Patty Mills (AUS)
17/07/2015
Paulo Kennedy's view from Downunder
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Lemanis’ guarded decisions

MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - Picking teams isn't easy.

Well, it's easy to have the answers if you're someone who's never actually been asked the questions. Not so much being the coaching staff considering countless possibilities and combinations.

This week the Boomers team for a four-game European tour and FIBA Oceania Championship was named and, of course, it generated controversy.

The biggest talking point was the omission of Patty Mills, while the number of point guards picked, the selection of David Andersen and the omission of rising star Todd Blanchfield also generated plenty of discussion.

Where's Patty?
Mills was not available for the European tour due to rehabilitation from his shoulder injury, but put his hand up to take on the Kiwis.

Aussie coach Andrej Lemanis decided he only wanted players who could commit to the full program, citing the need for continuity by "having a group who have spent some time together, understanding and developing a style of play, our culture, our subbing patterns and all those sorts of things."

While I understand that logic, I don't think it stacks up.

From the Spain 2014 team the only changes for this international season are Andrew Bogut replacing Aron Baynes and Damian Martin in for Joe Ingles.

That's continuity right there.

This team knows each other, they know the game style, they know the coach, they know the subbing patterns.

What they don't necessarily know is where baskets are going to come from in a tight situation when the defense is no longer generating flow into offense. We saw that all-too-painfully in the Round of 16 loss to Turkey last year.

Mills is the man to fill that breach, and he will be the x-factor if the Boomers are going to make noise in 2016.

The problem is, with his omission from this team, he will enter next year having played just two games under Lemanis in 2013.

I think the existing Boomers need familiarity with Mills in this new system more than they need to carry all the same subbing patterns from their European sojourn.

The test of Lemanis' theory will come if there is an injury pre-Oceania and a replacement is needed. Let's hope common sense trumps theory if that does come to pass.

What's behind a choice?
It's easy to label selections as bad decisions but you can be sure there are always in depth reasons behind each pick.

Including six international rookies - Nathan Jawai, Brock Motum, Dante Exum, Chris Goulding, Ryan Broekhoff and Cam Bairstow - in the Spain 2014 line-up seemed odd, especially with four of them not exactly renowned for their defense.

But there are a number of reasons they were chosen. With Mills and Bogut injured, Lemanis may have felt it better to blood new talent.

Lemanis may also have decided Basketball Australia would judge the success of his tenure on the Boomers' performance in Rio after which his contract was up for renewal.

Even more simply, without Mills' scoring presence, players who could make an offensive impact may have been given a higher priority.

All of those reasons have some merit, whether you agree with the final selections or not.

Guarded decisions
This year's question is why have four point guards - Matty Dellavedova, Adam Gibson, Martin and Exum - been chosen?

Well perhaps the most obvious reason is the justifiable doubts about whether Exum is ready to be an international point guard.

Clearly he was a long way off the pace at Spain 2014. If you don't believe me, look at the numbers.

Exum's +/- per 40 minutes was -6.4 despite the majority of his minutes coming against weaker opposition. Jawai was the only other Boomer in negative territory.

The average for the rest of the team was +6.3.

No doubt a year of pro life in Utah will have accelerated Exum's development, but the international game is more cutthroat and complex than the NBA regular season.

Everything rides on what happens in those two qualifying games in August, there aren't 81 more chances to make up for mistakes, and if Exum can't identify changing defenses the Boomers can't afford to have him at point guard.

Nenad Vucinic may have left the Tall Blacks, but you can be sure his cunning defensive schemes will live on under Paul Henare.

With his instinctive play, blistering speed and ability to finish or dish, I think Exum is best suited to the shooting guard position internationally anyway.

Just as Mills did at London 2012, Exum can give a secondary outlet option who can motor in transition.

The inclusion of Martin raised some ire, but whether you agree with the selection or not you can't argue that New Zealand's potential weakness is at point guard, and no Australian is better equipped to exploit that than Damo.

He is also arguably the best Aussie point guard when it comes to gearing open-court offense.

Mills is a far more dangerous scoring threat, but when it comes to making decisions for others in transition, Martin has experience dating back to 2003 and has shown year after year that he can do it well.

What about the rest?
Moving away from the guards, as per usual poor old Andersen - who turns out for the national team with pride year after year - was once again a target for critics.

Is it time to move away from Andersen and onto someone else in that position? Probably. Should this have occurred after the 2012 Olympics? Probably.

But the reality is stretch bigs don't grow on trees and they are vital in the modern game.

Had the likes of Daniel Johnson and Julian Khazzouh developed their all-around game to the level needed to compete internationally they should be in the team.

But they haven't, Andersen continues to provide a solid veteran presence at both ends - even if his offense has mostly struggled in the green and gold - and hence he still deserves his spot.

So what about Blanchfield? He is one of the most exciting young players in Australian basketball yet has been overlooked.

I'll talk about that next week when I look at the curious question of Vinnie or Bubbles.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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Paulo Kennedy

Paulo Kennedy

Paulo has joined our team of columnists with a weekly column called 'The View from Downunder', where he looks at pertinent issues in the world of basketball from an Oceania perspective, perhaps different to the predominant points of view from columnists in North America and Europe.