‘If it isn’t there, I am ready to move’: Goorjian reveals message to Mills, Ingles, Delly ahead of Paris

Boomers coach Brian Goorjian put senior players like Patty Mills and Joe Ingles on notice ahead of Paris team selection, with Ingles initially left out of squad until final moment.

BOOMERS coach Brian Goorjian has revealed he warned his bronze-medal winning veterans he was prepared to drop the hammer on them until they proved their worth late in the team’s final Olympic warm-up game in Australia.

Goorjian on Sunday described the “horrible” process of having to tell five worthy players they would miss Paris as the toughest selection cull of his career.

It is understood four-time Olympian Joe Ingles was all but out of the 12-man squad until he shone in the second half of the win over China last week.

Goorjian said the decision to drop Tokyo Olympian and NBA star Matisse Thybulle was based on the need for another playmaker in a team with multiple defensive options.

Joe Ingles was initially left out of the Boomers Olympic team. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

It meant Tokyo bronze medallist Ingles found a way into the team alongside Patty Mills, with the pair joining Andrew Gaze as five-time Olympians.

That Olympic training camp was full of tense moments and frazzled nerves, with Goorjian relieved the “edge” of apprehension hovering over staff and players over the upcoming cuts was finally past them.

Goorjian is aware his selections - overlooking Thybulle and NBL stars Xavier Cooks and Chris Goulding - will be heavily scrutinised.

Australia faces a Canada team stacked with emerging NBA stars. The final two spots in their pool are likely to be secured by NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece, and European powerhouse Spain.

Matisse Thybulle was a shock omission from the Boomers Olympic team. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Xavier Cooks was also considered a lock in for Paris. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Goorjian said he had made no promises to his veterans Matthew Dellavedova, Mills and Ingles in the lead-up to the Melbourne training camp.

“It was up to them to come here and play their best basketball,” he said.

“I went to America and touched (base with) those guys and said if it isn’t there, I am ready to move. So I put that to them and to their credit they came into camp (ready).

“Patty was over the hump, then the eyes were on Joe, and what he brought into the second half of that game as a secondary guy who could play and move the ball, it’s a piece we don’t have and he’s great around the group.

“It wasn’t until game two when Dyson Daniels, Josh Green, Patty Mills and Joe Ingles got on the floor together. When you got that group together in the second half it became clear we knew the strengths of those other pieces, but you could see what pieces went well with that.

“Not only Matisse but Goulding and Xaiver Cooks fall into the same basket. They are line ball and it’s not the best player, it has nothing to do with the best player. How does this guy fit with three bigs? It was like that all the way down.”

Goorjian has already made clear this team will be run by the young NBA stars, but Mills believes he has something left to give.

Give it up for your five-timers!! 🤚#AllezAUS | @Patty_Mills | @laurenej15 | @BasketballAUSpic.twitter.com/b15Wd6ABsU

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 7, 2024

“I don’t think the fifth-Olympics part has set in yet. Right now, we are in the trenches,” Mills

“To be the best we have to beat the best. Our goal is to be the team standing on top of the podium, and for us to be unapologetic about that.

“We will be the most physical, blue-collar and most connected team. We are going to have to be the best defensive team.”

Boomers’ Paris Olympics squad: Josh Giddey, Matthew Dellavedova, Patty Mills, Dyson Daniels, Josh Green, Dante Exum, Jack McVeigh, Nick Kay, Joe Ingles, Jock Landale, Duop Reath, Will Magnay.

Originally published as ‘If it isn’t there, I am ready to move’: Goorjian reveals message to Mills, Ingles, Delly ahead of Paris