Bogut questions "really surprising" Boomers cuts

Andrew Bogut says there was some “really surprising” selections in the final team for the Olympics, as reported by News Corp on Friday morning.

The final 12 for Paris saw Chris Goulding, Jack White, DJ Vasiljevic, Xavier Cooks and Matisse Thybulle as the unlucky omissions. 

But speaking on Gold Standard, the NBL’s Paris Olympics Boomers podcast, Bogut said there were a couple of decisions in particular that raised eyebrows. 

"'Tisse' (Thybulle) is a real interesting one. He’s arguably the best defender on that squad, one of the best defenders in the NBA,” the three-time Olympian said. 

"I think the ups and downs of his shooting was a concern, and how in the last campaign (the World Cup) I think he struggled a little bit with that, when his shot wasn’t falling.

"X is the one I thought was interesting. A lot of people will say it’s the Sydney Kings’ bias (Bogut is a part-owner of the team) ... I was at the (Boomers) camps, I like to think I’m not biased and like to call it as I see it. I thought he outplayed Nick Kay a little bit, but Kay’s got the shooting arm over X. 

“But then you’ve taken Jack McVeigh, so I thought that would nullify bringing in a Nick Kay and maybe going with an X. I think X did a great job at the five spot, grabbing the rebound, pushing it up as a five-man, creating a lot of cross-matches, going straight into that hand-off action.”

>> Hear all the fallout from the Boomers' squad selection, with analysis from former national team champions Andrew Bogut and Brad Newley. Listen to Gold Standard below.

Bogut also discussed the non-selections of Melbourne United stars Goulding and White, and Adelaide’s Vasiljevic.