The Boomers played their last meaningful game at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup on Friday, losing to Slovenia, 91-80. The loss eliminated Australia from medal contention and left a bad taste in the mouth of a team that was picked by some to win the entire thing.
While there were some bright spots throughout the tournament — Patty Mills carried the offence, and Josh Giddey showed he belongs on the world stage — there were far too many faults, which ultimately led to the team's unceremonious exit.
The tournament woes don't come without a ray of sunshine, as Australia did enough to qualify for the Paris Olympics. But even the most optimistic fans will see the World Cup performance and question whether Australia will be good enough to stand on the podium in France.
So, what went wrong for the Boomers? And can they fix their biggest issues?
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Why Australian Boomers were eliminated at the FIBA World Cup
Slow starts
In three of their first four contests at the World Cup, the Boomers had trouble starting the game with any rhythm. In their first outing against Finland, they lost the first quarter, 21-17. Against Germany, they trailed 16-5 early on before Mills decided to take matters into his own hands.
And on Friday against Slovenia, the Boomers saw themselves down by 10 at the end of the first quarter.
"These slow starts against good teams like [Slovenia], Germany, it's hard to come back and win," Giddey said after the loss on Friday. "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 just hard to, you know, sustain.
"There's obviously a lot of emotion that, you know, this was the end of our tournament, and we can't progress any further. It's disappointing."
Conversely, in their run to Olympic bronze, the Boomers never had much trouble with their starts. They even took leads into the first quarter break against Team USA and Slovenia. Unfortunately, that didn't carry over to the World Cup.
Unbalanced lineups
To be blunt here, it never really seemed like head coach Brian Goorjian got a firm grip on his rotation. Some of that was out of his control — Xavier Cooks struggled with foul trouble against Slovenia after having a big game against Japan — but for the most part, the rotation never truly felt set.
Most of that could be pegged on the injury to Jock Landale, who turned his ankle right before the World Cup began. Landale would've been the team's starting center and put everyone back into natural rotational spots. But he wasn't there, and Goorijian failed to find the lineups that would mitigate the Landale loss.
Duop Reath is a solid player, but he's not a world-class big. Nick Kay couldn't grab enough boards to make up for the ones Landale would've gobbled up. When the team went small, Cooks did what he could. Against proper big men, though, he was overmatched.
And then there's the shooting. Chris Goulding didn't make the rotation, which left Mills and Joe Ingles as the only reliable 3-point shooters. Australia shot 34.4 percent from deep through the first four games of the World Cup, a flattering number considering the lack of capable shooters on the squad.
If Australia wants stand on the podium in Paris, rotations will have to be balanced much better than they were in Japan.
What could be fixed for Paris 2024 Olympics?
While the overall World Cup exit is a disappointment, the Boomers can still look forward the Olympics. They should be able to fix the slow starts with more attention to detail at the beginning of games.
Finding better lineups on the floor at the Olympics will be made easier after seeing Giddey live up to expectations in his first appearance as a senior national team member. Dyson Daniels will be a year older and should be ready to contribute. Mills should have one more international run in him, and Landale will be healthy.
Defensively, the Boomers are better than what they showed at times in the World Cup with the likes of Matisse Thybulle, Josh Green and Dante Exum. Those three players in particular have the size and length to bother any world-class guard or wing.
And, if you want to get super optimistic, Ben Simmons has once again said that he wants to play for Australia at the Olympics. Regardless of what you think of Simmons, the Boomers could use another playmaker, and his defence when he's healthy is suffocating.
The issues that appeared in Japan are correctable, but Australia will need to correct them early in camp next year. Otherwise, the dream of standing on the podium will end as quickly as it did at the World Cup.
