<
>

With Landale out, where do Boomers go from here?

There's no understating how brutal a night it was for the Australian Boomers.

A dominant win over South Sudan in a 2023 FIBA World Cup warmup game was severely overshadowed by what appears to be a campaign-ending injury to Jock Landale.

The big-man suffered a nasty left ankle turn early in the game on Thursday evening, leaving the Boomers without one of their best and most important players, creating a major hole in the frontcourt depth that was already lacking.

The other way to look at this is that the Boomers' final 12-man team has effectively just picked itself. Brian Goorjian isn't expecting Landale to be available for this World Cup campaign, so no cut needs to be made; 13 looks to have organically turned into 12, but unfortunately under the roughest of circumstances.

So, what next? And where, if any, were the positive signs from Thursday's win?

What next for the Boomers' big-man situation?

Goorjian is proceeding as though Landale won't be available moving forward, so all eyes now turn to Duop Reath.

Reath has actually been extremely impressive over the Boomers' first three warmup games, averaging 17 points a contest, and seemingly forging an effective duo with Josh Giddey. He will more-than-likely slot right into Landale's starting centre spot, with Nick Kay and Xavier Cooks also set to play considerable minutes at the five.

The 27-year-old Reath is now the only traditional centre on the Boomers' roster, and has shown off impressive hands and a soft touch around the rim.

"Just keeping it simple, man," Reath said, postgame, on how he plans to remain effective. "Especially when playing with guys like this. Just gotta keep it simple. Gotta be ready to finish."

Goorjian has been experimenting with a small lineup all week, trying different combinations of guards and wings that could play alongside a unit that has Cooks at the five, and it's had a varying level of success.

Against a bigger Brazilian team, it struggled, but it was quite effective in the first half against South Sudan on Thursday.

"We're gonna have to play small ball.. we've developed a style of play in this, that we know we're gonna have to play moving forward," Goorjian said. "I think the blueprint's becoming clearer, offensively and defensively, on what we need to do when we get there to win. I think it was pretty cloudy coming into these three games, but it's clearer now."

The other thing that's clear, is that Goorjian doesn't plan to tap into some of the big-men he cut early in the selection process. The first trio of cuts were Thon Maker, Keanu Pinder, and Sam Froling; none of whom are candidates to return, with Goorjian instead sticking with the 12 players remaining, which means rolling with the selection of Jack White.

White was told on Thursday evening that he's considered the 13th man on the Boomers' squad; he would have traveled to Japan with the group, but return home prior to the beginning of the World Cup unless a spot opened up, due to injury or otherwise. That looks to be exactly what has happened, and Goorjian feels comfortable sticking with White instead of chasing more size elsewhere.

"I got criticised quite strongly about having 13 guys and not making that selection, and I said Jack White has been right on the cusp of this thing and has been huge for us, and there's a quality piece there," Goorjian said.

"I'm not comfortable with some of these guys that have not played at all. Thank goodness he's here, he's played in all of this, and that we went down the road that we went, and he's a very helpful piece; he's multi-purpose and, if we're gonna play that small ball and switch, he's another really important piece."

'Delly on steroids': The Josh Green effect

We saw our first minutes of Josh Green in this campaign, and it was worth the wait.

Green, who missed the first two warmup games with an elbow injury, started over Matisse Thybulle for the Boomers on Thursday evening, and, put simply, made things happen.

The Dallas Mavericks wing was a catalyst for the Boomers' ball movement, and made countless hustle plays on both ends in his time on the floor. Before this campaign began, Green told ESPN he wanted to "play the same way I do in the NBA," and he looked to be doing just that. He was winning 50/50 balls, guarding up the floor, and pushing the pace in transition.

"Defensively, it's totally different than Matisse," Goorjian said. "Matisse is off the ball, you've got these long arms; he's switchable and he gets steals off the ball.

"[Green] is a bulldog on the ball, like Delly on steroids. The ball pressure was incredible. His shot - Dallas has done a tremendous job with him - [has] transformed. You could see it tonight. That's a really big piece. Last night, we lacked perimeter shooting, and you've gotta get to him. It's something Josh [Giddey] is gonna like playing with, and then you've got Goulding in the background to add to that."

Asked if he plans to continue starting Green: "I do, I do," Goorjian said. "That's what we're gonna try to push. That's why we did it tonight."

Green's five points, four rebounds, and four assists perhaps undersells the impact he had on the game; he was the 12th man at the Tokyo Olympics, but showed why he'll be one of the Boomers' primary players in this campaign.

Thybulle's best role

And that brings us to the flip side of that: one of the most interesting storylines to watch as the World Cup campaign progresses, which is where Thybulle is most effective.

At the Tokyo Olympics, the defensive-minded wing came off the bench to begin the tournament, before being elevated to the Boomers' starting lineup for their semi-final matchup with Team USA. Thybulle started the first two warmup games in Melbourne, but was benched for Green against South Sudan, and was extremely effective off the pine.

Thybulle finished with a game-high 17 points, while shooting 5-of-6 from downtown; bringing a much needed punch of energy off the bunch, spurring, along with Danté Exum, the Boomers' 23-0 run in the first half. He played the role of spark plug extremely well for much of the most recent Olympics, and Thursday night was an example of how he could slot back into a similar role.

The Boomers' talent and positional versatility mean they can chop and change their starting lineup - and different rotations - based on feel and matchups, but the most effective unit to begin games may be the one that includes Green on the wing, with Thybulle bringing energy off the bench. It's clearly Goorjian's preference at this point in the campaign.

Next up for the Boomers: France

The Boomers are scheduled to fly to Tokyo, Japan on Friday, with their next warmup game an August 20 matchup against France.

France is among the favourites to win the World Cup - with the likes of Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, and Nicolas Batum committing to this campaign - so it'll be a needed test for Australia.

The Boomers will then travel to Okinawa for a warmup game against Georgia on August 22, before their first game of the World Cup against Finland tips off on August 25.