Brian Goorjian has recalled the "horrible" conversation with Matisse Thybulle and explained why the Tokyo Olympic standout was cut from the team that will play in France.
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Thybulle's eye-catching omission for the Paris Games was confirmed on Sunday, so too veteran guard Matthew Dellavedova's return after the 33-year-old was cut for last year's World Cup.
Two-time Olympic sharpshooter Chris Goulding and World Cup standout Xavier Cooks, who will play under Goorjian at the Sydney Kings next season, were also left out.
"They're horrible," Goorjian said of the discussions with the five players cut from the 17-man squad.
"Yesterday's training went to another level because the edge was off that's been sitting over players, staff, everyone. There was a relief."
A dual-citizen, 27-year-old Thybulle emerged as a shining light of the Boomers side that won a historic bronze in Tokyo.
His long-limbed defence and athleticism was crucial in a lockdown role on the kind of talent the Boomers will face in a tough Paris pool that includes an NBA-stacked Canada and potentially Spain and Giannis Antetokounmpo's Greece.
Goorjian said he used every minute of the team's two trial games against China last week to mull what his starting five, rotations and particularly his bench would look like.
He stressed that the final spots on the roster were arguably the toughest, factoring in specific roles and combinations for those role players.
That eventually led to Thybulle's omission, lion-hearted guard Dellavedova's recall, a fifth Games for Joe Ingles and Patty Mills, and debuts for Jack McVeigh, Dyson Daniels, Josh Giddey and Will Magnay.
"Matisse's position, you have four people in that role ... I felt like you have to make the move on one," Goorjian said.
"You could see what pieces went well with that and there was a big discussion on minutes and the end of the bench."
Goorjian is confident Mills will find shooting form and said Ingles, 37 in October, had earned his spot with composed play-making in the second half of the second game against China.
Dellavedova's terrier-like defence fits the bill for Goorjian, who wants his team to be the best stoppers in the world.
Mills, whose role is likely to change now point guard Giddey has arrived, acknowledged the selection as of the toughest in his time.
"There's a vibe around this group that's very locked in," he said.
"We have a grit about us, an edge that we never want to lose ... you look around the room and you nod your head."
The United States will field a full-strength team, Steph Curry making his Olympic debut alongside LeBron James, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum.
Europe's stars will also turn out for what's billed as the most talented assembly in Olympic basketball history.
Mills, who scored an Olympic record 42 points in the Tokyo bronze medal game, says gold is still the target.
"We don't want to be that (Tokyo bronze) team; we want to be better," he said.
"It's there for us to accomplish."
BOOMERS SQUAD: Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Josh Green, Patty Mills, Dante Exum, Jock Landale, Duop Reath, Joe Ingles, Jack McVeigh, Will Magnay, Matthew Dellavedova, Nicholas Kay.
Australian Associated Press
