'Wasn't great': Andrew Bogut calls for Boomers to bench Patty Mills
Andrew Bogut has called on the Boomers to bench Patty Mills for the Paris Olympics following Australia's 98-92 loss to Team USA in Abu Dhabi.
Mills made two out of eight shots, with five turnovers and was a minus 16 on the "plus-minus" metric which assesses the player's value to the team on any given night.
The Aussie veteran was a key part of the Boomers historic bronze medal in Tokyo, but coach Brian Goorjian seems reluctant to make the move according to those in the know.
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Bogut has been adamant about giving Mills less minutes on the floor, which would ideally open the door the Dante Exum to start alongside Josh Giddey.
Speaking on the NBL's Olympic podcast Gold Standard, Bogut said Mills typically starts slow during pre-tournament games and then ramps it up when he needs to, yet he contends the former San Antonio Spur would be better served coming off the pine.
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"I'd love to see Patty come off the bench and just play that kind of role. They split minutes pretty quickly between Patty and Josh. They both need the ball in their hands to be effective," Bogut said.
Patty Mills, playing in his fifth Olympics NBAE via Getty Images
"Patty wasn't great tonight. Patty started very similarly the last couple of tournaments in the lead ups and friendlies.
"There is concerns obviously looking at the way he's playing but this has been kind of a story for him in lead up games for tournaments and then he has a great tournament but they're gonna need more from him."
The Aussies won the last two quarters but it was late in the first quarter the US flexed their muscles.
LeBron James Boomers Getty
USA's bench players spun a 19-19 scoreline into 39-23 lead, with a 20-4 run in just over five minutes.
As the US relaxed in the third quarter, Australia built momentum and then gave the Americans a fright before Tyrese Haliburton put the game beyond reach with a couple of three-pointers.
Stephen Curry takes on Mills. Getty
Shooting beyond the arc was a factor in the win for Team USA, with the star-studded line-up landing 11 from three as opposed to the Boomers, who only made 4 out of 18 three-point attempts.
"We are going to need some guys to be, two to three, three point makes a night," Bogut added.
"Some of these Euro teams, especially Greece and whatnot that rely heavily on scouts, really smart coaches, really smart players, they're going to make us shoot 35 threes or they're going to entice us into shooting 35 threes.
Josh Giddey in action. NBAE via Getty Images
"Can we make 15 of them to stay in a game? If we shoot anywhere near what we shot tonight, even in the low thirties, it's just not going to be enough to get it done.
"And that's a huge concern. It has been since camp. It has been since everyone's been talking about the prep for the Boomers, got to knock down three-point shots."
