Desk Shelf Ideas

Exhibition games mean so little, but can tell us so much.

The Australian Boomers' excursion in Abu Dhabi has come to an end, and it's safe to say there's reason to be more optimistic about their Olympic chances after what we saw in the pair of warmup games they played.

It began with a six-point loss to Team USA and, while the Americans took their foot off the pedal to an extent in the second half - making the scoreline slightly more flattering - there were a heap of positive indicators to take away from the battle against what is one of the most talented rosters ever assembled. The showcase in Abu Dhabi ended for the Boomers with an 84-73 win over Serbia early on Wednesday morning, getting the best of the Nikola Jokic led team that's one of the favourites going into the Paris Olympics.

The Boomers will now head to France with a pair of meaningful and useful performances under their belt, with a clearer eye on how to reach their ceiling: "We got what we wanted," Australia's head coach, Brian Goorjian, told reporters after Wednesday's win.

The rotations are firming, what each player needs to do to help this team be successful is also more clear, and it's become plainly obvious what the identity of this iteration of the Boomers is evolving into.

Rotations firming up

Goorjian always talks about having a 'core nine', which is the group of players who are in the team's primary rotation.

After two games in Abu Dhabi, those nine guys are clear as day.

The starting group looks all but set, with Josh Giddey, Patty Mills, Dyson Daniels, Nick Kay, and Jock Landale opening both contests. There may be a world where Josh Green or Dante Exum come in for Mills or Daniels, but the starters were effective enough that it seems like it'll remain unchanged.

Green and Exum are obviously in that core rotation, too - and will likely be featured more prominently as the Olympics progress - as well as the pair of Tasmania JackJumpers: Jack McVeigh and Will Magnay.

McVeigh is a high-level shooting option off the bench for the Boomers, and brings a level of energy and pace that the team often needs. Meanwhile, Goorjian has surprised a lot of people by leaning into Magnay's defensive capacity and motor over Duop Reath, who was a starter for the Boomers at the World Cup. Reath played just two minutes against the USA, and was the only DNP against Serbia; he is ostensibly the third big-man and currently out of the rotation.

That's the nine.

There were questions regarding Mills' role moving forward after extremely quiet showings in the two exhibition games against China and the one against the USA, but the Boomers veteran dropped 28 points - including four three-pointers - against Serbia, demonstrating that his skillset is still at good enough level to make an impact. Mills, who played limited basketball over the NBA season - largely riding the bench for both the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat - has made a habit of taking some time to find his rhythm during warmup games for the Australian national team, before upping his production significantly when the tournaments begin.

"There's been a lot of talk," Goorjian said of Mills. "He came into this thing physically in the best shape I've seen him, with a motivation to play well, and for us to medal. I just know, the more he plays - because he's been through a year that he hasn't played a lot; he needs reps, he needs games - you can see tonight, he's an important piece for us, and he's highly motivated."

Now, it's about continuing to see which combinations work. There was a Giddey-Green-Exum-McVeigh-Landale lineup that was effective on Tuesday against the USA, and the balance on both ends feels right with that group. On Wednesday against Serbia, it was an Exum-Mills-Daniels-Kay-Magnay group that pulled away late in the game. The beauty of this Australian team is how many guys can plug and play, and slot into multiple positions, giving Goorjian and co. the opportunity to get creative with different lineups.

Over the two games in Abu Dhabi, we saw spot minutes for both Matthew Dellavedova and Joe Ingles. That seems like it'll come based on matchups, with Dellavedova's motor and capacity to pick up full court something that can help the Boomers in short patches, while Ingles' ability to facilitate ball movement is something the coaching staff likes to limitedly throw into the mix.

Boomers lean on defence and pace

It was clear how the Boomers wanted to operate over these two games.

The goal was to continue to place a large emphasis on leaning into their advantages on the defensive end, and then playing with pace. It meant picking up full-court in bulk, playing tight at the point of attack, and then pushing it whenever possible. Forcing turnovers would lead to quick outlets and advances and, even if the opposing team scored, there was an intent to immediately get the inbounds in to get the ball up the floor as quickly as possible.

The Boomers conceded 98 points against Team USA, but the defensive effort was largely solid; there was perhaps some over-aggressiveness helping down low, but the scout was executed quite well, with the Americans ultimately overwhelming Australia with their talent, while also finding rhythm from beyond the arc.

How Australia fared defensively against Serbia was particularly impressive, though. The Serbians were missing Bogdan Bogdanovic, but were still spearheaded by Jokic, who played 28 minutes and is one of, if not the, best offensive players in the world right now. The Boomers were in a full-court press for the majority of the game, and did a good job flying out to three-point shooters, with the length and athleticism of Australia's personnel stifling Serbia. The Boomers were able to hold Serbia to just 73 points - including just 3-of-22 from downtown - while also forcing 15 turnovers. They did that while committing 17 turnovers of their own, with their defence even able to withstand the extra possessions they afforded the Serbians.

"We've established and convinced our group while we're here, how we have to play to win," Goorjian said.

"For us, tonight, we were a little more uptempo, up and down, and [Serbia was] a little more of a grind in the halfcourt. Both teams were a fist fight on the defensive end of the floor... When you win a game like this, it's really helpful coming into the [Olympics].

"We need to be able to play with pace. When you play at pace, the defensive end is really important or you can't get going. At the tournament, we're gonna have to defend at a very high level. If you look at the game last night to tonight, we were a lot sloppier with the ball; last night, I thought we were better with the basketball.

"We know we're in an absolute sh-t fight in our group. It's just [to] control us being the best version of us... Talk's cheap; you've got to do it with your play. I think we've still got a long way to go. Offensively and defensively, and us being comfortable with rotations and who's playing together, we still need more games."

The Giddey-Landale partnership

The first two players chosen for the Boomers team were, effectively, Giddey and Landale, so it's no surprise that they appear on track to feature the most prominently.

During Tuesday's game against the USA, we saw glimpses of a pick-and-roll partnership between the pair that bodes well for the Boomers moving forward. Giddey had 17 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists, while Landale fnished with 20 points, seven rebounds, and six assists against the Americans, with the duo linking up on numerous occasions.

"I just think [Josh] Giddey's an incredible passer," Goorjian said on Tuesday. "They were playing Patty and the perimeter guys really, really tight, and slipping out of those on-balls after ball movement really gave us opportunities around the basket. I thought Jock Landale, Magnay, I thought they did a really good job, and I thought we got them on roll-outs and they were spread because they were pressuring our perimeter so hard."

Landale was elite as a roll man, particularly when slipping those ball screens, and his ability to crash the offensive glass and create second shots is invaluable for this team. Giddey showed over both contests this week that he can effectively get two feet in the paint whenever he wants, where he then has the capacity to create for both himself and others. The Chicago Bulls guard missed makeable looks at and around the rim, but there's a trust that those will fall and his ability to get to his spots was one of the more positive indicators to take away from the warmup games.

One of the keys to the Giddey-Landale partnership continuing to be effective is the gravity Mills is able to generate, as well as Kay and Daniels hitting at a respectable rate from downtown. There's hope all of those things can be the case; if so, Giddey creating off on-balls with Landale should be the Boomers' most effective offensive option.

Australia's x-factor: Dyson Daniels

It shouldn't be understated just how good Daniels has been over the course of the Boomers' four warmup games thus far, and especially the pair in Abu Dhabi.

He's the Boomers' go-to point of attack defender on the opposing team's primary offensive option on the perimeter, and has consistently picked up 94 feet, delaying an opposition trying to get into their actions. Daniels' ability to stay in front and glide with the player he's guarding is at an all-world level, and the chaos he's causing on the defensive end has played a huge role in the team's ability to run; there's an argument that he's playing that Matisse Thybulle role from the Tokyo Olympics with only slightly less of an ability to be disruptive, but being more reliable with his ability to stay disciplined.

On the other end, Daniels has played his role to perfection. He's been able to make timely cuts, can act as a second or third playmaker if needed, and hit probably the biggest shot of the game against Serbia: a deep three from the top to give Australia a lead they'd never relinquish. He had 14 points and three steals against the USA, before dropping eight points, six rebounds, and three assists vs Serbia, playing a key role in the Boomers' game-sealing run in the fourth quarter.

Daniels is an extremely important part of this team on both ends. He has the capacity to be the head of the snake defensively, and is a dynamic, athletic point of difference on the other end.

Much has been said of the omission of Thybulle, but Daniels looks primed to fill that role in a really effective way.

Are shooting and size an issue?

There was a lot the Boomers did well over the two games, but there were also some obvious deficiencies.

Shooting was the first one. This team isn't projected to be a high-volume three-point shooting team, but their 4-of-18 showing from downtown against Team USA is always going to be tough to overcome. The Boomers rebounded the next evening against Serbia, where they went 10-of-23 from beyond the arc, but, with no Chris Goulding in this team, they'll be relying heavily on Mills and McVeigh to find their stroke, while Kay will have to be able to knock down a reasonable percentage of the good looks he'll continue to get.

The Boomers don't have to be a prolific three-point shooting team to be successful, because their advantages lie in other areas, but the ancillary pieces being respectable is the key, in order to widen the floor for their primary offensive options.

The other concern is size. It was perhaps under too much of a microscope because, on back-to-back nights, the Boomers went up against Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis, and then Jokic, but it was a clear disadvantage.

The Boomers have good positional size, and Landale is a respectable defensive option at the five, but the Australians were largely overwhelmed by the imposition down low of Embiid, Davis, Bam Adebayo, Jokic, and even Nikola Milutinov. Magnay is a solid rim protector but does give up size to those bigs in the post, while Reath dropping out of the rotation is primarily due to the coaching staff's lack of trust in his ability on the defensive end. We saw a few minutes of Kay at the five-spot, but that hasn't worked over the past few major tournaments and didn't on Wednesday either.

The Boomers would send help a lot on those high-level post players - they'll presumably do the same in the group phase of the Olympics, when they face Greece and Giannis Antetokounmpo - and so it's then about trusting connectivity and athleticism of the group defensively when guarding kickouts and the ensuing ball movement. That was an issue against the USA but, to their credit, the Boomers improved in that area against Serbia. And, that's arguably the most important thing to come from these games. Many positive indicators came out of this portion of the exhibition game schedule, but the one that's most encouraging is that their process is in full swing, with the group already making incremental but clear adjustments from night to night.