Josh Giddey is ready to go back to doing what he does best.
From the moment Giddey was forecast as one of Australia's brightest young basketball players, Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian had eyed the idea of putting the ball in the 6'8 point guard's hands and letting him roam free.
Giddey was given the reins at last year's World Cup, averaging 19.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game; the Boomers underperforming as they worked to introduce new faces to the group.
Now, ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Boomers are a year into that inherently complex transition between generations, and Giddey is ready to lead from the front.
"To come back here into this environment, handle the ball a little more, be the playmaker I see myself as, lead this team from the front, is something I've been very excited to do for a number of years," Giddey said on Sunday, as the Boomers' 12-man group was official named to the Australian Olympic Team.
"Beside all that, just being around these guys again -- the Boomers environment -- is something very special. To have the ball in my hands is how I like to play, and I'm lucky to have great guys around me to make my job really easy as a point guard."
Giddey is coming off a volatile season with the Oklahoma City Thunder that included a shift in roles; playing more off the ball, with his on-ball reps decreasing significantly. Shortly after the NBA season ended, the 21-year-old was traded to the Chicago Bulls, where the expectation is that he'll go back to the high usage he had to begin his career.
The Olympics will give everyone a reminder of what Giddey can do with the ball in his hands, and provide the Australian with an opportunity to show off his IQ and ability to create as the team's primary initiator.
"What's gonna help us is on the defensive end, and how we wanna hang our hat on that end, that can allow us to run out of that," Patty Mills said. "When Gids has got the ball in transition and semi-transition situations, he's arguably one of the best in the world in that situation. This is a great team, fused of young guys, old guys, high basketball FIBA IQ, so we're looking forward to it."
This will be a debut Olympics for Giddey, who, as an 18-year-old, was one of the final cuts from the team going into Tokyo 2021. He says missing out on that team "was a tough pill to swallow", though Goorjian has, on numerous occasions, credited Giddey for continuing to stay connected to the program despite that decision.
On Sunday, alongside the Opals and Gangurrus at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Giddey was among the final 12-man Boomers team that was presented with their oversized Qantas boarding passes to Paris, before taking part in a practice session.
"It's right up there," Giddey said of how special the moment was. "Along with getting drafted."
"Making your Olympic debut is as special as it gets for an Australian. I know how much pride the guys that have played in this team before me take in representing the green and gold. To have the opportunity to do it at such an early stage in my career is very special, and something I've wanted to do for a long time.
"As an Australian kid growing up, you idolise these guys, you idolise the Boomers and the green and gold. To be in a position now where I can represent my country at an Olympic Games, it's very exciting and something I've wanted to do for a long time."
Sunday's event was a significant and historic day for the Boomers and Opals -- Lauren Jackson, Patty Mills, and Joe Ingles all earned a spot in their fifth Olympics -- but it was also notable because of who wasn't there.
The Boomers' squad of 17 was cut to its final 12-man iteration just a few days prior -- following a pair of warmup games against China in Melbourne -- with some noteworthy omissions dominating the discourse among the Australian basketball community. The most surprising cut that Goorjian and his staff made was to not select Matisse Thybulle to this Olympic team; the Portland Trail Blazers wing was one of Australia's best players in Tokyo, and widely regarded as a lock to go to Paris.
When asked if this one the toughest selection process he's ever been a part of, Goorjian offered a "yes, sir", and noted how it came down to role definition when building around the Boomers' core.
"It was, in my time in this, the toughest decision to make; cutting that group from 17 to 12, and the actual process itself of cutting five guys that night," Goorjian, who's going to his fourth Olympics as the Boomers' head coach, said.
"And it's the ones that you cut, because they're high-level players. That was difficult.
"The other aspect of it that was tough, was this is 12 guys, and you're trying to establish four guys they play off. You're trying to establish: this guy's number 10, this guy's number 11, and this guy's number 12. It wasn't until game two (against China) that Dyson Daniels, Josh Green, Patty Mills, and Joe Ingles got on the floor together. When we got that group together and, in the second half, it became clear -- we knew the strength of the other pieces -- what pieces went well with that.
"Then, there was a big discussion on minutes and the end of the bench. The teams I've seen that have really struggled over my time at the Olympics that have led to disappointment, is when you have number 10, 11, and 12 on the bench, sitting there thinking, 'why aren't I playing?'. Then, you have number nine, eight, seven, who've got to share minutes; neither of them are happy.
"That was part of the discussion when you had Matisse's position. You have four people in that role of the defender, running the floor, putting pressure on the ball; we just felt like we had to make the move on one."
Goorjian added: "Going to that room and doing those five cuts that whole week; something [is] in your gut that's worse than the pressure of actually playing. It's guys you're attached to, and guys you care about, and NBA players. It was really tough."
Thybulle flew back to the U.S. on Saturday as one of the five players cut from the extended squad, alongside Dejan Vasiljevic, Chris Goulding, Jack White, and Xavier Cooks.
"When you've got players like that, that are missing out on the team, it's more a compliment to the guys we have and the culture and environment we've built in Australian basketball," Giddey said. "It's tough to see anyone miss out... but the 12 guys we've got, we're confident in, we trust, and we think we've got a team that can go in and do a really special thing."
The Boomers' squad was confirmed on Sunday, featuring Giddey, alongside Mills, Ingles, Matthew Dellavedova, Danté Exum, Josh Green, Nick Kay, Jock Landale, Duop Reath, Dyson Daniels, Will Magnay, and Jack McVeigh.
Goorjian and his coaching staff entered camp with an emphasis on excelling on the defensive end -- there was a significant drop off defensively from Tokyo 2021 to the most recent World Cup campaign -- while adding general toughness to the group. That made for players like Dellavedova, Magnay, and McVeigh to make the final cut; the latter two, both members of the NBL Championship winning Tasmania JackJumpers, set for their debut Olympics alongside Giddey and Daniels.
The Boomers had a lively practice on Saturday -- Goorjian credited getting through the selection phase taking some weight off the players' shoulders -- and, after Sunday's time on the court, will now take a few days off to regroup and reset. The plan is then to fly to Abu Dhabi on July 10 to prepare for exhibition games against Team USA and Serbia, before jetting off to Paris, France.
While Australia is still waiting to see who'll round out their group for Paris -- the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will produce those two teams by the time they wake up on Monday -- Goorjian is confident he and his staff have created the right "balance" with the selections, and there's hope that the multiple generations of Boomers involved in this team will mesh more effectively than it did at the World Cup.
"The good thing about this team is we stay connected throughout the NBA season, throughout our offseasons," Giddey said.
"We find ways to stay in touch, and not let it go from playing together, to never seeing each other again to the next campaign.
"It's a very close group from top to bottom. As I said, the guys that have been in this team for a long time, they set the tone from day one of training camp. It's up to everyone else to meet it. We've got an awesome group of guys who really bought into what we're trying to do. We're all on the same page with the goal we want when we get to Paris. That goes a long way to achieving that goal.
"It's a special group of guys, and I think we do have a real opportunity to do something special when we get over there."