The Australian National Team faces a strong conundrum ahead of the FIBA World Cup games that will take place during the NBA offseason, as the Philadelphia 76ers' Ben Simmons will join the Boomers for the warm-up games ahead of World Cup competition, but won't be there when the Australian team travels to China for the real competition. Andrew Bogut, the reigning MVP of the Australian league, noted the challenge of that inconsistency ahead of such an important mission.
“He's the best Australian player in the world, so whenever you lose a guy that can go out there and give you 20 (points) 10 (rebounds) and eight (assists) on any given night, it's going to hurt,” Bogut told the Australian Associated Press on Monday. “It will be interesting to see how that all plays out, because with Ben in the lineup we're playing a different style of basketball.”
Simmons, who initially committed to both — the warm-up games and the World Cup — withdrew from playing in the latter after signing a five-year, $242 million maximum extension with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“It's going to be a tough one for the coaches to figure out – whether he plays big minutes in these lead-up games or he just he comes along and plays a bit more restricted, so we can at least get our flow going for the most important games at the World Cup,” said Bogut. “The Australian public want to see him play on home soil and we haven't had that for a long long time but it is a bit of a conundrum.”
Australia is bound to play a much-different style when Simmons isn't on the court, as his barreling style in the fastbreak and ability to initiate drives to the basket is irreplaceable within this roster. His sheer size at 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds is a great advantage for a point guard, one they will soon lose as they head into the World Cup at the end of August.
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