Josh Giddey, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Matthew Dellavedova, Danté Exum, Josh Green, Nick Kay, Jock Landale, Duop Reath, Dyson Daniels, Will Magnay and Jack McVeigh.
So here are the 12 players that Brian Goorjian, the Australian coach, has decided to take to the Paris Olympics.
The surprise came from the absence of Matisse Thybullewho seemed to be one of the executives of the selection. But after the last failed World Cup, the Boomers having not reached the quarter-finals, the head technician wanted a clear rotation. By limiting the possible tensions between players with similar profiles…
“There was a big discussion about the minutes of the substitutes” explains Brian Goorjian. “The teams that I've seen that have really struggled in my Olympics, and have disappointed, are when the 10th, 11th and 12th (rotation players) are on the bench and they're wondering why they're not playing. Then you have the 9th, 8th and 7th who are splitting minutes, and none of them are happy.”
Too similar to Dyson Daniels, Josh Green or Danté Exum?
For the coach, the Portland fullback/winger was in the same role as Dyson Daniels, Josh Green or even Danté Exum, i.e. defenders who don't really spread the play. And who are therefore difficult to associate with.
“That was part of the discussion for Matisse. You have four players who have that defensive role, who run, who put pressure on the ball. We felt we had to get rid of one of them.”
For Brian Goorjian, making this selection was “the hardest choice” of his career as a coach. Particularly because of the tight schedule, which forces choices to be made very early in the preparation.
“Going into that room and cutting those five players this week… There’s something that gets to you that’s worse than the pressure of the game.” he concludes thus. “These are guys you care about, guys you care about, NBA players. It was really tough.”
But Australia can't afford to be slow to get going. Led by Josh Giddey, the Boomers are in Group A, potentially the “group of death”, with Canada already, but also the winners of the Athens and Valencia OQTs. So the winners of the Greece-Croatia and Spain-Bahamas matches…
