Boomers coach Brian Goorjian says health is the only thing standing between Ben Simmons and the FIBA World Cup.
Simmons was not named in the 18-man squad for the Boomers’ Cairns camp ahead of the tournament in August as he continues to deal with a nerve impingement in his back that saw him sidelined from February with the Brooklyn Nets.
It was a turbulent NBA season for the All-NBA Aussie as he struggled to find a role with the Nets and ultimately found himself out of the rotation, likely in part to this ongoing back issue.
Despite his omission from the squad, Goorjian says if Simmons is healthy, he will be on the team.
“(His status) is just health. He didn’t finish the season due to some physical constraints and he definitely wants to be a part of this and is working right now to get healthy,” he told SEN’s The Run Home.
“We’ve made a spot for him if he’s available by the time of the Cairns camp and we’ll put him in there and give him a good look.
“Obviously when he’s at his best, he’s something that could really help. The communication has been good. He’s in that frame of mind to want to be a part of this if he gets healthy.
“I’m preparing with what we have here. I am hopeful (Simmons will join us). I’m not dependent, but I’m hopeful.
“The timing is right. It’s good for us, it’s good for him and I’m not there (in Brooklyn), I’m not around him day to day, and I know he’s working hard, it’s just if he’s healthy or not. Nothing else would hold him back.”
The most surprising omission from the 18-man squad announced on Monday was the omission of veteran centre Aron Baynes, who has been a core member of the Boomers since 2010.
Baynes was injured during the Tokyo Olympics campaign and returned to action via the NBL in 2022, with Goorjian simply believing it was time for younger players to take his spot.
“He has been a great Boomer and again the hard part of this is always that we work in four-year cycles and we’ve got some guys we want to bring into the squad and I see this as an opportunity for the next one,” Goorjian said.
“There’s young ones coming in and I think it’s about the time for Aron. He’s been a great Boomer, but opportunity knocks for the next man standing.”
Three-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton remains ineligible for squad selection as he is not yet an Australian citizen.
Even if he was eligible, there is only one spot available for a naturalised citizen, meaning he would need to compete with elite NBA defender Matisse Thybulle for a spot with the Boomers.
All that aside, Goorjian does wish Cotton could be in the mix.
“He may be the greatest foreign player to play on these shores and we’d love to see him in a camp. He’d be selected for sure to go in there and compete for a position,” he said.
“You’ve only got one of those … and yes it would be nice, but my position in this is looking at who’s eligible and who I can select from and he has never been eligible because he hasn’t qualified and that is out of my control.
“I’ve done everything I could, but he’s not there to be selected. It would be nice!”
The 18-man squad features 10 NBA players (not including Simmons) and Goorjian is excited to see how things play out in camp and anticipates a very different rotation compared to Tokyo in 2021.
“We’ve got a lot of new guys that we’re introducing to this and some guys last year that didn’t play roles in this but have gone into the NBA and gone to the next level like Josh Giddey and Josh Green,” he said.
“From the Olympics to now they have taken a huge step and there’s versatility there. We’ve got some guys who can score the ball. We’ve also got three of the best defenders in the NBA right now there. It’s going to be real interesting to put these 18 guys together and see who looks good playing with each other.
“At the Olympics we played a lot of small-ball with Nick Kay at the five and Joe Ingles at the four and we were pretty successful defensively with Matisse Thybulle and Dante Exum and now we’ve got more in that spot.
“Rotating these guys around and looking at them in camp is going to be very interesting.”
The Boomers have drawn arguably the toughest possible group they could have given the way FIBA structured their seedings, having to play Finland, Germany and host nation Japan.
Goorjian admits it will be a tougher challenge than the Olympics, but is excited for the opportunity.
“Even without (NBA All-Star Lauri Markkanen) Finland has a squad that played Spain close and upset a lot of teams in the Olympic qualifiers, then you’ve got Germany now with Dennis Schroder and the two kids at the Orlando Magic (Mo and Franz Wagner) who weren’t apart of the Olympics and then you’ve got Japan in Japan and they didn’t play with their two NBA players last time,” he said.
“The other side of it is, what a great squad we have to choose from and it’s exciting times for the Boomers and I look forward to the competition, but there’s definitely a respect there.”
Listen to the full chat with Brian Goorjian below: