Bogut, Mills crucial to Australian hopes

Australia return to the Olympics for the 11th straight time with the Boomers hoping to finally break through to the medal podium. Without a doubt the key to Australia’s chances of success at London 2012 will be their center Andrew Bogut, who has not played for his homeland since the 2008 Olympics, where the Aussies took seventh place after losing to the eventual champions United States in the Quarter-Finals.

The final eight is likely the minimum goal in 2012 for the Boomers, who finished outside the top eight in 2004 in Greece following five straight appearances in the quarters. Australia actually finished fourth three times in that stretch – 1988, 1996 and 2000.

The link to all three of those top-ever Aussie showings in the Olympics was Andrew Gaze, who played at five straight Summer Games between 1984 and 2000 – never finishing worse than seventh (1984).

Now it’s time for Bogut to step into Gaze’s big shoes once and for all – the two having never played together at a major competition – and lead the Boomers to hardware just like he did at the 2003 World Championship for Juniors.

Bogut will be back in the mix after missing the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship. In 2010, Bogut was dealing with finger, elbow and arm injuries following a nasty fall which cost him the remainder of his NBA season. In 2011, he was unable to play after a second elbow surgery, though he did show up as an assistant coach for the Boomers in their 3-0 sweep of New Zealand to book their 13th Olympic spot since 1956.

Bogut’s presence in London will be essential for any chance to grab a medal for Australia.

But head coach Brett Brown knows his team is not only Bogut and that one player is not enough to be considered a medal contender at a stacked tournament like the Olympics. Just as crucial for the Boomers will be point guard Patty Mills, who was Australia’s leading scorer at the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 FIBA Worlds. The floor general Mills will get a third chance to play with Bogut. And there are plenty of weapons to boot for the Aussies.

David Andersen and Matt Nielsen still have plenty in the tank while Aleks Maric was once of the revelations of the 2009-10 Euroleague season and would be a huge boost in the blocks for the Boomers.

Joe Ingles, Brad Newley, David Barlow and Adam Gibson all give Mills shooting options to locate. And another scoring option is 21-year-old Matthew Dallavedova, who is also someone with whom Coach Brown can rest assured in giving Mills a break as playmaker. The junior at St. Mary’s College – where Mills and many other Australians attended – does not make many mistakes as evident with his 2.25 and 2.21 assist-to-turnover ratios during his first two collegiate seasons and his 10-to-2 ratio in Australia’s three-game sweep of New Zealand in the summer of 2011. And Dallavedova is only gaining more and more confidence.

That mix may not include the biggest of names, but if Brown can mold Bogut, Mills and the others into a strong unit, Australia can beat any team on a single day. And if they come up with their victories at the right time, the Boomers could actually make run to the podium.