydney get screwed and maybe in Game 5 the refs will go the other way’.
“That’s part of it and it’s calculating but I’m envious of what Sydney do and I hope we’re the two teams that other clubs look at being run the right way. I have absolutely no hard feelings.”
Breakers bounce back to ensure decider | 02:18
BREAKERS COACH WANTS NONE OF IT
New Zealand Breakers coach Mody Maor has had enough of the talk of the refereeing influencing games.
It started earlier in the season with Sydney Kings coach Chase Buford saying playing the Breakers was like playing the All Blacks and Maor bit his tongue back then.
After Sunday’s Game 4 victory he was sick of it being a topic and put to bed any talk of the influence the officials are having on this Championship Series.
“So I’ve heard this and I’ve heard what happened, and this happened here in the beginning of the season too,” Maor said.
“Honestly it doesn’t even bother me, the reaction and everybody is doing the best that they can. I sat here after three games in the series and I didn’t say one peep about the referees because they are doing the best that they can.
“All of the other noise, man, it belongs somewhere else. I for sure didn’t get any help from anybody to win this game.”
While Maor didn’t want to get caught up talking about the officiating, he also didn’t want to buy into the feud with the Kings and was full of respect when talking about his rival coach and his Sydney team heading into Wednesday’s Game 5.
“Chase Buford is a fantastic coach and his team plays fantastic basketball. His team plays very physical basketball, do not pain this as we play physical and they don’t,” Maor added.
“They play extremely physical and we love it. This is what we want in the playoffs so all the noise to try and get a whistle for the next game, I’m not taking part of this.”
Kings in control after downing Breakers | 01:40
BRAVE MVP FAR FROM 100 PER CENT FOR KINGS
This season’s NBL MVP Xavier Cooks could be excused for putting his future first and getting himself healthy to join the NBA’s Washington Wizards, but he is battling well short of 100 per cent to help the Sydney Kings in this Championship Series.
It’s been quite the month for Cooks. He was named the league’s MVP for the first on the back of the best season of his career and then had a frustrating semi-final series against the Cairns Taipans where he hurt an ankle in Game 2, but still played valiantly in Game 3 to help his team prevail.
He was then right to go 12 days later to open the Championship Series against the New Zealand Breakers, but was left banged up after that Game 1 loss at home and hasn’t been the same since.
Cooks only managed to play nine minutes before being put on ice in the Game 2 win in Auckland, and while he did manage 29 minutes in the Game 3 win at home, he wasn’t quite his usual self with 10 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
Then in the Game 4 loss on Sunday at Spark Arena, he had three fouls in the first half and managed to play just under 25 minutes for 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
He is clearly not close to full health and his coach Chase Buford admitted as much after Sunday’s loss that forced the series to a deciding Game 5 on Wednesday night at Qudos Bank Arena.
However, considering Cooks has now signed the first NBA contract of his career for the rest of this season and all of next at the Washington Wizards, the fact he is putting his body on the line for the Kings is hugely admirable.
It would be the easy option for Cooks to put his career and health first to get himself ready to arrive at the Wizards later this week in tip top shape, but as the captain of the Kings he is putting his team first and coach Buford is anything but surprised.
“He’s not close (to 100 per cent),” Buford said.
“He’s extremely brave and unselfish, and he’s a great teammate, a warrior and competitor. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe what he’s doing right now.”
Xavier Cooks of the Kings has been outstanding.Source: Getty Images
BRANTLEY/SIMON LOOM AS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES’ MVP
Whoever has the biggest impact on helping their team win Game 5 and the NBL championship will deserve serious consideration as the MVP, but right now Justin Simon of the Sydney Kings or Jarrell Brantley of the New Zealand Breakers will take some beating.
It has been a fascinating opening four games of the NBL Championship Series not only with the drama over the officiating, the record setting crowds and the tense basketball action, but also with the players on either side who have, and haven’t stepped up.
There’s no shortage of big names on either side and coming into the series, if the Kings were to win you might have thought Xavier Cooks, Derrick Walton Jr, DJ Vasiljevic and Tim Soares might have been leading the charge.
Similar at the Breakers, if you had to suggest who their biggest key was going to be you might have called out anyone from Will McDowell-White to Barry Brown Jr to Dererk Pardon or even Next Star Rayan Rupert who will be drafted to the NBA in a few months’ time.
However, coming into the deciding Game 5 at Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday night, you would have to suggest it’s Simon from the Kings and Brantley from the Breakers as the leading MVP candidates.
Obviously how Game 5 pans out will have a big factor in ultimately who is named Championship Series MVP, but what Brantley has done in all four games for the Breakers has been significant.
His importance was even illustrated in the 23-point loss in Game 3 where he fouled out with nine minutes remaining after 10 points and four rebounds, and the Breakers hopes of winning went along with him.
Across the series, Brantley is averaging 17.3 points and 5.5 rebounds a game while shooting 46 per cent from the field, 42 per cent from beyond the arc and 90 per cent at the foul line.
Not only that but he’s clearly had the better of his marquee power forward match up with reigning MVP Cooks although that’s a little unfair considering the physical battles Cooks is dealing with.
Either way Brantley has been a huge factor in why the Breakers have forced the series into Game 5 and should they win the championship, he would have to be odds on to be named MVP.
“When Jarrell Brantley is aggressive, we’re good,” said Breakers coach Mody Maor.
“In Game 3, it was a two-point game before Jarrell fouled out and when he fouled out, our offence stopped clicking and that led to our defence to stop clicking.
“Jarrell was aggressive in his spots, played exactly the way I want him to play and we need his interior presence, and to be on the attack. He’s been that kind of guy for us all year.”
Kouat Noi of the Kings and Justin Simon.Source: Getty Images
On the Kings side of things, Simon has been outstanding with his energy, hustle and defence all series. He has stepped up offensively significantly and has shown exactly why Sydney was so keen to add him to their championship defence.
It remains the most baffling aspect of this NBL season that he wasn’t even nominated for the Best Defensive Player award when even the man the trophy is named after, Damian Martin, feels he is the standout defender in the league.
Simon has only continued to prove himself the best defender in the NBL throughout the finals series. That has continued throughout this Championship Series whether spending time guarding Brown Jr, McDowell-White or anyone else from the Kings.
His Game 2 performance was perhaps one of the best ever showings from a defensively minded star in NBL Grand Final history and he has continued right throughout all four games.
Simon’s numbers of 12.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 1.3 blocks and 1.5 assists a game on 20/34 shooting at 59 per cent only partly explain his impact, but it would take something significant from one of his teammates to stop him being named MVP should the Kings become champions.
“He has just come out and changed the series the last couple of games,” Kings coach Buford said after Friday’s win.
“His defence on McDowell-White, Brown and whoever he’s matched up against, he’s causing havoc through steals. He’s scoring, had six assists in one game and six steals in another.
“It’s just such a bonus to have someone who not only changes the game defensively, but is really buying into his role and understanding how he can impact this game and series for us on the other end. He’s doing a great job.”
It was a dire season for Aron Baynes and his Bullets.Source: Getty Images
OFF-COURT TURMOIL CONTINUES WITH THE BULLETS
Trying to make sense of what is happening at the Brisbane Bullets is the biggest challenge in the world of the NBL world right with chief executive Peter McLennan the latest to depart.
On the back of a season where the Bullets came in with such high expectations with a pair of Olympians Aron Baynes and Nathan Sobey leading a talented squad, they ended up finishing second last, having three coaches in three weeks at one stage, and the turmoil has continued.
While the Bullets have since appointed rookie coach Justin Schueller as the man to lead them forward, subsequently general manager of basketball Sam Mackinnon had his position retrenched, assistant coaches Peter Crawford and Pero Cameron weren’t renewed, and now they are without a chief executive.
McLennan along with managing owner Jason Levien have been the men behind much of the decisions made by the Bullets in a baffling few months under an ownership group that includes current and former NBA players led by Kevin Martin.
To make sense of the direction they are trying to head is difficult right now. They have a rookie coach but no longer have a head of basketball, are without a chief executive and the ownership group headed up by Levien has a lot of work to do.
While the Bullets haven’t figured out things on the court in recent seasons, they have done plenty right off the court in terms of connecting with the Brisbane community.
That was highlighted in their impressive home crowds at Nissan Arena this season but much of that work deserves to be credited to the now departed chief executive.
It’s on the Bullets management to ensure that momentum isn’t lost, but the biggest concern is attracting quality players.
Nathan Sobey is one of just four Brisbane players under contract for next year.Source: Getty Images
Brisbane only has Baynes, Sobey, Tyrell Harrison and DJ Mitchell under contract for next season and any potential free agents and imports would need some convincing right now that it’s worth their confidence in the Bullets that if they sign on, they won’t be wasting a season of their career looking towards #NBL24.
Trying to make sense of what’s happening at the Bullets is something former Illawarra Hawks and Sydney Kings forward Cody Ellis is struggling with.
“There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what they’re doing right now,” Ellis said on Hoops Heaven’s Basketball Hustle podcast.
“They are probably really a club in need of some direction and it’s been very odd so far seeing what’s going on there. They’ve got a lot of work to do because they’ve only got a few players signed and it’s going to be a massive next few months for them.”
