Australia continues strong Olympics basketball performances
By Matt Couden
The Australian men’s national basketball team is looking at a promising future after a series of strong performances at the Summer Olympics.
On Wednesday night, the Australian men’s basketball team gave Team USA its toughest challenge yet of the 2016 Rio Olympics. At halftime of the contest, Australia was leading by five points, making for the first time in the Summer Games that the United States had trailed an opponent. The game featured two of the unbeaten squads in the men’s competition — the US with wins over China and Venezuela and Australia with impressive wins over Serbia and France.
While the outcome ultimately went in favor of the U.S., the game was competitive down to the last 30 seconds or so. It showed that this Australian team is one of the more talented rosters competing internationally at the Olympics and with some big names set to come in the future, they could be even more dangerous.
The current team features several talents already playing, or who previously played in the NBA. They include NBA champions Matthew Dellavedova , Andrew Bogut, and Patty Mills. Against the U.S., Mills racked up 30 points with Kyrie Irving as his main defender. The three players bring veteran experience to the squad which could add some younger talents in the future.
Among the possible candidates to compete in 2020 at the Tokyo Olympics will be the No. 1 draft pick in last year’s draft, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, as well as Thon Maker of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Dante Exum of the Utah Jazz. Of those three, Exum has played in the NBA while Simmons and Maker will get going this upcoming season and notch a good four years of experience ahead of Tokyo.
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If Dellavedova, Bogut, and Mills stay with those other three joining the squad it starts to look similar to a team like the United States puts forth. It would be a team with nearly half of its players holding NBA experience, presenting an even more formidable challenge to international foes.
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