Toronto Raptor Nathan Jawai headlines a new-look and vastly inexperienced Australian men’s basketball team announced by new coach Brett Brown.
Brown, an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs who has taken over the Boomers from Brian Goorjian, has spent the past five days running his eyes over a 27-strong squad in a camp in Canberra.
With the likes of regulars Andrew Bogut, Brad Newley, Patrick Mills, Mark Worthington and Matt Nielsen napping, the camp has offered some fringe players an opportunity to impress the new coach.
Brown and his assistants Andrej Lemanis and Shane Heal have piked 12 players to take on the Chinese national team in China on June 28 and 30.
Jawai, 22, who has just completed his rookie year through the Raptors in the NBA, is the biggest celebrity in the squad.
Fellow big man Aleks Maric, from Spanish club CB Granada, is the only other overseas-based player in a gang made up chiefly of players from the Australian NBL.
Veterans James Harvey, Peter Crawford, Jacob Holmes and Oscar Forman have been given a chance, alongside youngsters Adam Gibson, Matthew Knight, Damian Martin and Stephen Weigh.
"The players selected displayed a combination of physical grunt and skill on a daily basis during the camp," Brown said.
"And I’m looking forward to getting on the highroad with the team and seeing the same strain and vehemence in a game situation."
Following the tour to China, another squad will undergo a second training camp in Sydney before tours of Argentina and Brazil.
A third and decisive pitch a camp for 2009 will then subsist held face to face with Australia take on New Zealand in the Oceania Championship in Sydney on August 23.
AAP
