Australia men's national basketball team

Australia
FIBA ranking	10 1
Joined FIBA	1947
FIBA zone	FIBA Oceania
National federation	Basketball Australia
Coach	Andrej Lemanis
Nickname(s)	Boomers
Olympic Games
Appearances	14
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	11
FIBA Oceania Championship
Appearances	21
Medals	Gold: (1971, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015) Silver: (2001, 2009)
Uniforms
Light Dark

The Australian men's national basketball team is the men's basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known in Australia as the Boomers, an Australian slang term for a male kangaroo. Australia is currently ranked 10th in the FIBA World Rankings, and finished 7th at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Australia is a regional power in all forms of basketball. Placed in the relatively weak FIBA Oceania region, the Boomers' qualification for the Summer Olympic Games and FIBA World Cup is often a three-match competition against the other regional power, the New Zealand Tall Blacks.

Traditionally, the Boomers have been selected from the teams making up the National Basketball League. This has changed in recent years, with many Australian players heading to the stronger Euroleague to play, and several heading to the National Basketball Association in North America. The Boomers roster for the 2014 World Cup featured five NBA players: Cameron Bairstow with the Chicago Bulls, Aron Baynes with the Detroit Pistons, Matthew Dellavedova with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dante Exum and Joe Ingles with the Utah Jazz. Two other players who were ruled out of the World Cup due to injury play in the NBA, namely Andrew Bogut of the Golden State Warriors and Patty Mills of the San Antonio Spurs. Further, several players on youth national teams are student athletes in the US college basketball system, and some players have made the senior national team while still at US schools. By the early 21st century, close to half of the squad were playing outside of Australia. The trend of Boomers based outside of Australia has accelerated in the 2010s. For the 2012 London Olympic Games, only two members of the Australian squad were based in the country – Peter Crawford and Adam Gibson, with the latter being the only Australia-based member of the 2014 World Cup squad. The development of the Australian Institute of Sport has helped the establishment of Australia on the international stage.

Australia has participated in the most Olympic men's basketball tournaments (14) without winning a medal. Australia has also participated in 11 FIBA World Cups without winning a medal, making Australia the nation with the second-most appearances at the tournament without winning a medal, behind Canada and Puerto Rico (both 13).

History

Pre-1970s

Australia debuted on the international stage at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games held in Melbourne. Australia did not fare well in the competition, defeating only two sides, (Singapore and Thailand), and finishing 12th. The seeds were sown for Australia to become a regular team in international events.^[1]

After not qualifying for the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, Australia returned to compete at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. The Australians improved on their position in Melbourne, to be ranked ninth at the completion of the games.^[1] After failing in their bid to qualify for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, the Australians were left in international isolation.

1970–80s

They did not play again in a major international tournament until 1970, when the team qualified for the FIBA World Championship for the first time. The team finished in 12th place, with their sole victory coming over the United Arab Republic.^[1]

The 1972 Munich Olympic Games was a changing of the guard for the Australians. Lindsay Gaze made his coaching debut, after playing at the 1964 Summer Olympics.^[2] Australia again finished ninth, but close defeats to Czechoslovakia and Spain left the team close to advancing to the second round. Eddie Palubinskas was the holder of the second highest scoring average of the tournament.^[1]

At the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, Eddie Palubinskas finished as the top overall scorer, and set three Olympic scoring records, including the most points scored in a single Olympics to that time, with 269 points. The Boomers defeated Mexico, 120–117, in an overtime game, and defeated Japan, 117–79, as they moved to the second round of the tournament for the first time, on their way to an eighth-place finish.^[1]

In 1978, the Boomers headed to the Philippines for the 1978 FIBA World Championship. Australia played their most successful tournament to that time, defeating Czechoslovakia, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines (twice), and playing eventual gold medallist Yugoslavia, losing 105–101. The Boomers advanced to the semi-final round, and placed seventh.^[1]

In the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, the Boomers played their best Olympic tournament to that date, equalling their 1976 finish of eighth place. The Boomers defeated eventual silver medallist Italy, 84–77, in the preliminary round, but due to a three-way tie with Italy and Cuba, the team failed to advance to the final round, despite 5 wins and 2 losses.

Two years later, the 1982 FIBA World Championship was held in Colombia. The Australians finished in fifth place.

The Boomers were captained at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games by Phil Smyth, and introduced coach Lindsay Gaze’s 19-year-old son, Andrew Gaze, to the world stage. Australia advanced to the second round, following victories over Brazil and West Germany. A loss to Italy, and a 16-point win over Egypt, left the Boomers in a must-win situation against Spain, to advance to the medal round. Spain went up big early in the first half, but the Boomers fought back, ultimately losing by a score of 101–93, ending their medal hopes with an Olympic best seventh-place finish.

Following the 1984 Olympics, Adrian Hurley took over as team coach from Lindsay Gaze.

The 1986 FIBA World Championship was a bit disappointing for Australia. Losses to Uruguay, Angola, and the Soviet Union during group play kept the Boomers from advancing, and the team finished 17th. Due to a FIBA rule allowing one naturalised player per squad at the World Championship, American born point guard Cal Bruton made his Boomers debut at the age of 32.

In 1987, the Boomers faced a home series against the Soviet Union (known as the Wang Superchallenge) and although they lost all 6 games, the team, with all players drawn from the NBL other than Australian Institute of Sport attendee, 6'10" (208 cm) centre / power forward Mark Bradtke who was making his debut for the Boomers as a 17 year old (Bradtke would make his NBL debut in 1988 with the Adelaide 36ers).^[3]

Motivated by the 1986 FIBA World Championship, Australia showed up to the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games with quite possibly its most talented roster to that date. Captained by Phil Smyth, the team included Andrew Gaze, Damian Keogh, Darryl Pearce, Ray Borner, and future Chicago Bulls triple NBA Championship winning centre, 7'2" (218 cm) Luc Longley who was attending the University of New Mexico. The Boomers breezed through the first round, losing only to gold medallist Soviet Union and silver medallist Yugoslavia. Finishing third place in their group, Australia advanced to the quarter finals, where they defeated Spain in a closely fought game, by a score of 77–74, sending the Boomers to their first ever semi-finals. There they met the United States (including future NBA Hall of Fame player David Robinson), who ended Australia’s dream run with a 78–55 victory. Despite the disappointing loss, the Boomers’ fourth-place finish was their best ever result at an Olympic Games (or World Championship) and solidified their status as a rising team.

1990s: Gaze, Heal and Longley

Australia flew off to Buenos Aires for the 1990 FIBA World Championship. Led by Andrew Gaze’s 24.3 points per game, fourth most in the tournament, the team defeated China, Brazil and Argentina (twice) on their way to a respectable seventh-place finish.

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, the Boomers looked to prove their fourth-place run at Seoul was no fluke. In the first Summer Olympic Games since the Soviet Union’s dissolution, and the first that FIBA allowed professional basketball players to play in, Australia played to a respectable 4–4 record and sixth place. The 1992 Olympics saw the return of NBA center Luc Longley for the Boomers.

At the 1994 FIBA World Championship at Toronto, Andrew Gaze took the Boomers on his back, leading the tournament with an outstanding average of 23.9 points per game. In victories over Puerto Rico, South Korea, and Cuba, Gaze scored 34, 31, and 30 points, respectively. Australia finished with a 5–3 record, good for fifth place in Phil Smyth’s last World Championship appearance as a player.

Smyth, the teams long-time point guard would play one last time for the Boomers in March 1995 in Game 4 of a 5 game series against the touring Magic Johnson All-Stars in front of a packed house (12,000) at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Although the Boomers were swept 5–0 by the All-Stars (who included former NBA stars Magic Johnson and Mark Aguirre), they pushed the visitors all the way in Game 3 at the National Tennis Centre, while Games 4 (Sydney) and 5 (Perth Entertainment Centre) went into overtime.

The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games were another outstanding showing for Australia. Led by Andrew Gaze, and featuring Shane Heal, the team rolled through the early competition, losing only to silver medallist Yugoslavia, and scoring over 100 points in every other preliminary game. In the quarterfinals, the Boomers played a hard fought game against Croatia. The game came down to the wire, as forward Tony Ronaldson hit an unforgettable 3-pointer to win the game, and advance Australia to the semi-finals. There they met the United States, who were powered by a stacked roster of professional NBA players, and the Boomers were dispatched 101–73. Lithuania would defeat Australia in the bronze medal game, but the Boomers equalled their 1988 fourth-place finish.

Just prior to the 1996 Olympics, the Boomers played the USA in a warm up game. The game, played at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, was won 118–77 by the USA, though Heal topped all scorers with 28 points including hitting 8 of 12 three pointers. Heal had a running battle with NBA superstar Charles Barkley during the game with the two almost coming to blows at one point, though they hugged in mutual respect on-court after the game.^[4]

Following their exciting run at Atlanta, the Boomers showed up in Greece, for the 1998 FIBA World Championship with high hopes. Shane Heal and Andrew Gaze both finished among the top five scorers, with averages of 17.0 and 16.9 points per game, respectively; but a loss to the United States knocked Australia out of medal contention. The Boomers finished the tournament respectably with wins over Canada and Brazil, and walked away with ninth place.

2000s: Sydney Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Bogut

The 2000 Summer Olympic Games projected to be an extremely exciting affair for the Boomers, as they played as host in Sydney. Despite losses in both of their first two games, Australia recovered nicely, and won their next four games over Russia, Angola, and Spain, to propel them into the quarter finals, where they defeated Italy. But Australia’s first basketball medal was not to be, as France won the semi final match, and Lithuania captured the bronze medal game. Although their goal of medalling was not achieved, the Boomers gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about, on their way to a fourth-place finish.

After failing to qualify for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, the Boomers came into the 2004 Athens Olympic Games hungry for victory. Captained by Shane Heal, and featuring future NBA Draft first pick Andrew Bogut in his international debut, Australia fought hard on their way to a ninth-place finish.

In early 2006, Australia entered the first ever Commonwealth Games basketball competition in their home city of Melbourne and went through the tournament undefeated to claim the gold medal. Later in 2006 at the FIBA World Championship in Japan, Australia was led in scoring by Andrew Bogut, C.J. Bruton, and Jason Smith. Despite their efforts, the Boomers failed to qualify for the playoff rounds, and finished tied for ninth place.

The Boomers entered the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with one of their more talented rosters to date, which included Andrew Bogut, C.J. Bruton, Captain Matthew Nielsen, and Patrick Mills, in his international debut. Despite his youth, Mills had a hot hand, scoring over 20 points on several occasions, and leading the team with an average of 14.2 points per game. Australia made the quarter finals, but gold medallists United States put the Boomers away late in the game, ending their run with a seventh-place finish.

2010s: Additional NBA players

The Boomers qualified for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey and placed 10th overall.

Two years later, the Boomers entered the 2012 London Olympic Games with arguably their most talented roster since 2000, though they were missing their star centre Andrew Bogut, who was out with a broken ankle. Australia made the quarter finals with a 3–2 win-loss record, but gold medallists United States put the Boomers away late in the game, ending their run with a seventh-place finish again.

Following the London Olympics, Brett Brown announced his decision to step down as Boomers head coach, citing his desire to spend more time with his family in the United States. As of December 2012, Basketball Australia was yet to announce his replacement, although one of his assistants, dual National Basketball League championship winning coach with the New Zealand Breakers, Andrej Lemanis, was one of the favourites to win the job.^[5]

On the 24 April 2013, Lemanis was announced as the new head coach of the Boomers.^[6][7][8]

By virtue of winning the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship, Australia qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. Australia was drawn into Group D, alongside Lithuania, Slovenia, Angola, Mexico and South Korea. After suffering an opening round 90-80 loss to Slovenia, Australia bounced back, stringing together three consecutive wins over South Korea, Lithuania and Mexico, the first time in 16 years that Australia had won 3 consecutive matches at the FIBA World Cup.^[9][10] However, in their next match Australia suffered a 91–83 loss to Angola, which came despite leading by 15 points in the middle of the third quarter. This result, combined with Lithuania's 67-64 win over Slovenia, meant that Australia finished third in their group, qualifying for the knockout stage of the tournament.

Because Australia would finish third by losing, and that finishing third would benefit Australia more than finishing second, combined with the absences of fit key players Aron Baynes and Joe Ingles led to allegations that Australia deliberately lost their game against Angola in order to finish third in their group, and as a result, avoid the United States until the semi-finals, with Slovenian basketballer Goran Dragić posting "Basketball is a beautiful sport, there is no room for fixing the game like today Australia vs Angola!! @FIBA should do something about that!" on Twitter. However, these claims were denied by Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]} On 26 November 2014, Australia was cleared of tanking by FIBA.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Australia met World No. 7 Turkey in the knockout stage of the tournament. Australia suffered a 65-64 loss to Turkey, ending their World Cup campaign, meaning that for the 11th World Cup, Australia would return home empty handed.

Leading into the 2016 Rio Olympics, Australia saw a surge in locals being drafted into the NBA. Along with former number 1 NBA draft pick Andrew Bogut, Dante Exum was taken with the fifth pick in the 2014 NBA draft and Ben Simmons was selected with the first pick in the 2016 NBA draft, adding to already established Australian NBA guards in Patrick Mills and Matthew Dellavedova. Forward Thon Maker was also drafted with the 10th pick in the 2016 NBA draft.

Tournament history

A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within Australia

Olympic Games

Summer Olympic Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L
1936	Did not participate
1948
1952
1956	Playoff	12th	5	2	3
1960	Did not participate
1964	Playoff	9th	9	4	5
1968	Did not participate
1972	Playoff	9th	9	5	4
1976	Quarter-finals	8th	7	2	5
1980	Quarter-finals	8th	8	6	2
1984	Quarter-finals	7th	8	4	4
1988	Semi-finals	4th	8	4	4
1992	Quarter-finals	6th	8	4	4
1996	Semi-finals	4th	8	5	3
2000	Semi-finals	4th	8	4	4
2004	Playoff	9th	6	2	4
2008	Quarterfinals	7th	6	3	3
2012	Quarterfinals	7th	6	3	3
2016	Semi-finals	4th	8	5	3
Total	0 Titles	14/19	104	53	51

FIBA World Cup

NB: This competition was known as the FIBA World Championship through the 2010 edition.

FIBA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L
1950	Did not participate
1954
1959
1963
1967
1970	Playoff	12th	8	1	7
1974	Playoff	12th	8	2	6
1978	Quarter-finals	7th	10	3	7
1982	Quarter-finals	5th	9	4	5
1986	Playoff	17th	5	2	3
1990	Quarter-finals	7th	8	4	4
1994	Quarter-finals	5th	8	5	3
1998	Playoff	9th	11	5	6
2002	Did not qualify
2006	Playoff	13th	6	2	4
2010	Playoff	10th	6	3	3
2014	Round of 16	12th	6	3	3
2019	To be determined
Total	0 Titles	11/17	85	34	51

FIBA Oceania Championship

FIBA Oceania Championship record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L
1971	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1975	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1978	Champions	1st	3	2	1
1979	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1981	Champions	1st	2	2	0
1983	Champions	1st	2	2	0
1985	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1987	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1989	Champions	1st	2	2	0
1991	Champions	1st	2	2	0
1993	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1995	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1997	Champions	1st	3	3	0
1999	Did not participate
2001	Runner-up	2nd	3	1	2
2003	Champions	1st	3	3	0
2005	Champions	1st	3	3	0
2007	Champions	1st	3	2	1
/ 2009	Runner-up	2nd	2	1	1
2011	Champions	1st	3	3	0
/ 2013	Champions	1st	2	2	0
/ 2015	Champions	1st	2	2	0
Total	19 Titles	20/21	55	48	5

FIBA Diamond Ball

FIBA Diamond Ball record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L
Hong Kong 2000	Champions	1st	3	3	0
Serbia and Montenegro 2004	Playoff	5th	3	1	2
China 2008	Runner-up	2nd	3	2	1
United Kingdom 2012	Cancelled
Total	1 Title	3/3	9	6	3

FIBA Stanković Cup

FIBA Stanković Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L
China 2005	Third place	3rd	5	3	2
China 2006	Playoff	6th	3	0	3
China 2007	Did not participate
China 2008	Did not participate
China 2009	Champions	1st	4	4	0
China 2010	Runner-up	2nd	4	3	1
China 2011	Runner-up	2nd	4	2	2
China 2012	Runner-up	2nd	4	1	3
Total	1 Title	5/7	20	12	8

Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L
Australia 2006	Champions	1st	5	5	0
Australia 2018	TBD
Total	1 Title	1/1	5	5	0

Team

Current roster

The following is the Australia roster in the men's basketball tournament of the 2016 Summer Olympics.^[22]

Australia men's national basketball team – 2016 Summer Olympics roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr. 2.0 !SG 4 Chris Goulding 7001270000000000000♠27 – (1988-10-24)24 October 1988 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Melbourne United AUS ! 1.0 !PG 5 Patty Mills 7001270000000000000♠27 – (1988-08-11)11 August 1988 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) San Antonio Spurs USA ! 4.5 !F/C 6 Andrew Bogut 7001310000000000000♠31 – (1984-11-28)28 November 1984 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Golden State Warriors USA ! 3.0 !SF 7 Joe Ingles 7001280000000000000♠28 – (1987-10-02)2 October 1987 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Utah Jazz USA ! 1.5 !G 8 Matthew Dellavedova 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1990-09-08)8 September 1990 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Milwaukee Bucks USA ! 2.5 !G/F 9 Ryan Broekhoff 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1990-08-23)23 August 1990 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Lokomotiv-Kuban RUS ! 4.5 !F/C 10 Cameron Bairstow 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1990-12-07)7 December 1990 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Brisbane Bullets AUS ! 1.5 !G 11 Kevin Lisch 7001300000000000000♠30 – (1986-05-16)16 May 1986 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Sydney Kings AUS ! 5.0 !C 12 Aron Baynes 7001290000000000000♠29 – (1986-12-09)9 December 1986 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Detroit Pistons USA ! 4.5 !F/C 13 David Andersen (C) 7001360000000000000♠36 – (1980-06-23)23 June 1980 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) ASVEL Basket FRA ! 4.0 !PF 14 Brock Motum 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1990-10-16)16 October 1990 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Žalgiris Kaunas LTU ! 1.0 !PG 15 Damian Martin 7001310000000000000♠31 – (1984-09-05)5 September 1984 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Perth Wildcats AUS !	Head coach Andrej Lemanis Assistant coach(es) Trevor Gleeson Luc Longley Dr. Adrian Hurley Mick Downer Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 6 August 2016

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench	Reserve
C	Andrew Bogut	David Andersen
PF	Aron Baynes	Cameron Bairstow	Brock Motum
SF	Joe Ingles	Ryan Broekhoff
SG	Patty Mills	Kevin Lisch	Chris Goulding
PG	Matthew Dellavedova	Damian Martin

Notable players

Head coach position

• Lindsay Gaze – 1972–1984, 1994
• Adrian Hurley – 1985–1989
• Barry Barnes – 1990–1993, 1995–2000
• Phil Smyth – 2001
• Brian Goorjian – 2001–2008
• Brett Brown – 2009–2012
• Andrej Lemanis – 2013–present

Kit

Manufacturer

2012-15: Peak ^[23]

Sponsor

2014: Airbnb

2016: Helloworld

See also

• Australia men's national basketball team 2011–12 results
• Australia men's national basketball team 2012–13 results
• Australia men's national basketball team 2013–14 results
• Australia men's national basketball team 2014–15 results
• FIBA Oceania Championship
• Al Ramsay Shield
• Australia women's national basketball team
• Australia Under 19 Women's National Basketball Team
• Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team
• Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team
• Australia national under-19 basketball team
• Australia national under-17 basketball team
• Australia national 3x3 basketball team
• Australia women's national 3x3 team

References

External links

• Basketball Australia official website
• National Basketball League official website
• FIBA profile
• AustraliaBasket.com – Australia Men Current Squad
• Australia Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
• Australia Tournament Highlights - 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship Youtube.com video

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Australia men's national basketball team.