BASKETBALL

By TOM HAYES

 

POTENTIALLY on a plane to Paris.

Traralgon’s Jack White might soon find himself on his way to France, after being selected in the Australia Boomers 22-player Olympic squad.

Ten of the initial 22 players competed in Australia’s Tokyo 2020 Bronze medal-winning team, including Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Josh Green, Matisse Thybulle, Dante Exum, Jock Landale, Chris Goulding, Duop Reath, Nick Kay, and amazingly Matthew Dellavedova.

White joins a bunch of youngsters hoping to break into the eventual 12-player squad that will travel to Paris for the 2024 Olympics.

Those hoping to break into the squad include White, Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Xavier Cooks and college enigma, Johnny Furphy.

Giddey is expected to be a shoo-in, regularly starting for Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA’s Western Conference. Giddey has played an important role to keep the Thunder at the top of the conference.

Giddey has a connection to the region too, as his mum hails from Morwell.

A notable omission is that of Ben Simmons, who is still yet to make his Olympic debut, as a back injury has forced him to withdraw.

The initial 22-player squad will be refined to 12 after a training camp in July, before they jet off to Paris later in that month.

White has also completed a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies finished the season 13th in the NBA’s Western Conference, with a 27-55 record.

White played in the Grizzlies’ final four games of the season, each coming to a loss as Memphis lost their last five games of the season.

White played 26 minutes during the Grizzlies’ 102-87 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, scoring six points and collecting two rebounds.

He mustered 15 minutes against the Cleveland Cavaliers, returning with four rebounds and an assist in the 12-point loss. White only managed another 14 minutes in his next outing, this time against the Los Angeles Lakers, collecting four rebounds.

In his final game on his 10-day schedule, White had two rebounds from his nine minutes on court, in the 15-point loss to the team he won the championship with last year, the Denver Nuggets.

It is unknown where White will go next, but dare I say his full focus will be on making the 12-player Boomers squad that goes to Paris.