AUS - Newley back from NBA, bounces into Boomers camp

SYDNEY (FIBA Oceania Championship) - Brad Newley joined the Australia Post Boomers on the Gold Coast last night fresh from the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Drafted last month with the 54th pick, the 201cm guard played three games for the Houston Rockets and averaged a modest 3 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist per game, but impressed the coaches enough to ensure his return.

The Boomers are mid way through a seven day training camp at The Southport School in preparation for the 2007 FIBA Oceania Men’s Championship; where they will face New Zealand for the right to play in Beijing.

Games are scheduled for August 20, 22 and 24 in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

“It was a good experience meeting all the coaching staff and learning their sets, so when I go back over there in the future I’ll know what they’re doing and what I need to do on the court,” Newley said.

“They’re going to keep close tabs on me to see how I develop and they’ll invite me back to try and win a spot on the roster.

“Now the focus is being with this Boomers group and learning another playbook and I’ll pour myself into that because we obviously want to qualify for the Olympics.

“This is the national team and I’ll have to fight for my spot and I know that more than anybody.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge of adjusting to the Boomers in the next few days.

“New Zealand was successful against us last year so I don’t expect them to change their game plan too much.

“They’re another year old and another year smarter and the more they play together the better they are, so we’re expecting a tougher team than last year.

“We’ll need to come out firing and be aggressive.”

Basketball Australia