Lemanis could combine Bullets-Boomers role
THE Brisbane Bullets will not stand in the way of head coach Andrej Lemanis combining club and national duties by staying on as Australian Boomers mentor after the Rio Olympics.
Lemanis guided the Boomers to the medal rounds in Rio but his future as national head coach remains uncertain.
Qualification tournaments for Olympics and World Cups will now fall inside NBL sea- sons, October to March. Basketball Australia and Lemanis have both said they will assess the national coaching role when the Boomers’ impressive campaign ends.
Basketball Australia traditionally likes its head coaches not to be tied up with club commitments but the way Lemanis has brought the Boomers together could force a reconsideration.
Brisbane Bullets chief executive Mitchell Murphy said the ball was in the court of Lemanis and the governing body but the reborn club would be supportive.
“The starting point is where Andrej’s mind is at and what the attitude of Basketball Australia is,’’ Murphy said. “But generally speaking ... we would have a complete open mind for him to do a dual role.”
Bullets assistant coach and basketball operations manager CJ Bruton has been running pre-season training in Lemanis’ absence. He would be the prime candidate to act as interim head coach if Lemanis was on Boomers duties in the future during the NBL season.
Bruton is in no doubt Lemanis will bring the successful team-first culture from the Boomers to Brisbane.
The dual Olympian said he always had high hopes for the Boomers especially with Lemanis in charge of the team.
“Their whole mindset for four years was to get the gold medal,” Bruton said.
Lemanis will resume Bullets commitments when he gets home ahead of Brisbane’s first pre-season game against UCLA at Logan on August 29.