The Australian Boomers' first warmup game ahead of the 2023 FIBA World Cup wasn't perfect, but the indicators were pretty damn optimistic.
"I'm more excited tonight than I was leading into it," Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian said postgame, and for good reason; Australia defeating Venezuela 97-41 to open this month's Boomers vs. World event.
The end score and how well-drilled the Boomers looked on both ends of the floor -- especially in their first warmup game -- were clear positives, but turnovers gave us an idea on how much fine tuning there still is to do going into a tough, long tournament.
Here's what we learned from the Boomers' first exhibition hit-out.
Giddey leads the way, as expected
We knew going into this World Cup campaign that the keys of the Boomers would effectively be handed to Josh Giddey, and it was apparent from the tip.
Giddey was trusted to be the Boomers' ball-carrier and continued to make right play after right play. He came off on-balls to get to his spots in an elite way, while passing his teammates open consistently; Duop Reath's 26 points can largely be attributed to Giddey's creation.
The 20-year-old finished the game with 14 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists -- in just over 24 minutes of action -- and there's a sense that the team's veterans are completely bought into the idea of him being the focal point on the offensive end.
"They get it, they totally get it. They're totally into winning a gold medal, and they know this is our best chance," said Goorjian, pointing at Giddey. "How are we gonna win, how are we gonna do this? We're not sacrificing; we're making the team better. These guys are making the team better. They're NBA players; they know how to ball."
The clock had barely hit the 6:00 mark in the first quarter when the Venezuelans began to double Giddey on the inbounds, doing whatever they can to get the ball out of the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard's hands.
It's because Giddey in the Boomers' system is a match made in heaven. The cutters, the shooters, the misdirection; Giddey operating out of on-balls, or in the post. The ball and player movement the Boomers have become famous for over the years only looks bolstered by Giddey's skillset, and different styles of players that are surrounding him.
"Playing with the guys we have, there's a great mix of guys who cut on the rim, guys like Patty and Goulding that are perimeter guys who knock down threes," Giddey said postgame. "As a passer, it's a dream for a guy like myself to play with the variety of players we have."
The defence is in mid-season form
When we think of how high the ceiling of the Boomers' offence is, it's absurd to even think that their identity is what they're capable of on the other end of the floor.
Venezuela had seven total points in the second quarter. They followed that up with four points in the third period. Now, the Boomers' opponents clearly aren't at the level of the top-tier teams that will head to the World Cup, and were having a not-so-great night regardless of that. Still, they had the majority of their key performers from their qualifying games suited up, so they really shouldn't have been as bad as what the outcome suggests.
What made it particularly tough for Venezuela, though, was a Boomers defence that's been flourishing since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, spearheaded by elite and annoying point-of-attack defenders, then buoyed by the versatility and effort behind them. On this Monday evening, it was Matisse Thybulle at the top of the defence, guarding Venezuela's primary perimeter option, and that set the tone for the rest of the group on the floor. There's a vision of a big body like Jock Landale anchoring the paint, or a small ball lineup that has a more switchy five-man like Xavier Cooks or Nick Kay -- who continues to be elite and reliable in his role -- at that spot; either way, the pieces are there for the Boomers to make that end of the floor their signature.
"The defensive end is what Goorj preaches, and what we hang our hats on," Giddey said.
"It's great to have lineups where we can switch, play different coverages, guys can pick up full court. It helps having guys like Matisse, Josh Green, Danté that get up and into the ball... Offensively, we're never gonna have any problems. We've got enough depth in this group to be fine offensively. It's the other end of the floor, that's gonna push us to the back-end of the tournament and help us win games when we really need it."
Did the big-man depth conversation change?
Even with all of the positive indicators the Boomers showed, the big question remains: who, from Australia's 13-man squad, will end up being cut ahead of the World Cup?
Unfortunately, we didn't get much closer to an answer after Monday. However, the big-man conversation that's happening on the periphery might give us enough of a look into the coaching staff's thinking on the entire situation of who to bring to Japan and who to leave at home.
"We're under the microscope here with that big," Goorjian said. "That back-up big position is a real important one for us. Duop was very, very good tonight... I'm real happy with his performance tonight."
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Goorjian did everything but confirm it in his postgame press conference: Reath -- who wasn't a complete lock going into these warmup games -- has done enough to elevate him to you-can't-not-bring-him status. Sure, Giddey could make lots of centres look amazing, but Reath's 26 points, shooting 12-of-14 from the field, wasn't an accident; the positioning was on point, the timing on his rolls was impressive, and the touch is real.
We also saw a lot of Xavier Cooks at the five and, while his touch wasn't there on Monday, the NBL's reigning MVP was elite defensively, showing the ability to switch and stay with smaller guards, while finishing with a game-high four blocks. The idea of Cooks as the back-up, small ball five was one that circulated throughout and after training camp, and Goorjian still sounds keen to explore more of it.
"Do you throw it and play small ball? Goorjian asked. "In camp, we played Houston, and we put five guys on the floor who had never played together before but they're a small group, but they're all long -- 6'7, 6'8 -- and you switch everything. Do we do this? Do we go traditional? Throw caution to the wind. What do we do here? It's hard to make a decision without games."
That conversation is adjacent to the one on whether Cooks or Jack White make the final cut -- assuming it's one or the other, because there's a good argument that the team needs Cooks' versatile, two-way skillset -- and becomes more intriguing because we saw Joe Ingles play a bunch at the four. If Goorjian wants another five-man, and feels as though the depth is just fine in the other frontcourt positions, is Cooks' ticket to Japan already booked?
Injury updates
Jock Landale (ankle) and Josh Green (elbow) didn't suit up for Australia's win over Venezuela, but both are expected to play at least one of the two remaining warmup games in Melbourne.
The new name to seemingly add to the injury list is Chris Goulding, who appears to have bumped knees with an opponent in the first quarter of the matchup. He would attempt to play through it but ultimately committed an intentional foul early in the fourth period to sub himself out. The two-time Olympian had an ice pack on his right knee when the full-time buzzer sounded, but Goorjian wasn't able to prove an update postgame.
The Boomers' next warmup game is against Brazil, tipping off at 5:30pm (AEST) on Wednesday evening.