The Australian Boomers have kicked off their World Cup preparations with the squad's training camp getting underway in Cairns for the next 10 days.
Coming off a bronze medal finish at the Tokyo Olympics, the Boomers will look to continue their upward trajectory in international basketball at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
The 18-man squad will be put through their paces by head coach Brian Goorjian, before cutting the roster down to 15 players heading into their warm-up games in Melbourne later this month. From there, a final 12 will be selected to get on the plane to Okinawa, Japan, where their Group Phase games will get underway on August 25 against Finland.
With a talented group making up the 18-man roster, Goorjian will have to make some tough cuts to make. Here are four pressing questions ahead of training camp.
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Four questions the Boomers have to answer in World Cup training camp
Who will make up Australia's guard rotation?
Patty Mills' name is the first on the team sheet, with his bucket-getting and leadership underscoring the Boomers for the past decade. Joining him in the backcourt will likely be Josh Giddey, who is coming off an impressive NBA season with the Thunder, but from there it gets interesting.
Australia is blessed with a plethora of talent in the guard positions, with experienced campaigners Matthew Dellavedova and Chris Goulding jostling with Dante Exum, Dyson Daniels and Will McDowell-White.
Dellavedova has plenty of experience in a FIBA setting, but with a ton of younger talent pressing for selection, is his spot safe? Meanwhile, Goulding, another Boomers mainstay, has the ability to light things up from the 3-point line, bringing invaluable spacing to the roster.
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The most intriguing of the group is Daniels, who at 20 years old will be a cornerstone for the next 10-15 years. With his size and versatility on both sides of the ball, he could be deployed at the World Cup as a swiss-army knife solution across multiple positions, as we saw with Exum at the Olympics.
"It's going to be a good team, [a] tough team to crack," Daniels told The Sporting News.
"But I'm going to go out there and give it my best shot and hopefully I'll be able to go over there to Japan and show them what I've got."
Who will win Australia's battle of the bigs?
Aron Baynes has been a mainstay for the Boomers inside across their last three major tournaments, but after making a comeback to the NBL following a scary neck injury in Tokyo, the Boomers will take on a different look in the paint in 2023.
“He has been a great Boomer and again the hard part of this is always that we work in four-year cycles and we’ve got some guys we want to bring into the squad and I see this as an opportunity for the next one,” Goorjian said.
“There’s young ones coming in and I think it’s about the time for Aron. He’s been a great Boomer, but opportunity knocks for the next man standing.”
Jock Landale proved his value in Tokyo when Baynes went down and is almost a lock as the team's starting center, but in FIBA basketball, having multiple options in the frontline is imperative when it comes to matchups.
While the Boomers have plenty of size at the forward positions, another true big will be needed.
Bronze-medal winner Duop Reath looks to be the frontrunner for that spot off the bench, coming off a solid stint with the Trail Blazers in NBA Summer League. He had an impressive season in China, where he averaged 18.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks for the Qingdao Eagles.
Meanwhile, Thon Maker, Nick Kay and Sam Froling loom as wildcards if the Boomers look for more versatility from their big men.
Has Xavier Cooks' time arrived for the Boomers?
Cooks has suffered several setbacks in his quest to pull on the green and gold at a major international tournament
After making the final cut for the Boomers' 12-man roster for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, he suffered a knee injury during training camp, missing the tournament. Three years later, he was one of the final cuts for the Tokyo Olympic team, named as an injury replacement.
Since then, Cooks has blossomed even further, leading the Sydney Kings to back-to-back NBL championships. He was named Grand Final MVP (2022) and NBL Most Valuable Player of the Year (2023) before making the leap to the NBA with the Wizards.
While he is one of 10 NBA players in the extended squad, that doesn't make a roster squad a guarantee.
With Joe Ingles, Matisse Thybulle and Josh Green being locks on the wing, the power forward position will be hotly contested between veteran Nick Kay, Jack White, Keanu Pinder and Cooks.
"It's going to be a very tough squad to make," Cooks told The Sporting News.
"We have an unbelievable squad, I think everybody loves this style of FIBA basketball, playing together, especially for Australia, the camaraderie we have as a unit is unbelievable."
Who will make up Australia's starting five?
Now, this is where things get interesting.
Following training camp, the Boomers will play three exhibition games in Melbourne against Brazil, Venezuela and South Sudan, which will no doubt see Goorjian roll out some different lineups.
Giddey and Mills are nailed-on starters. With Landale at starting center and Ingles at the three, I like the Boomers with some added athleticism slotted in between in the form of Cooks.
| Position | Player |
| Point guard | Josh Giddey |
| Shooting guard | Patty Mills |
| Small forward | Joe Ingles |
| Power forward | Xavier Cooks |
| Center | Jock Landale |
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When is the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup?
- Dates: Aug. 25-Sept. 10
- Locations: Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will begin on Friday, Aug. 25. The group stage will take place in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
The championship game will be held on Sunday, Sept. 10.
2023 Australian Boomers Extended Squad
| Player | Team |
| Xavier Cooks | Washington Wizards |
| Dyson Daniels | New Orleans Pelicans |
| Matthew Dellavedova | Melbourne United |
| Josh Giddey | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Josh Green | Dallas Mavericks |
| Joe Ingles | Orlando Magic |
| Jock Landale | Houston Rockets |
| Patty Mills | Atlanta Hawks |
| Matisse Thybulle | Portland Trail Blazers |
| Jack White | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Dante Exum | Dallas Mavericks |
| Nick Kay | Shimane Susanoo Magic |
| Duop Reath | Qingdao Eagles |
| Thon Maker | Fujian Sturgeons |
| Sam Froling | Illawarra Hawks |
| Keanu Pinder | Perth Wildcats |
| Chris Goulding | Melbourne United |
| Will McDowell-White | New Zealand Breakers |
