Boomers: Australian big man Nick Kay loves playing in the green and gold at every opportunity
Whether it’s the Olympics or an off-Broadway qualifier in the Victorian town of Traralgon, Australia’s Mr Boomer, Nick Kay will be giving his all for the Green and Gold writes MICHAEL RANDALL.
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Anywhere, any day, any time. The blood red that courses through mere mortals is a green and gold hue in the veins of Australian Boomers’ ironman Nick Kay.
The 32-year-old Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist is back in the green and gold again this week, leading the way for the Boomers as they try to make it two-from-two in a pair of FIBA Asia Cup qualifying clashes.
The Boomers have already booked their spot for the 2025 tournament, crushed Indonesia on Thursday night 109-58 and are expected to treat Thailand with similar disdain on Sunday.
But don’t tell the Tamworth Titan there’s nothing to play for.
Whether it’s the Paris Olympics, or a more off-Broadway qualifier in the country Victorian town of Traralgon, Kay is there.
“Mate, I love it,” Kay’s face lights up.
“Wearing that green and gold, you never know when it’s going to be your last opportunity.”
So committed is the two-time Perth Wildcats NBL champion, who has spent the past four years playing in Japan, that Boomers coach Jacob Chance says the moment last November’s FIBA window closed, Kay was already looking ahead to these games.
“Literally, the morning after we finished in Korea, he said ‘I’ll see you in February’,” Chance, who had the nightmare task of pulling together a squad in the middle of the NBL finals, marvelled.
“It’s awesome to look at a spreadsheet when I had 42 names and no one locked in except Kay, who was sitting there the whole time.
“What he does for this program is unbelievable.”
The green and gold’s been good to Kay, too.
Two World Cups, two Olympics, including membership to the immortal 12 who won Australia’s first ever men’s major medal, a Commonwealth Games gold medal and the money-can’t-buy experience of being entrenched in the Boomers’ famed culture.
He’s just as excited to pass lessons learned down to the next generation.
This incarnation of the Boomers has six debutants, six players aged 23 and under and three teenagers — plenty of talent-laden kids eager to soak up the unique Kay basketball IP.
“I’m meeting a lot of these guys for the first time,” Kay said.
“These windows provide a great opportunity for those young guys to get involved and see what it is to be a Boomer.
“It’s an opportunity to instil the confidence that they can play at this level and a lot of people have great trajectories from playing for the Boomers.”
One of those young prodigies is Emmett Adair, an athletic 209cm forward out of the Centre of Excellence who was MVP of last year’s FIBA U18 Asia Cup.
At the group’s first practice on Wednesday, Kay got a first look at someone who could eventually step into his shoes.
Adair then went out and plundered Indonesia for 15 points in 14 minutes in his senior Boomers debut.
“From the word go, Emmett stepped out and you could tell he felt like he belonged,” Kay said.
“He was on the rim, dunking, taking open shots and playing confidently.
“There’s no backward step from these kids.
“Australian basketball, there’s a confidence there — and an expectation.
“Now we expect that performance every time you step on the floor.”
PEPPER STARS IN BOOMERS’ ROUT OF INDONESIA
Elijah Pepper’s unique path to a sparkling ‘official’ Boomers debut was touch-and-go as close as four hours before he was meant to be on flight from Perth to Melbourne.
The Wildcats rookie sharpshooter, born in Australia, but raised in the USA, torched Indonesia with three triples and 14 first-half points on his way to a game-high 18 Thursday night’s easy 109-58 FIBA Asia Cup qualifying win over Indonesia in country Victoria.
Pepper’s worn the green and gold before – with an Australian select team that went to Japan last year for non-FIBA-sanctioned games – but his unique path from Shepparton to Yakima, near Seattle, Washington, to UC Davis to Perth to a full FIBA took a little extra paperwork when the dual citizenship complication arose.
“I don’t know exactly what it was because, technically, I have played (for Australia), but we just did the exhibition in Japan, so I didn’t know it wasn’t FIBA,” Pepper, 22, said.
“We didn’t figure it out until 11am (on Monday) and the flight was at 3pm, so it was kind of a last second thing.
“I was practising with the Wildcats not knowing if I was going to be here (in Victoria for the games) or not and then got a message saying it worked out and I’m glad it did.
The minnow Indonesians posed little threat as the Wildcats pairing of Pepper and big man David Okwera (15 points, 8 rebounds), each fortunate to have the blessing of coach John Rillie to play, despite an impending NBL semi final series against Melbourne United next week, who did much of the heavy lifting on the scoreboard. They were served well, too, by young Centre of Excellence product Emmett Adair, who had an efficient 15 in his Boomers debut.
In another life, 210cm Adelaide big man Ben Griscti might be running around as a rookie with Port Adelaide in the AFL.
But the Sixers warded off footy and he impressed in a Boomers jersey with a sweet shooting stroke from deep that netted him 12 points – the last two off a massive alley-oop jam from a Luke Fennell lob that brought the house down at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Centre in Traralgon.
“It felt good tonight, I put in a lot of work this year, it was pretty special,” Griscti said.
For Indonesia, Yudha Saputera, the littlest bloke on the floor at 175cm, played with a fearless heart, finding his three ball twice and trying his best among the tall timber on the way to 14 points.
They relied heavily on the massive frame of naturalised centre Lester Prosper, the Dominican-born, British Virgin Islands-Indonesian national, who went to school in New York – say that five times fast. He used his superior strength inside to fly the flag with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists.
WHICH WORLD GAME IS THIS?
Five minutes into the game the two teams had combined for just one field goal on 15 attempts.
It was 2-0 Australia and it had some in the gym wondering if they’d turned up to a FIFA Asia Cup qualifier, instead of a FIBA one.
The soccer score was built on a brick house and the Indonesians didn’t get their first bucket until there was 4.54 left in the first quarter, when Muhamad Arighi Noor wished a three-point try in with a hand in his face.
It was the only field goal the Indonesians would make for the entire period, Lester Prosper splitting a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left to enter the first break down 22-4.
CELEBRATE, DON’T HATE
People have hung it on this Boomers outfit since it was named last Tuesday.
“These guys don’t even get on the court for their NBL teams”, “What’s the point?” and some nastier stuff not fit for print.
You won’t catch me having a crack — these boys and men who have made themselves available for a FIBA window that, much to coach Jacob Chance’s chagrin, means little in the scheme of qualification, still play a role in the success of Australian basketball, just as the Patty Mills, the Josh Giddeys and Dyson Daniels do.
Fabijan Krslovic, an NBL championship-winner in Tassie last season, makes his debut at age 29.
He might not be a superstar or a household name, but he’s a blood sweat and tears guy who gets the most out of himself and plays the game the right way — kind of how we see ourselves as Australians, right?
He gets a reward for effort, achieving the dream of just about every Aussie kid who steps on a basketball court.
Who knows, maybe a Jacob Furphy, who made his first start in a Boomers’ jersey, fresh off being named best defensive player at the Basketball Australia U20 Nationals and about to jet off for storied NCAA program UConn, might one day be a Boomers mainstay.
The hate is misplaced.
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