If there’s anything to take from recent interviews with Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut after the Rio Olympics, it is that the Boomers (A.K.A the Dare-to-Dream Team) will be back better than ever for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Patty Mills is already planning his route to the medal dais, saying that preparation would need to start as early as next year considering how difficult it is to get the group together, many of whom live in distant parts of the world.
Andrew Bogut, however, alluded to the fact that he would love nothing more than to be a part of another Olympics if his body permits.
Patty Mills will still be in his prime in Tokyo at 32, whereas Andrew Bogut might be on the decline by then, 35.
The core of the Boomers’ fourth placed team should still be near their best at during Tokyo, with only David Anderson, nearing 40, a likely retiree.
The optimism and drive that Mills and Bogut display is surprising given the recent heartbreak they have endured. As Patty Mills rather graciously put it, they were “a single defensive stop away from a medal.” A more accurate appraisal might be that the difference was actually a terrible foul call.
However, the Boomers are still chomping at the bit for their first ever medal, and with a new home-and-away qualifying structure for Oceania and Asia, it is likely we will get to see Australia’s basketball mega-stars strut their stuff somewhere a bit closer to home in the next two years.
That notion is even more tantalizing given the names who are set to come through the ranks.
The Boomers’ ability to integrate these new names into their system will be the key to their success.
Jarrad Hurley's professional basketball aspirations led him to the dizzying heights of the Adelaide social league circuit. After an epiphany that his hoop dreams would go unrealised, he put the ball down and picked up a pen. Jarrad lives vicariously through the successes of Australian basketball, is a mad 36ers fanatic, and might just cry if the Boomers ever medal.