This guest post comes from Chris Jackson of the always-entertaining, Get Banged On, keeping you abreast of the best dunks, jams and slams from across the basketball world. Today Chris turns to another area of interest: the Australian Boomers and their current preparation for the London 2012 Olympics.
Australian basketball fans should be excited. The Boomers are stocked with guys playing at the highest level in the NBA and around Europe. They have the size and experience that should lend themselves well to a strong showing at the 2012 London Olympic Games. But a lack of one key component may be their downfall.
The international game is more of a balanced game, unlike the isolation-friendly, one-out style of play made famous in the NBA. Ball movement and inside-out play feature heavily in the offenses of world powerhouses such as Spain and Argentina. More often than not, the ball will touch all five players’ hands before a shot will go up. With such ball movement the defense is constantly moving and adjusting giving the offense the chance to pick and choose their spot to attack. Watch the Argentinian offense. Luis Scola is a skilled post player who draws a lot of defensive attention. When he receives the ball, the defense has to react, there are few post defenders in the world that can stop Scola one-on-one. If he draws one or maybe two defenders, he may kick it out to one of the perimeter players, who now has a defender rotating across out of position, and who then can penetrate and kick to a shooter like Carlos Delfino who goes ahead and knocks down the three pointer.
Now this is the problem. Who is the knockdown three point shooter for the Boomers?
Kirk Penney has been the dead-eye threat for the Tall Blacks. He seems to have unlimited range and can get his shot off in a hurry, opening the floor for the Tall Blacks. He demands attention. The Boomers don’t have that threat.
The Boomers strength is their big guys. Matt Neilsen, AJ Ogilvy, Aleks Maric and Aron Baynes are all guys who have shown their class in the top European leagues and with Andrew Bogut and David Andersen hopefully coming back to the team for the Olympics, the Boomers are stacked up front. But without the three-point threat, defenses can clog the lane drop into a zone defense, and limit the effectiveness of the Australian inside presence.
It might not be so evident in the series with New Zealand (although 8-25 from 3-point land in Game 1 is troubling), but moving on to tougher competition, the need for a shooter will be more apparent.
Who do the Boomers have that can consistently knock down a three?
Patty Mills is better as a penetrator, using his speed to split the defense and find the open man. Patty will hit a three, but he’s a streaky shooter at best (4-13 in Game 1). Even through the NBA season, Patty couldn’t show himself as a reliable shooter.
Joe Ingles is much of the same. He’s more of a slasher, trying to get to the rim and using his athleticism to pull up and hit a mid-range jumper. Much like Mills, Ingles is a streaky shooter who can get hot and fill it up but doesn’t consistently find the bottom of the net.
Brad Newley and Dave Barlow are versatile swingmen but again, neither of them have shown any consistency from beyond the arc and Adam Gibson and Damian Martin (while Damo has improved his stroke greatly) are more defensive guards and not the most reliable shooters.
Matthew Dellavedova could be the shooter they need (check out his stats at St. Mary’s College) but, from what I’ve seen, may not have the confidence at this level (so far) to step in and take the shots.
The Boomers have the tools to make a run at the Olympics and if the streaky shooters do get hot, it could make things very interesting. But I’d have a better feeling if all of pieces fit together. If the one hole in the puzzle was filled. The bigs are world class, the point guard play is strong and there are athletes on the wings. The three-point threat is the missing piece.
Long gone are the days of the Aussie three-point gunners like Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, John Rillie and Brett Maher. Who will step up and fill the void?
