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.<\/p>\n
Simmons, 25, was traded to Mills\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
While Simmons is an Australian hailing from Melbourne, Goorjian is yet to coach him as he\u2019s yet to represent the Boomers.<\/p>\n
Although Goorjian doesn\u2019t have much of a relationship with Simmons he believes the Boomers\u2019 cultural leader in Mills can help bring the best out of the former number one draft pick.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see where that takes us, him being with Patty and with the Nets, I think it\u2019s a win-win for everybody,\u201d Goorjian said on SEN Dwayne\u2019s World<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cPatty is going to be great for Ben, just to have an Aussie there, I loved that terminology when he said, \u2018I\u2019ve got Ben\u2019s back\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cA guy like Ben can distribute the ball and make everyone better and with Patty who\u2019s one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, really, it\u2019s a marriage made in heaven.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m more on just this kid getting out of a situation that clearly was done and get back doing what heloves to do.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s going to be in a great environment, we\u2019ll see where that takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n While Simmons sat out the Tokyo experience, Goorjian believes the big guard would thrive if he got involved with the national team\u2019s environment.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly didn\u2019t recruit Ben [for Tokyo 2020],\u201d Goorjian said.<\/p>\n \u201cI know it\u2019s been rough times, but I think he\u2019ll love playing with this [Boomers] group and I think he\u2019d enjoy it.<\/p>\n \u201cCircumstances were, it didn\u2019t work out and obviously we\u2019ve worked out there\u2019s a lot to this as time\u2019s gone on.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I get to this point right now\u2026 it\u2019s not about the Boomers, it\u2019s about Ben finding the love of the game and prosper doing what it does.\u201d<\/p>\n Goorjian believes Simmons, alongside the likes of Josh Giddey, Josh Green and Matisse Thybulle can help bridge a gap between current and future Boomers\u2019 groups, something that the most recent side didn\u2019t have the benefit of early on.<\/p>\n \u201cA 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,\u201d Goorjian said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt set the program back eight years, but now you\u2019ve 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].<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s 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\u2019s no backwards step.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no backwards step, it\u2019s moving from rose gold to gold with Australian basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n Simmons has yet to play this NBA season and has refused to put a date on his potential debut for the Nets.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n