AUS - Boomers name squad to face Tall Blacks

CANBERRA (FIBA Oceania Championship/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Australia will have six Olympians in their squad to face New Zealand in the FIBA Oceania Championship.

Pat Mills, Joe Ingles, David Andersen, Matthew Dellavedova, David Barlow and Adam Gibson all played at the London Games for the Boomers and will lead the national team against the Tall Blacks.

Coach Andrej Lemanis had hoped to have another Olympian, Mills' San Antonio Spurs teammate Aron Baynes, in the side but he has been ruled with a hamstring injury.

AJ Ogilvy has also seen his bid to face New Zealand ended by a groin injury.

Lemanis will have teenagers Dante Exum (18) and Ben Simmons (17) for the games against the Kiwis in Auckland on 14 August and in Canberra 18 August.

Exum, a 1.98m guard, has generated a lot of excitement with his performances this summer, including with the Australians at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Prague where he was an All-Tournament Team selection.

Both he and Simmons, a 2.03m forward at Montverde Academy High School in Florida, played for the Australia side that captured the silver medal at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship in Kaunas, Lithuania.

"This is a good opportunity for us to start to grow together as a group, to establish a style of play and establish who we are going to be on the international stage over the next four years," Lemanis said.

"We've got a good mix of veterans and youth in the group.

"In that, we have established players who will look to provide experience and leadership, and the younger players who are trying to establish themselves in the Boomers program.

"It's a great training camp for the team and they've certainly grown as a group in the days we've had together and it’ll be a good challenge for us to go and take on New Zealand."

The Aussies and Tall Blacks will qualify for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup after playing in the FIBA Oceania Championship.

The Boomers have won four of the last five Oceania titles.

Australia squad for FIBA Oceania Championship: Pat Mills, David Andersen, Matthew Dellavedova, David Barlow, Adam Gibson, Cameron Bairstow, Ryan Broekhoff, Luke Nevill, Anthony Petrie, Dante Exum and Ben Simmons.

FIBA