Aussies enlist two naturalized imports
It’s a violation of a FIBA eligibility rule but Australia has enlisted two naturalized imports to play for the Boomers in the third FIBA Asia/Pacific qualifying window for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Will Australia get away with it or will FIBA force coach Andrej Lemanis to choose between 7-1 center Thon Maker of Sudan or 6-2 playmaker Kevin Lisch of the US?
Under FIBA rules, a national team may suit up only one naturalized import. In the Philippine case, it’s Andray Blatche. Australia has recruited several naturalized imports in the past, including Aron Baynes of New Zealand and Americans Ricky Grace, Scott Fischer, Rocky Crosswhite, Darnell Mee, Darryl McDonald and Lanard Copeland but only one could be listed in the national squad at a time.
Lemanis recently announced the Boomers cast for the third qualifying window where Australia will play Japan in Chiba on June 29 and Gilas at the Philippine Arena on July 2. The lineup lists Maker, Lisch, 6-4 Matthew Dellavedova of the Milwaukee Bucks, 6-5 Cameron Giddon, 6-2 Jason Cadee, 6-9 Nick Kay, 6-2 Mitch McCarron, 6-10 Daniel Kickert, 6-8 Jesse Wagstaff, 6-10 Angus Brandt, 6-4 Chris Goulding and 6-3 Nathan Sobey.
The 12-man roster includes eight players from the Australian squad that took the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games last April. Australia has now won 15 straight games dating back to the FIBA Asia Cup. The Boomers are on top of the Group B standings of the FIBA Asia/ Pacific qualifiers with a 4-0 record. In the first qualifying window, Australia beat Chinese-Taipei, 104-66, on the road and Japan, 82-58, at home. In the second window, Australia had the luxury of playing back-to-back home games, blasting Gilas, 84-68 and Chinese-Taipei, 88-68. In the third window, the Boomers will play two consecutive away contests.
Lemanis has tweaked his lineup for the third window from the roster that trounced Gilas in Melbourne. Struck out were Mitch Norton, Matt Hodgson and Mitch Creek to make room for Dellavedova, Goulding and Maker. Creek is now playing in the German league with the goal of trying out for the NBA this summer. Hodgson is recovering from knee surgery while Norton lost his spot to Dellavedova.
Creek is a big loss for Australia. He averaged 14.7 points in the last FIBA Asia Cup and compiled 12 points and 11 rebounds against Gilas in the second window. Others who played key roles in the win over the Philippines were Giddon with 16 points, Cadee with five assists, McCarron with 10 rebounds, Lisch with 12 points and Brandt with 13 points.
Dellavedova, 27, expressed his intention to play for the Boomers against Gilas when he visited Manila last year on a Peak-sponsored goodwill trip. He’s coming with Bucks teammate Maker. Dellavedova gained an NBA championship ring with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 but has played the last two seasons with the Bucks. Before moving to the NBA, Dellavedova played 136 games, including 133 starts, over four years with the St. Mary’s College varsity in the US NCAA Division I, averaging 14.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He was undrafted in the NBA but worked his way to land jobs in Cleveland and Milwaukee.
Maker, 21, was the Bucks first round draft pick in 2016. This past regular season, he averaged 4.8 points in 74 games, including 12 starts, with the Bucks. As a young boy, Maker fled Sudan in the wake of the civil war with a brother and an aunt and went to Uganda before relocating to Australia when he was five years old. He was eventually given Australian citizenship. Under FIBA rules, Maker is classified as a naturalized import with the Australian national team.
Lisch, 32, holds Italian, American and Australian passports. He acquired his Australian citizenship by naturalization in 2016 in time to join the Boomers in the Rio Olympics. His passport was issued five months before he made his Olympic debut. Lisch was born in Illinois and played four years with the St. Louis University varsity before embarking on a globetrotting career that has led to stints in France, Spain and Puerto Rico. Lisch, who didn’t play in the first qualifying window, is married to an Australian.
Goulding, 29, missed the Boomers’ game against Gilas in the second window to recover from a knee injury. He has seen action as an import in Spain and Italy but made his mark as a player in the Australian premier National Basketball League (NBL) with two championships. Goulding once scored 50 points in an NBL game and led the league in scoring in 2014.