OKINAWA, Japan -- The Australian Boomers are at a crossroads.
They're so clearly trying to fully embrace the country's emerging and current young talent, but are also holding on for dear life to their 'Rose Gold' era. The idea makes sense, in theory: incorporate Australia's best up-and-coming players in a program and culture that's worked for so many years.
But, there's a problem with that. There's a clash of identities. Priorities aren't clear. You fall in love with the processes, as opposed to the outcomes. How can you lean into the new, when all of those processes are built around the old?
Australia's 91-80 loss to Slovenia -- knocking them out of the 2023 FIBA World Cup -- was the outcome of an experiment that never seemed to work: dabbling in modernity, instead of diving head first into it. Continuity matters -- especially when it comes to the retention and progression of a culture -- but moving with the times is just as important.
The Boomers didn't do that, and are now packing their bags.
What went wrong
There were issues from the very beginning, even before Slovenia's win eliminated the Boomers from World Cup contention. During Australia's warmup games in Melbourne, things felt static. No-one really knew where their shots were coming from, and that sentiment continued throughout the World Cup. There wasn't the usual flow we're used to seeing from Boomers teams of the past.
The slow starts became an issue all campaign long, and Brian Goorjian admitted on Friday that he didn't really have an answer for it.
Against Slovenia, we saw a team with such intriguing defensive pieces fall into schemes that were just never going to work. The plan was obviously to get the ball out of Luka Doncic's hands -- and the Boomers succeeded in that regard -- but the defensive rotations were slow, and Slovenia feasted on line drives to the rim and open threes from the corners.
"Obviously disappointing," Josh Giddey said postgame, with his head in his hands.
"We knew, coming into this, that it was a do-or-die match. We had to win to keep our chances alive of winning a medal. As I said earlier in the tournament, these slow starts against good teams like this, like Germany; it's hard to come back and win. We were playing from behind all night, trying to dig ourselves out of a hole that felt like it kept getting deeper and deeper.
"Every time we made a run, it was hard to sustain. A lot of emotion that this is the end of our tournament and we can't progress any further, but it's disappointing. Yeah, that's it."
The Boomers then showed hard off ball screens to get it out of Doncic's hands, then threw him a quick double in the post. We also saw Australia decide to switch ball screens then double when it got into Doncic's hands. The result was skilled European players playing four-on-three against Australia for the majority of the game. That's unfortunately just not sustainable in any way, and somewhat confusing given the elite point-of-attack defenders like Josh Green and Matisse Thybulle that the Boomers have.
In the end, the Boomers couldn't get stops, so they couldn't push the pace. Slovenia controlled the tempo of the game, and made the necessary hustle plays to effectively cruise to victory.
Don't just lean into Giddey... build around him
One of the bright spots in Friday's game -- and over the entire World Cup -- was the play of Giddey.
He led the Boomers in scoring with 20.5 points per game, which included a 25-point, 8-rebound, 4-assist showing against Slovenia. The 6'8" point guard put Australia on his back in the third quarter, scoring nine straight points to cut Slovenia's lead to 66-62 going into the final period.
Starting Giddey is one thing. But, in the 20-year-old, the Boomers have one of the best young point guards in the world who excels playing downhill and getting on the rim.
The Boomers not having an adequate rolling big outside of Jock Landale isn't ideal, but the lack of spot-up shooting is more of a concern. Respectfully, why is Chris Goulding even in Okinawa if he's not going to play a single minute to widen the floor for Giddey? It's not like the defence would leak any more than it did against Slovenia on Friday; you might as well have the country's best shooter on the floor at that point.
It's very clear that this World Cup was a passing of the torch, but the next step is to then look at the new recipient of that flame and build around it. It may mean running more on-balls than usual, or pushing the pace, or picking a more shooting-heavy team for major tournaments.
"The youth of this thing is for real," Goorjian said after the Boomers' loss.
"We're changing styles of play. We've made some moves coming into this -- the Delly, the Baynes -- and I really like Daniels. That's another piece to add to that.
"You've got Jock Landale to add to this. Clear with all of that.
"Some big decisions are ahead. Again, I like what's in front of me."
Big decisions being set to be made is a sentiment that will be wholeheartedly welcomed by the wider Australian basketball consciousness.
The Paris Olympics needs to be cut-throat
As of today, there are maybe four locks to make the Boomers' Paris Olympics team.
Giddey, Mills, Green, Landale. That's it.
Legacy picks can't exist, and any boys club that exists has to be thrown out the window. This has to start from scratch, to an extent; the program is trying to create an identity with the debris of one that already exists. The building of how the Boomers needs to operate has to be with new parts, or with the functionality of those older parts being rejigged.
The Boomers, as currently built, aren't in a position to achieve long-term success in Paris, and there's a sense Goorjian knows it.
"We are a step off that right now," Goorjian said.
"We were right there with Germany and, I thought going into the fourth tonight -- as bad as we played, and as shaky as we were offensively -- it was 66-62. It starts now, preparation for the Olympics. Learned a lot.
"I think we're in the process of change, and style of play -- both offensively and defensively -- and we're all disappointed but I'm excited where this thing can go. Definitely a clearer picture after playing this tournament."
There's also a question with regard to who coaches this team for the 2024 Olympics.
Goorjian's contract was technically up to this World Cup, but there was always just an assumption that he'd remain on to finish this four-year cycle. As disastrous as this outcome is for the Boomers, and there are undoubtedly many decisions he'd like to have back, it's unlikely anything changes ahead of Paris.
"My situation, I've always [said] do everything you possibly can and, when you're doing this, it's what's best for the country," Goorjian told ESPN prior to the World Cup.
"The timing worked for me to come back, and I've got this event and you coach this event, and then, after the event's over, what is best for the team moving forward? I think it's very, very important, with what's gone on, that the synergy moving forward; I know that when I move, that the next person is gonna be out of our staff, taking this thing. You've got Matty Nielsen, you've got [Adam] Caporn, you've got David Patrick. This thing's gonna move along and continue with the same things in place."