FIBA WORLD CUP 2019 | SPAIN are new WORLD CHAMPIONS

[Catchall]

This next matchup between Turner and Gobert is going to be interesting. I think USA is going to be extremely aggressive in guarding De Colo and Fournier, rotating four of their guards to try to shut them down. France gets almost half of their scoring from those two. If Mitchell, Smart, Brown and White can make their lives miserable, USA should win by double digits.

Turner and Lopez have to be physical with Gobert.

[bb22]

This next matchup between Turner and Gobert is going to be interesting. I think USA is going to be extremely aggressive in guarding De Colo and Fournier, rotating four of their guards to try to shut them down. France gets almost half of their scoring from those two. If Mitchell, Smart, Brown and White can make their lives miserable, USA should win by double digits.

Turner and Lopez have to be physical with Gobert.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lopez gets the start. This is the one game where he might have to produce. If he does what he's supposed to do by being a threat from long range, he could pull Gobert out of the paint and make it extremely difficult for France.

[Pipp33]

Simmons, Maker, Exum, Bolden, Adel, all conveniently absent from the team.

“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. White, White, White”
And yes I realize that Mills is black but apparently one is their quota limit. Many people do not realize that up until 1972 Australia had a “whites only” immigration policy. Disgraceful.

The Aussie team would love for Simmons to play. He chose not to.
The Aussie team invited Maker to play, he chose not to.
Exum is hurt.
Bolden was invited to the team, he left for a personal matter to attend to.
Adel was cut so that Xavier Cook (who is biracial) could be on the roster -- but Cook tore his meniscus

Simmons and Exum, ok. But you're telling me that Maker, who played in 3rd rate random Tourneys for OZ (he played in that game where there was a brawl with Philippines), all of a sudden he's not gonna play in the WC? Not buying it. and I heard the staff didn't like Bolden and Adel is superior to some of the pasty white dudes that made the squad, but again, they're white, so that's priority #1 for Australia. Oh, and what about Nathan Jawai? Oh never mind, he's really dark, no chance at all for him to make the squad. You're country is really racist man, own it.

Strike and given some time out.

-Zimpy27

I was going to leave this troll alone, but had to say something......

The fact that you mentioned Nathan Jawai as a possible, shows you know NOTHING about Australian Basketball. Jawai is not even a regular starter in the NBL and hasn't been in the main Aussie team for years, BECAUSE HE'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Thon Maker has released video of himself rehabbing and talked about the need to stay in the US to take the next step up in the NBA this coming season. Deng Adel was probably unlucky, but race absolutely had nothing to do with it, coach picked 2 players that play for his club team and are familiar with his game style.

If the team had race issues, Patty Milly would refuse to play for them, as he is 100% proud of his Indigenous culture and a fantastic representative of Indigenous people. Australia LOVES Patty Mills and we would also have loved to have Jonah, Simmons, Dante playing for us too.

[Pipp33]

Simmons, Maker, Exum, Bolden, Adel, all conveniently absent from the team.

“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. White, White, White”
And yes I realize that Mills is black but apparently one is their quota limit. Many people do not realize that up until 1972 Australia had a “whites only” immigration policy. Disgraceful.

Australia is a racist country but not in regard to selecting sporting teams or in in this instance as has been said. They wanted Simmons to play obviously and were playing Bolden; I can see why he thinks he should have been starting in this company but his fit particularly with the aforementioned Patty Mills is a legitimate consideration . I think Exum is recovering from injury and may not have been available. particularly since his serious injury history started in a game for Australia. Thon Maker isn’t very good and I am not sure if he was available.

Can you explain your bolded statement???

Yes, there are racist people in Australia, just like most other countries in the world, but for the vast majority, racism is abhorrent. Keep throwing out ridiculous statements though.......

[pootbrah]

This next matchup between Turner and Gobert is going to be interesting. I think USA is going to be extremely aggressive in guarding De Colo and Fournier, rotating four of their guards to try to shut them down. France gets almost half of their scoring from those two. If Mitchell, Smart, Brown and White can make their lives miserable, USA should win by double digits.

Turner and Lopez have to be physical with Gobert.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lopez gets the start. This is the one game where he might have to produce. If he does what he's supposed to do by being a threat from long range, he could pull Gobert out of the paint and make it extremely difficult for France.

Sounds like you need Baynesyyyy!

[Hroz]

It's really stupid to call one country racist or not.

I mean racism is real in every country. The level goes up and down and can affect different groups as people's opinions change as events in their life or current events affect their opinion of others.

But saying one country is racist is silly. You might as well call the whole world racist.

[stoo]

I think USA players are really gonna benefit from this cup.. Somehow I have a filling almost all of them are gonna have significantly improved season and become better team players

[michaelm]

Simmons, Maker, Exum, Bolden, Adel, all conveniently absent from the team.

“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. White, White, White”
And yes I realize that Mills is black but apparently one is their quota limit. Many people do not realize that up until 1972 Australia had a “whites only” immigration policy. Disgraceful.

Australia is a racist country but not in regard to selecting sporting teams or in in this instance as has been said. They wanted Simmons to play obviously and were playing Bolden; I can see why he thinks he should have been starting in this company but his fit particularly with the aforementioned Patty Mills is a legitimate consideration . I think Exum is recovering from injury and may not have been available. particularly since his serious injury history started in a game for Australia. Thon Maker isn’t very good and I am not sure if he was available.

Can you explain your bolded statement???

Yes, there are racist people in Australia, just like most other countries in the world, but for the vast majority, racism is abhorrent. Keep throwing out ridiculous statements though.......

I think racism was previously abhorrent for most people, but as in other places where the Murdoch press has significant sway has become a little more prevalent recently. I think it is hard to deny that there is racism against indigenous people in Australia as there similarly is against indigenous people in numerous other countries. I don’t think there is or ever has been significant racism against African-Americans (basketballers such as Ben Simmons’ father and West Indian cricketers who were pretty much the only people of recent African descent around in my youth were actually feted) or in selecting sporting teams in general, which is why I disputed the post to which I replied.

[LordCovington33]

My high school had a total of four Indigenous Australians back in the 90s. One of whom was school captain. Awesome athlete granted. I used to play rugby and many of my mates are multicultural. Perhaps your experience and the company you keep dictates your perception. Yes, discrimination exists, but name a country that is free of discrimination. I spent 12 years in HK and I can tell you right now, people from India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia have it a lot worse.

[Tiny ball]

The Celtics players looked really good this game even Smart:-).

Jalen Brown has done a good job of playing with a bit more discipline and making the simple play.

Yes I'm impressed.

[Pipp33]

Australia is a racist country but not in regard to selecting sporting teams or in in this instance as has been said. They wanted Simmons to play obviously and were playing Bolden; I can see why he thinks he should have been starting in this company but his fit particularly with the aforementioned Patty Mills is a legitimate consideration . I think Exum is recovering from injury and may not have been available. particularly since his serious injury history started in a game for Australia. Thon Maker isn’t very good and I am not sure if he was available.

Can you explain your bolded statement???

Yes, there are racist people in Australia, just like most other countries in the world, but for the vast majority, racism is abhorrent. Keep throwing out ridiculous statements though.......

I think racism was previously abhorrent for most people, but as in other places where the Murdoch press has significant sway has become a little more prevalent recently. I think it is hard to deny that there is racism against indigenous people in Australia as there similarly is against indigenous people in numerous other countries. I don’t think there is or ever has been significant racism against African-Americans (basketballers such as Ben Simmons’ father and West Indian cricketers who were pretty much the only people of recent African descent around in my youth were actually feted) or in selecting sporting teams in general, which is why I disputed the post to which I replied.

I agree that there has been race issues for our indigenous people, and some terrible ones, but as a country we have moved forward in great strides over the past 4 -5 decades, especially in the last 20 years. And for the majority of Australians, we love being a multicultural society, who now embrace our indigenous peoples as our first people.
Unfortunately there will always be the Far right who get shown in the media (yes to the Murdoch media) to be more prevalent than they actually are. I just do not like labeling a whole country as racist, because of the actions of a minority. I certainly don't classify whole other countries as racist, just because there are known issues in those said countries carried out by some of it's people.

[GimmeDat]

This Australian basketball team is an absolute basketball purists dream. Makes me so proud to watch them play.

Obviously FIBA ball is different and we see guys play super well in it and great NBA guys struggle, but Patty Mills is so consistently amazing for the Boomers that I can't help but wonder how he'd look with a more expanded NBA role. Dude is consistently a top 3 scorer in international events, super efficient, plays within the offense.

He's not a on-ball initiator that many NBA teams look for necessarily, handle can be a bit shaky when playing a more primary ball-handler role and he's more a 'makes the right play' type guy than a 'playmaker', but we're in an age of multiple ball-handlers and a lot of teams run offense through wings or even bigs these days. I wonder how he'd look playing a Shamet-like role off a Simmons/Doncic/Jokic/whoever else type.

When Simmons plays for Australia it'll be an awesome fit for him I feel.

I mean...Patty Mills won an NBA championship with Diaw and Ginobili being the guys that were running the offense on the Spurs bench (best bench in the League during those years),and him executing.How much better would you want him to be?

If you are thinking about Patty playing more than his 20MPG and scoring more than his 10PPG and spending time with the starting line up...we tried that,it didn't go so well...
Too much of a defensive liability (cause of size) in the NBA,becomes a non-issue offensively without a playmaker and a motion offense setting him up from his spots.

If he was Curry/Dame level in shooting and playmaking in the NBA as he is in FIBA ball,he would already be the starting point guard and he would get paid 25Mil per instead of his 13Mil per.Pop loves him.His limitations are the problem,neither his team,nor his Coach's confidence in him.

The fact of the matter is-for the NBA-Mills is an undersized Shooting Guard.

What does undersized shooting guard mean these days though... just that he's not a primary initiator/playmaker. I don't dispute that in the slightest. But as I said, you use him in more of that off-ball/run-around, shooter mold ala a Redick or Shamet, I think he'd rock.

Patty was great in his role for the Spurs during that time with Manu/Diaw creating. He was exceptional in that 13-14 season, for instance, with some of his best volume and efficiency. I think the fit of his role has decreased since that time.

[GimmeDat]

This Australian basketball team is an absolute basketball purists dream. Makes me so proud to watch them play.

Obviously FIBA ball is different and we see guys play super well in it and great NBA guys struggle, but Patty Mills is so consistently amazing for the Boomers that I can't help but wonder how he'd look with a more expanded NBA role. Dude is consistently a top 3 scorer in international events, super efficient, plays within the offense.

He's not a on-ball initiator that many NBA teams look for necessarily, handle can be a bit shaky when playing a more primary ball-handler role and he's more a 'makes the right play' type guy than a 'playmaker', but we're in an age of multiple ball-handlers and a lot of teams run offense through wings or even bigs these days. I wonder how he'd look playing a Shamet-like role off a Simmons/Doncic/Jokic/whoever else type.

When Simmons plays for Australia it'll be an awesome fit for him I feel.

Imagine if they were not so racist and didn’t ban all the black players on the team. Five or six of the top players are missing and they all happen to be black, but I’m sure it was just a “coincidence “. Australia was, is and will always be racist.

That's simply not true and a pretty disappointing conclusion to make. Exum, Simmons, Maker, plus whoever else you're thinking of were not available, either because they made themselves unavailable or were injured.

There were 4 black guys in consideration for Boomers spots this season. Mills made the team and is one of Australian basketball's most celebrated icons ever, everyone loves him, Jonah Bolden made the team but decided to leave mid practice matches which upset a lot of people, Xavier Cooks made the squad but did his knee in camp, and Deng Adel was the only one not to make it.

I was personally quite surprised Adel didn't make the squad, but I was also surprised Mitch Creek didn't make the squad either (he is white). Another guy who was in the NBA this season, Isaac Humphries (also white), wasn't even invited to the extended training squad.

Whether the right or wrong approach to picking the team, Lemanis put a precedence on shooting and playing within a system, and so some of the deeper bench guys are specialists from the local league, 3 of whom are from his own NBL team, so they know his system in and out. Boomer's play a very particular brand of ball that requires these aspects maximized.

I still feel like Adel's athleticism would've given us a different look on the wing, but dude averaged 6 points per 40 mins on 30% FG in his NBA mins.. he's far from a lock to make any international team.

There are obviously examples of racism within pockets of every culture, Australia included, but to throw in your subjective opinion on 1 player that you should've been picked to benchwarm on the end of a squad over another is an absolute reach. Australian basketball embraces diversity, runs heaps of great programs for underprivileged and/or migrant communities such as Helping Hoops, has a thriving Sudanese-Australian basketball league and pipeline, embraces Indigenous talent (an Indigenous All-Star team is currently playing exhibition games against NBL teams this preseason, and each game is opened with an Acknowledgement of Country). In terms of the elite level, Australia's national squads at every age group are very culturally diverse.

[Gooner]

I think USA players are really gonna benefit from this cup.. Somehow I have a filling almost all of them are gonna have significantly improved season and become better team players

That's what happened after 2010 world cup, with Durant, Rose, Westbrook, Love, Gordon...

[darmani]

Read on Twitter

EDIT: Vucevic is incorrect. He's -12.

[The Rodzilla]

It's really stupid to call one country racist or not.

I mean racism is real in every country. The level goes up and down and can affect different groups as people's opinions change as events in their life or current events affect their opinion of others.

But saying one country is racist is silly. You might as well call the whole world racist.

the one thing we should all agree on was that superman is racist

he has so much power and could end world hunger in 3rd world countries but he stays helping white people in the new york type city

[Pachinko_]

Cmon man, screw that discussion, Australians are not racist by any comparison. In theory I'm a prime candidate to be a racism victim as an immigrant and honestly in 15 years here I can't remember experiencing it not even once. Sure people hang **** on each other all the time but that's just what Aussies do, and I wouldn't have it any other way. People still understand what is a joke, thank God.

Some people might have actual negative thoughts, I don't know, but there are rules that make them keep it to themselves in public and in workplaces etc, and that's all that matters to me.

[mediocrityrules]

This Australian basketball team is an absolute basketball purists dream. Makes me so proud to watch them play.

Obviously FIBA ball is different and we see guys play super well in it and great NBA guys struggle, but Patty Mills is so consistently amazing for the Boomers that I can't help but wonder how he'd look with a more expanded NBA role. Dude is consistently a top 3 scorer in international events, super efficient, plays within the offense.

He's not a on-ball initiator that many NBA teams look for necessarily, handle can be a bit shaky when playing a more primary ball-handler role and he's more a 'makes the right play' type guy than a 'playmaker', but we're in an age of multiple ball-handlers and a lot of teams run offense through wings or even bigs these days. I wonder how he'd look playing a Shamet-like role off a Simmons/Doncic/Jokic/whoever else type.

When Simmons plays for Australia it'll be an awesome fit for him I feel.

Imagine if they were not so racist and didn’t ban all the black players on the team. Five or six of the top players are missing and they all happen to be black, but I’m sure it was just a “coincidence “. Australia was, is and will always be racist.

That's simply not true and a pretty disappointing conclusion to make. Exum, Simmons, Maker, plus whoever else you're thinking of were not available, either because they made themselves unavailable or were injured.

There were 4 black guys in consideration for Boomers spots this season. Mills made the team and is one of Australian basketball's most celebrated icons ever, everyone loves him, Jonah Bolden made the team but decided to leave mid practice matches which upset a lot of people, Xavier Cooks made the squad but did his knee in camp, and Deng Adel was the only one not to make it.

I was personally quite surprised Adel didn't make the squad, but I was also surprised Mitch Creek didn't make the squad either (he is white). Another guy who was in the NBA this season, Isaac Humphries (also white), wasn't even invited to the extended training squad.

Whether the right or wrong approach to picking the team, Lemanis put a precedence on shooting and playing within a system, and so some of the deeper bench guys are specialists from the local league, 3 of whom are from his own NBL team, so they know his system in and out. Boomer's play a very particular brand of ball that requires these aspects maximized.

I still feel like Adel's athleticism would've given us a different look on the wing, but dude averaged 6 points per 40 mins on 30% FG in his NBA mins.. he's far from a lock to make any international team.

There are obviously examples of racism within pockets of every culture, Australia included, but to throw in your subjective opinion on 1 player that you should've been picked to benchwarm on the end of a squad over another is an absolute reach. Australian basketball embraces diversity, runs heaps of great programs for underprivileged and/or migrant communities such as Helping Hoops, has a thriving Sudanese-Australian basketball league and pipeline, embraces Indigenous talent (an Indigenous All-Star team is currently playing exhibition games against NBL teams this preseason, and each game is opened with an Acknowledgement of Country). In terms of the elite level, Australia's national squads at every age group are very culturally diverse.

To just finish this ridiculous argument, not all of the best missing Aussie players are black. Broekhurst isn't playing either for the exact same reason that Simmons and others with NBA contracts aren't playing.

[michaelm]

Can you explain your bolded statement???

Yes, there are racist people in Australia, just like most other countries in the world, but for the vast majority, racism is abhorrent. Keep throwing out ridiculous statements though.......

I think racism was previously abhorrent for most people, but as in other places where the Murdoch press has significant sway has become a little more prevalent recently. I think it is hard to deny that there is racism against indigenous people in Australia as there similarly is against indigenous people in numerous other countries. I don’t think there is or ever has been significant racism against African-Americans (basketballers such as Ben Simmons’ father and West Indian cricketers who were pretty much the only people of recent African descent around in my youth were actually feted) or in selecting sporting teams in general, which is why I disputed the post to which I replied.

I agree that there has been race issues for our indigenous people, and some terrible ones, but as a country we have moved forward in great strides over the past 4 -5 decades, especially in the last 20 years. And for the majority of Australians, we love being a multicultural society, who now embrace our indigenous peoples as our first people.
Unfortunately there will always be the Far right who get shown in the media (yes to the Murdoch media) to be more prevalent than they actually are. I just do not like labeling a whole country as racist, because of the actions of a minority. I certainly don't classify whole other countries as racist, just because there are known issues in those said countries carried out by some of it's people.

We are pretty much in agreement I strongly suspect.

This is not the place for a discussion of Australian politics, but I have been disturbed that the views of the Murdoch press pundits and the likes of Alan Jones get any currency at all, they would have been ridiculed 20 years ago. As you say hopefully the shock jock stuff still has less general currency than it sometimes appears. I have been proud most of my life as an Australian that we were less racist than most, Nelson Mandela even having had something to say in that regard.

The Adam Goodes stuff concerning which I consider I can claim a somewhat informed perspective did also di sturb me, but from that perspective I think there was a considerable Sydney vs Melbourne element to that.

[michaelm]

Imagine if they were not so racist and didn’t ban all the black players on the team. Five or six of the top players are missing and they all happen to be black, but I’m sure it was just a “coincidence “. Australia was, is and will always be racist.

That's simply not true and a pretty disappointing conclusion to make. Exum, Simmons, Maker, plus whoever else you're thinking of were not available, either because they made themselves unavailable or were injured.

There were 4 black guys in consideration for Boomers spots this season. Mills made the team and is one of Australian basketball's most celebrated icons ever, everyone loves him, Jonah Bolden made the team but decided to leave mid practice matches which upset a lot of people, Xavier Cooks made the squad but did his knee in camp, and Deng Adel was the only one not to make it.

I was personally quite surprised Adel didn't make the squad, but I was also surprised Mitch Creek didn't make the squad either (he is white). Another guy who was in the NBA this season, Isaac Humphries (also white), wasn't even invited to the extended training squad.

Whether the right or wrong approach to picking the team, Lemanis put a precedence on shooting and playing within a system, and so some of the deeper bench guys are specialists from the local league, 3 of whom are from his own NBL team, so they know his system in and out. Boomer's play a very particular brand of ball that requires these aspects maximized.

I still feel like Adel's athleticism would've given us a different look on the wing, but dude averaged 6 points per 40 mins on 30% FG in his NBA mins.. he's far from a lock to make any international team.

There are obviously examples of racism within pockets of every culture, Australia included, but to throw in your subjective opinion on 1 player that you should've been picked to benchwarm on the end of a squad over another is an absolute reach. Australian basketball embraces diversity, runs heaps of great programs for underprivileged and/or migrant communities such as Helping Hoops, has a thriving Sudanese-Australian basketball league and pipeline, embraces Indigenous talent (an Indigenous All-Star team is currently playing exhibition games against NBL teams this preseason, and each game is opened with an Acknowledgement of Country). In terms of the elite level, Australia's national squads at every age group are very culturally diverse.

To just finish this ridiculous argument, not all of the best missing Aussie players are black. Broekhurst isn't playing either for the exact same reason that Simmons and others with NBA contracts aren't playing.

Absolutely. Exum would just about have to be certifiable to have played for Australia in this World Cup even if he was vaguely healthy, still having a contract with Utah who have stuck by him despite all the injury woes, which started with a career altering injury playing for Australia very early on in his career.