Hawks captain Sam Froling has earned a spot in a stacked Boomers squad for this year's Paris Olympics, bringing about a reunion with former Illawarra coach Brian Goorjian.
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Wollongong's Xavier Cooks was also selected in a 22-man squad unveiled on Thursday, one that features 10 players from the Boomers watershed 'rose gold' Tokyo Campaign.
It includes NBL stars Chris Goulding and Matthew Dellevadova alongside Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Josh Green, Matisse Thybulle, Dante Exum, Jock Landale, Chris Goulding, Matthew Dellavedova, Duop Reath and Nick Kay.
The NBA next-gen of Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Jack White and Cooks, as well as US college star Johnny Furphy also made the initial cut, as did NBL stars Jack McVeigh, Will Magnay, Keanu Pinder, Will McDowell-White, DJ Vasiljevic and Rocco Zikarsky.
It follows another stellar NBL campaign for Froling that re-affirmed his status as one of the best big men plying his trade in the league.
Ben Simmons remains the notable omission due the back injury that's kept him off the floor for the Brooklyn Nets.
This initial squad will be refined before training camp in July, with a final 12 selected in late July or early August.
It's a fourth Olympics for Goorjian, who's set to return to the NBL with Sydney next season.
While he's never had more talent at his disposal, it will take a mighty effort to repeat or better the medal-winning performance in Tokyo after being drawn in the 'group of death'.
The Boomers will face Canada and the winners from the Greece qualifying tournament (Greece, Slovenia, New Zealand, Croatia, Egypt and the Dominican Republic) and the Spain qualifying tournament (Spain, Lebanon, Angola, Finland, Poland and Bahamas).
It's a big ask, but Goorjian said the introduction of new faces through last year's FIBA World Cup puts the Boomers in a strong position ahead of Paris.
"The FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2023 marked a new beginning for the Boomers," said Goorjian.
"We were able to introduce some new faces and identify areas that we needed to advance and improve.
"The complexity of international tournaments like the Olympics is that you have a relatively short window to train and prepare - so you have to identify and implement a style that works fast and amplifies the collective skill set.
"What we have experienced, is the emergence of Australians at the top level overseas and the evolution of the NBL as a world class league with high powered scoring offenses, so we want to drive a game that is familiar but unique to our group.
"The consensus is that the tournament will be at an unseen level with the talent and international NBA star-power across the teams.
"I will emphasise and instil with the group that we're not aiming to match or replicate the style of game heading our way from other nations. Our goal is to beat them.
"We're going to play Aussie ball and we're going to go at them with all we've got."