Brown says future looks golden for Boomers
FORMER Boomers coach Brett Brown believes Australia will finally end their wait for a first-ever men’s Olympic basketball medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
With nine Australians playing in the NBA, including rookie superstar Ben Simmons, the Philadelphia 76ers coach, who was involved in three Olympics with the Boomers, insists the future is bright.
“I think the next Olympic Games will be the best chance to win a medal,” Brown said in London ahead of his side’s NBA clash with Boston Celtics.
“There are some great kids coming out of high schools in the United States that are Aussies.
“And if you look at the WNBA and the volume of women that play, there are over 160 NCAA Australian athletes littered throughout the American 1, 2, 3 division system.
“It’s a blueprint of how a country should be run basketball-wise.”
Brown spent 17 years involved in the Australian game, coaching 278 NBL matches, and was Boomers head coach at the 2012 Olympics and an assistant at the 1996 and 2000 Games.
He remains deeply passionate about Australian basketball, despite being based back in the US since 2002, helping lay the foundations for San Antonio’s four championships between 2003 and 2014.
His current role as 76ers head coach will see him build on Simmons’ rich potential.
Brown believes his young point guard is the man to lead the Boomers to success, having missed out on a bronze after a gut-wrenching one-point loss to Spain in Rio two years ago. WHILE Cairns’ season looks all but finished, the final handful of games for the Taipans and their centrepiece, Nate Jawai, are crucial towards planning for next year.
It is great that he is back but it is too late to save their season.
It is unfortunate he was out for the whole year.
It is not his fault. No one wants to be injured.
The team hung in tough for as long as they could without him but the league is too tough to be without one of your major pieces for that long.
From what I have read, Nate is one of the only players under contract for next season.
And we know, when he is fit and healthy, he is a problem for every team in the NBL.
Regardless of the result last night against Adelaide, it is all about Nate getting into form now and building into a big offseason.
I remember Nate as a rookie and I always thought he would go to the NBA.
He was agile, athletic and fearless. He is huge, too. Nate is going to have to be fit and ready to come out next season and be huge for the team. His comeback has to be huge.
On another big man, Sydney needed an enforcer in Jeremy Tyler but it did not work out.
He had to go; he was not making the team better and was not meeting expectations.
Tyler was not able to adjust to the referees in Australia.
That is not an excuse for him. He is a veteran who has played all over the world and he needed to adjust faster.
His defence was non-existent because he needed to stay out of foul trouble and therefore gave up baskets.
It is unfortunate but at the end of the day, if you do not get it done, you get sent home.
They are not making playoffs so why keep him and pay him that big salary?
They may as well send him home and let the young players play.