MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - If the word around basketball circles is correct - and everything I've come across suggests it is - then Basketball Australia (BA) will shortly announce Andrej Lemanis and Sandy Brondello as coaches of the Boomers and Opals.

If this is indeed true it will make a lot of people happy. Lemanis was a no-brainer after piloting the best Boomers major tournament campaign in history at the Rio Olympics and BA would have breathed a big sigh of relief when he decided to continue.

(Out of interest, had Lemanis not rested players in the final group game of Spain 2014, and then beaten the Dominican Republic in the Round of 16 as expected, he could also claim Australia's most successful FIBA Basketball World Cup campaign).

Brondello, on the other hand, was head-hunted from the moment the Opals fell in the Rio Quarter-Finals to Serbia and it was clear the incumbent Brendan Joyce was unable to repeat the magic of Turkey 2014.

Joyce took effectively the same squad to Rio that won bronze in swashbuckling fashion two years earlier, with the addition of Liz Cambage, but couldn't find a way to marry his team’s high-pressure, high-speed, high-ball movement, unselfish approach with a traditional centre who needs lots of the ball to be effective.

That's where Brondello is the perfect choice. Having played and coached in the WNBA for almost two decades - including guiding the Phoenix Mercury to the 2014 title - she understands the 'dos' and 'don'ts' of meshing contrasting individuals into a functioning and successful team.

The big question, if Brondello is appointed, will be how will she juggle the Opals and Mercury coaching jobs? For example, when the Aussie women tip off in their first FIBA Women’s Asia Cup on 23 July this year, the Mercury will be headed to Atlanta to take on the Dream.

At next year's FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, Brondello would join preparations late assuming the Mercury make the WNBA playoffs as they have every season under her watch.

In seasons past, that wouldn't be an issue, with the international program run in the NBL off-season. However, with FIBA's Competition System 2017+ tipping off later this year, the Boomers will be playing World Cup qualifiers in November and February windows during the Bullets' campaign.

My understanding is BA is looking at a flexible way of dealing with those demands. While nothing has been bedded down yet, don't be surprised if during the qualifying phase we see a rotation of the coaching staff in charge.

For example, Lemanis may take care of November, or if a Boomers fixture is in Perth it could be Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson in charge if he returns to his national assistant role.

In February, with the NBL playoffs on the doorstep, it could be one Lemanis' assistant coaches who doesn't have club duties, like Luc Longley, who may step in. 

This allows a sharing of the load and also creates development opportunities for the wider coaching and support staff, who may all have to take on added responsibilities at some stage.

The key to that succeeding is making sure the overall program is well embedded and understood across the playing and coaching groups, so interchangeable parts simply slot into roles they are comfortable in.

With Australia's best female players split between the WNBL and Europe during the Aussie summer, and Brondello in the USA during the southern winter, there will be precious few opportunities to run camps and embed a style of play. That’s an issue that needs to be resolved.

I wrote in November that it was critical BA undertook a wide-ranging review of their women's program post-Rio, not just a knee-jerk response to the Opals' inconsistency at the Olympics.

Over the previous four years, Joyce and underage coaches Paul Gorris and Shannon Seebohm put together a comprehensive program that delivered gold and two bronze at junior level and a bronze at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.

With the exception of Rio, the program and style of play produced results and that is a position of strength that could allow Brondello to build success without having large amounts of time to spend with the Opals.

The first key element is having quality and trusted coaches throughout the overall program who can be delivering consistent messages while Brondello is away.

The second element is using the basic principles of the style of play already ingrained across all levels as building blocks. That will deliver a consistency that Brondello can add to and tinker with as she sees fit.

For the Boomers, the reappointment of Lemanis is very exciting as he not only constructed a quality program for Rio but also invested plenty of time educating the next generations in a style of play that has proven so successful internationally.

For the Opals, the expected appointment of Brondello is incredibly exciting. She is a proven coach and player manager who knows the international game inside-out from her playing days, and knows many of Australia's toughest opponents back-to-front from her WNBA duties.

However, that excitement must be tempered by the huge challenge of bringing in a new coach who is time poor and spends most of the Opals’ key preparation time otherwise occupied.

Few will be surprised if Brondello does an exceptional job, but if appointed she is going to need quality support around her to deliver a quality program.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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