By Kevin Scheitrum, NBA International
When Andrew Bogut folded to the floor in the fourth game of the NBA Finals, the ripples went far beyond Oracle Arena.
The Warriors had to go without their top rim-protector. Bogut’s career, marked with potholes, hit another. And Australia — a rising hoops powerhouse still in search of its first-ever Olympic medal in men’s basketball — faced a tournament without its leader.
Then Bogut, on a still-aching knee, came out and went for 18 in an upset win over France. Then came back to anchor another win over Serbia in Game 2. And now, with the Boomers 2-0 in the Olympics and set to face Team USA — the only other undefeated team in their group — at 6 pm EST on Wednesday (8 am AUST), Australia finds itself at the center of the hoops universe.
It’s a place the Boomers might not leave for a generation.
Today, the Aussie National Team can start a lineup of five NBA players: Bogut, Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes. Australia’s one of just five teams that can do so, joined by the USA, Spain, Brazil and France.
And with two more Aussies, in top overall pick Ben Simmons and 10th pick Thon Maker, hitting the NBA this year – bringing the total to a record nine Australian players in the NBA – the reinforcements are coming. And that doesn’t even count Dante Exum, the 2014 Jazz Lotto pick who missed all of 2015-16 rehabbing an ACL injury.
“It’s gonna be huge,” said No. 10 overall pick Thon Maker, earlier in the year, about Australia’s international future. “As soon as we get our rookie years out of the way, as soon as we get to our prime — not just me and [Ben Simmons] — but the next group coming up. Those guys, too. They’re not getting a lot of attention right now. … It’s gonna be big.”
For now, the Boomers have made themselves one of the top stories in Rio.
Mills leads the whole tournament in scoring, at 23.5 ppg. Bogut and Dellavedova, fresh off a championship with the Cavs, are tied for 16th.
Now, all they have to do is figure out the USA, a team that’s come close to doubling its opponents’ point totals in its two wins (116 ppg vs. 65.6 allowed).
An Aussie win would send shockwaves through the tournament — though the Boomers would have to win a few more big games to medal. But even a close game with the title favorites could set Australia up for a run the rest of the way.
The whole time, the next generation will be watching.
“I feel like they’re gonna come back and pass the torch to the younger guys,” Maker said of Bogut. “To build on the success they’ve had. We just need to continue to learn.”
