Paris 2024: Olympic glimmer remains for Chris Goulding as NBA boom awaits Matthew Dellavedova
Olympic heartbreak for one, joy for the other but a chance remains Melbourne United teammates Chris Goulding and Matthew Dellavedova could link up in Paris, says Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman.
Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman believes the door remains open on sharpshooter Chris Goulding’s Paris dream and he wouldn’t be surprised if Matthew Dellavedova parlayed a vintage Olympic performance into another NBA contract.
As the Boomers prepare for warm up clashes with Team USA and Serbia in Abu Dhabi, Vickerman said Goulding was back in the familiar surrounds of Hoops City, beginning preparations for the new NBL season — and staying ready in case of a late call up.
“Chris is not done, for me, yet,” Vickerman said.
“There’s still four or five games left in (the Boomers’) preparation and, if a guard went down, CG has to be the first person called.
“He was back in the gym Thursday, lifted and shot a little bit and back in Friday and worked out, the pro that he is.
“He’s going to make sure he keeps himself in the right situation if anything happens.
“We’ve seen that with our club in the past, (David) Barlow got called up (World Cup, 2019) last minute, Jack White takes an injury replacement (World Cup, 2023).
“Until that time they play their first (Olympic) game and CG’s not there …”
Left off last year’s World Cup team, Vickerman believes Dellavedova’s defiant effort to play himself back into the Australian fold will have caught the attention of NBA teams seeking veteran leadership.
“When we speak to Sacramento, they say ‘he won us five or six games with the things he did’ (two years ago) and I’m sure if NBA teams are looking for a third PG, and maybe they’ve got some younger guys and they want that veteran, he’ll be on a few lists,” he said of the 33-year-old NBA championship winner.
“What he’s been able to achieve making this Boomers team after being left out, that’s just him: ‘all right, you guys want to doubt me, whenever you doubt me, this is what’s going to happen and I’m going to come out and prove everybody wrong’.
“He’s done that all throughout his career.”
Vickerman said Goulding, 35, believed he’d done everything he could to make the Boomers 12, producing an MVP-level NBL season before lighting up China with eight three-pointers across two halves in Melbourne.
“What I saw in the games was exactly what they need from him, to come in and shoot the ball at a really high level after sitting out for the first half of both those games,” Vickerman said.
“He has no regrets about it and I think that’s a really good place for him to be because I’m sure, on a lot of different other occasions, he is selected for that team.
“The coaching staff went a different way so he’s able to walk away and say ‘I absolutely did everything I could’.”
Vickerman is also confident returning forward Jack White, 26, is primed for a monster season in an expanded role after he, too, was cut from the Boomers’ squad.
“Our discussions have been he’s ready to bunker down in Melbourne,” Vickerman said, although conscious the NBA could come calling for the Denver Nuggets championship winner.
“We were both in agreement, he and I, of locking in here, having a great year and knowing the minutes he’s going to play is a good space for his career right now.”
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