Boomers coach keen for Simmons to play with Mills

AUSTRALIAN Boomers and Illawarra Hawks coach Brian Goorjian is excited about the prospect of Aussie duo Ben Simmons and Patty Mills linking up together in Brooklyn.

Simmons, 25, was traded to Mills’ Nets after former NBA MVP James Harden requested a move to Philadelphia, proving as a win-win for both sides as Simmons was sitting out his 76ers duties due to mental health reasons.

While Simmons is an Australian hailing from Melbourne, Goorjian is yet to coach him as he’s yet to represent the Boomers.

Although Goorjian doesn’t have much of a relationship with Simmons he believes the Boomers’ cultural leader in Mills can help bring the best out of the former number one draft pick.

“We’ll see where that takes us, him being with Patty and with the Nets, I think it’s a win-win for everybody,” Goorjian said on SEN Dwayne’s World.

“Patty is going to be great for Ben, just to have an Aussie there, I loved that terminology when he said, ‘I’ve got Ben’s back’.

“A guy like Ben can distribute the ball and make everyone better and with Patty who’s one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, really, it’s a marriage made in heaven.

“I’m more on just this kid getting out of a situation that clearly was done and get back doing what heloves to do.

“I think he’s going to be in a great environment, we’ll see where that takes us.”

Goorjian led the Boomers to their best ever Olympic result with a third-place finish in Tokyo with Simmons being a notable absentee from a squad littered with NBA players.

While Simmons sat out the Tokyo experience, Goorjian believes the big guard would thrive if he got involved with the national team’s environment.

“I honestly didn’t recruit Ben [for Tokyo 2020],” Goorjian said.

“I know it’s been rough times, but I think he’ll love playing with this [Boomers] group and I think he’d enjoy it.

“Circumstances were, it didn’t work out and obviously we’ve worked out there’s a lot to this as time’s gone on.

“As I get to this point right now… it’s not about the Boomers, it’s about Ben finding the love of the game and prosper doing what it does.”

Goorjian believes Simmons, alongside the likes of Josh Giddey, Josh Green and Matisse Thybulle can help bridge a gap between current and future Boomers’ groups, something that the most recent side didn’t have the benefit of early on.

“A big thing if you go back in the history of the Boomers, [Andrew] Gaze, [Mark] Bradtke, [Luc] Longley, [Andrew] Vlahov, all those guys retired at the same time and there was no real passing of the torch,” Goorjian said.

“It set the program back eight years, but now you’ve got Patty [Mills], Joe [Ingles] will be around this, [Aron] Baynes, all will have been around these guys and passed on the Boomers culture to Giddey, to Josh Green, to Thybulle, to Duop [Reath].

“That’s a huge aspect of this, to carry this culture plus with this ability and the talent of Ben Simmons, a Josh Giddey, Green, Thybulle, there’s no backwards step.

“There’s no backwards step, it’s moving from rose gold to gold with Australian basketball.”

Simmons has yet to play this NBA season and has refused to put a date on his potential debut for the Nets.

 

– BY LACHLAN GELEIT/ SEN