Toxic relationships behind Andrej Lemanis’s ugly Boomers exit
The messy fallout between soon-to-be former Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis and Australian basketball can be traced back to a series of run-ins with the country’s highest profile players.
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It’s the relationship breakdown with Ben Simmons that prompted Andrej Lemanis to end his six-year Boomers tenure, resulting in Brett Brown being handed the top job for Australia’s medal tilt at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The basketball world was in shock on Wednesday morning when respected ESPN NBA journalist Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Brown was finalising an agreement to return as Australian coach.
The Philadelphia 76ers head mentor last coached the Boomers at the 2012 London Olympics.
Seven years on, Brown is expected to replace Lemanis in the top job after the Brisbane Bullets mentor opted to move on after falling out with a host of Australia’s rising NBA players.
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The Daily Telegraph understands that the soon-to-be former Boomers mentor had a strained relationship with the likes of Simmons, Jonah Bolden and Thon Maker.
The main criticism was that Lemanis struggled to communicate with these younger players and his old school approach wasn’t well received.
He became tired of the constant battles with players within the team, so he decided to walk away with a year to run on his contract.
Andrew Bogut cryptically tweeted: “The Business of Basketball 101” in reference to BA’s handling of the pending announcement.
The Business of Basketball 101 😬
— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) November 20, 2019
Lemanis’ relationship with Simmons and his camp was never perfect and forever a work in progress.
The NBA All-Star guard was constantly at loggerheads with Basketball Australia over performance demands being rejected due to budgeting reasons.
These requests included a personal team chef instead of eating at hotels, plus extra recovery and performance staff like personal physiotherapists.
These knock-backs, along with his testy association with Lemanis, played a major role in Simmons not playing at the Basketball World Cup in China.
In 2014 Lemanis decided not to include a then 18-year-old Simmons in the Boomers’ World Cup team, telling reporters “he wasn’t ready yet”.
Simmons tweeted he was “’really disappointed” he was a late cut from the squad.
The guard has since repeatedly skipped Australian squad duties, including the 2016 Rio Olympics and this year’s World Cup.
Jonah Bolden has also had his issues with Lemanis.
This was on display when Bolden cited “personal reasons” for withdrawing from the Boomers’ World Cup squad in August, only hours after starring in an exhibition win over Canada in Perth.
The Philadelphia 76ers power forward has remained silent on his departure from but multiple sources have confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that he was frustrated with his position in the team.
Bolden received 11 minutes in Australia’s opening 90-70 exhibition loss to Canada, finishing with only two points.
He then played a starring role in the Boomers’ dominant 81-73 win over the Canadians the following night.
The son of former NBL legend Bruce Bolden scored 12 points while he wowed the Perth crowd with his athleticism in an impressive 18-minute stint.
Despite this standout performance, Bolden still wasn’t happy with his standing in the Boomers team and he left.
A number of senior Australian players were disappointed with his decision to leave given the side’s team-first culture.
Bolden cited training camp with Philadelphia to secure his long-term future over playing limited minutes for the Boomers as his main reason for departing, but his lack of a bond with Lemanis was the elephant in the room.
Basketball Australia were expected to make a joint announcement with Brown and Lemanis next week but this could be moved forward.
BA’s only public response on Wednesday was: “Basketball Australia would like to advise that at this time, no comment will be made in relation to the speculation surrounding the Australian Boomers.”
In a major boost, Brown coaches Simmons and Bolden at the 76ers.
The American native began his coaching career in Australia’s NBL in 1988 under the great Lindsay Gaze at the Melbourne Tigers and moved on to helm the North Melbourne Giants and Sydney Kings.
In 2002 he moved to the US where he assisted Gregg Popovich at the San Antonio Spurs before taking the 76ers’ head coaching position in 2013 and, after initial dismal seasons, turned the team into an NBA power.
Brown coached the Boomers at the London Olympics before stepping away to concentrate on his NBA coaching career.
Lemanis didn’t claim a major international medal during his Boomers’ tenure but he deserves credit for building the program and successes on the international stage, including 2017 Asia Cup winners, 2013 and 2015 Oceania Championships and a 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Originally published as Toxic relationships behind Andrej Lemanis’s ugly Boomers exit