'Big picture': Conquering Asia is first step for new Boomers

• Adam Caporn was appointed head coach of the Boomers in March, taking over after Brian Goorjian stepped down
• He spent more than six years as the Boomers assistant at major tournaments, such as the 2019 and 2023 FIBA World Cup as well as the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games
• The Boomers have won gold at the past three FIBA Asia Cup tournaments

New Australian Boomers coach Adam Caporn is about to tip-off his first campaign in charge and takes over a national team desperate to capture more international success after their history-making Olympic bronze medal in Japan four years ago.

The man, who spent more than six years as a Boomers assistant coach to Andrej Lemanis and Brian Goorjian, will lead Australia into the FIBA Asia Cup tournament in Saudi Arabia starting tomorrow, looking to continue the team's dominance of the event they have won gold at three times in a row.

But before Caporn, who is currently an NBA assistant coach with the Washington Wizards and is a former NBL player, as well as the Boomers left for the Middle East, he caught up with basketball.com.au while the team was on the Gold Coast preparing for agame against the University of Colorado Buffaloes to talk his priorities in the role, how NBA stars Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels fit together, the emergence of Johnny Furphy and more.

Australia starts its FIBA Asia Cup campaign on August 6 at 6pm against Korea before clashes with Lebanon and Qatar to round out the group stage.

Q: You've obviously been part of the Boomers as an assistant coach but stepping into a culture like the Boomers as a head coach, how do you continue that culture but put your own footprint on it as you take over?

A: Great question. I guess the first part is the Boomers culture is elite and established over a long period of time and I feel very privileged to have experienced it and been a part of it. It's such a privilege leading the program and I'm trying to live the examples set by people before me and really just lift it up a little bit and contribute but it's nothing that I'm trying to put my own stamp or make any large-scale alterations to or anything like that. The culture really is the behaviour, values and actions of the people involved. There's been so many great examples set, so it's definitely easier when you have people like Andrej Lemanis and Andrew Bogut and we had other Boomers involved in our camp at the Gold Coast in Mark Bradtke and Peter Crawford in the building and being able to speak to their experiences. You can feel it in the atmosphere, it's palpable, meaningful and powerful and then I think the job for all of us is really just to then to live it and keep each other accountable to it.

Q: As an assistant coach, you've been part of some of the heartbreak with the Boomers in the fourth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup but also the highs in winning bronze in 2021, do you think that's really prepared you to be the program's head coach?

A: Adversity, loss and disappointment is part of sport and life as we all know, without the pressure to win and the possibility of loss -this wouldn't be fun. We're here to pursue something very special, to represent the nation proudly and handle the adversity that comes our way together. I think it sort of goes back to the culture part that there's been such great examples set within the Boomers program that gives us the guiding light and we just have to relish the opportunity to take on the challenge. The challenge for the Boomers is immense, international basketball is very difficult. We have a great country we get to represent, a great team, great talent, so it's a great challenge and there's going to be bumps along the road and the Boomers culture helps us, not only handle those, but grow from it. I think my experience as assistant and experiencing some of those challenges does help me because I realised they were part of making our team stronger and better and achieve some really good things. To achieve our goals in 2027-28 and onwards, we need to put ourselves in some difficult situations, solve some problems, stick together and get better from it. That's just part of it, it's a necessary part and we just just plan to embrace it.

Q: Has there been a particular theme around the group in your first camp in charge?

A: We had some camp objectives and some of those remain private to us but I think the two big things are that we are getting prepared to compete. We're part of a bigger picture, a bigger landscape, not only Australian basketball or Australian sport, but a Boomers campaign for Asia Cup is a big deal and an important event and we need to represent Australia proudly. We're going out to win obviously and it's also part of seeding for the World Cup, and World Cup qualification is coming up and we know that consistency and wins is important. So, we're looking to build for a bigger picture. We really talked about playing like Australians and what that means to us and how we define that and it's amazing how consistent those sort of messages are and the language and the verbiages from the players who've lived it before and the ones that are in it now so that's reasonably easy to identify. Then the next part is, the Boomers program has a great history of lifting people up and we're here to work and part of our theme has been that just everyone gets better and that we're going to get in and work as a team. We're going to improve, we're going to do our individual work, the strength and conditioning part and all our departments. We are well organised, tightly-honed group and the player experience needs to be elite.

Q: You named a team for the FIBA Asia Cup with some experience but also featuring a fair bit of youth as well, was bringing through some young talents part of the mission when you selected the team?

A: It was definitely part of the mission. Coming into the role and doing the interview process, part of that process is analysing the landscape, the challenges in front of us and just what we need to do to be successful short term, but long term as well. I just also think that it's part of the role of the Boomers is to develop the depth of the playing chart and our talent because we have a variety of competitions, in terms of qualification windows, major events and things of the like, so we definitely wanted to include some younger athletes. It's definitely not an objective to come in and just pick a young team or anything like that, but to consider where we're at and develop the depth of our playing group.

Q: We spoke about the youngsters in the Asia Cup team, but you've got the likes of Jack McVeigh, Jack White and (now skipper) Will Magnay in there who have been part of major international tournaments, either world cups or Olympic Games, does it fall on them to really lead this group on the floor?

A: Yes but they're natural leaders, who all do it in their own way, in different ways and we embrace that. Certainly one of our themes is that everyone leads and leads in their own way and contributes to progressing the team and has the opportunity to speak up and help the group get better in any way they see fit. We're blessed to have the leadership of those guys and it's been elite. I've been impressed with them in the past and I'm even more impressed now, it definitely makes coaching the group easier. We have some veteran presence, some relatively young guys with some really good experience but also some young guys who contribute with their energy and fresh insight and do it in their own way as well.

Q: You've picked a team for the Asia Cup with a fair bit of shooting with McVeigh, Sean Macdonald (before his injury), Ben Henshall and Reyne Smith - was having more shooting and more spacing a focus when picking the side?

A: I wouldn't say it was specifically a situation where we said 'look we need to bring in more shooting than we have (in the past)' or anything like that but anytime you put a team together you're considering how much shooting you have on the floor because the gravity of the three-point line opens up other opportunities at the rim that are easy to take advantage of. We're just always considering it and being able to shoot the ball at an elite international level is obviously a desirable skill. I wouldn't say it was something we came in with but it's always going to be part of putting a team together. We're fortunate enough to have some athletes in this squad and in the depths of Australian basketball that have proven they can do that at a high level.

Q: You've got two stars in your program going forward in Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels but there's been a lot made in the past about how they fit together as a backcourt. Now, they've improved their shooting at the NBA level over the past year, which could solve a lot but how do you see that combo working together going forward?

A: I mean the fit feels pretty easy to me and we're just lucky to have them. They're very good players who've already performed at a high level in international basketball and that's probably pretty obvious to everyone. I think it's pretty well proven in FIBA basketball that being an NBA player or a talented player and just walking into a major FIBA competition and thinking that success will automatically translate, just doesn't work. You need to build a team, build a system, get major tournament experience and do it together and those guys understand that. They were at the Gold Coast participating in team events, developing team connections and giving to the group. That's the stuff as much as anything that is special about those guys and other Boomers that are here and those that can't be here have contributed in the past. That's one of the things that separates us and ultimately, we think gives us an advantage.

Q: You still have the older brigade like Patty Mills and then Matthew Dellavedova, who has made it clear he wants to play at the next Olympics, what's it mean to have legends like that still part of it and still have a burning desire to play for the Boomers?

A: It's great, we have so many storied Australian players that have contributed to the program and it just makes it a special thing to be part of because the Boomers don't are such a special and elite culture in Australian sport and it's because of the really good people, players and coaches that have come before, what they have poured into it and how they care deeply about it. We all reap the benefits of that and it gives us a critical responsibility to to uphold it and push things forward and provide a platform for everyone to keep moving forward.

Q: You were in Las Vegas for NBA Summer League watching, obviously from the stands as a member of the Washington Wizards coaching staff, but with your Boomers coach hat on, what did you make of Johnny Furphy's emergence at the event and what does that mean for the Boomers?

A: It's obviously exciting. His rise was meteoric from junior national teams to Kansas and now to the NBA. So, to get him in for a couple of days here at camp was great. He's had a big year, his team was in the NBA Finals and then playing Summer League - we had him here for a couple of days and like I said him contributing to the group like the other guys was an important part of this for us. To get him around, to work with him a little bit, have him connect with the group, we got a lot of young talent coming through and we're really excited about it. At the same time I just take what I said before, Johnny's special and so are the other guys but it's the way we play together that wins internationally and that'll be critical. It's one of the things I really admire about Johnny is, he plays the right way, he plays a team game. He's a talented guy, but he wants to be a Boomer, and he's here contributing to the group already.

Q: You've spoken about the culture and different things, but when you were appointed to the job, what was your priority as far as on the court that you thought you needed to address or prioritise going forward?

A: So it's such early days in the big scheme of a campaign, but we really have to do some fundamental things better. I do believe in in system basketball and a system that enables the Boomers to play a style that they're pretty well known for - sharing the ball and a lot of ball and player movement. Now, that doesn't mean that we're rebuilding something from scratch because we've got a lot of foundations from previous coaches and campaigns that the players are familiar with, so we're looking to just re-establish some of that and hopefully build upon it and make it fit this group. I think the thing that's hurt us in recent campaigns is really around possession basketball. We haven't been a great rebounding team and we haven't been great looking after the ball. So, I think ultimately getting our system in early, getting more familiar with it, will contribute to looking after the ball better while we're still generating good shots. We're looking for opportunities and working out ways innovatively and also just with a major focus on rebounding both sides of the ball.

Q: On the women's side, we most recently had the Opals win gold at the FIBA Asia Cup, something you guys are trying to do, and we also had the Gems (under-19 women) have a really successful World Cup, where they came away with silver. Do you watch those and take inspiration from those teams?

A: Absolutely, I pay attention to all national teams and love watching it international basketball and obviously just the way both those teams represented Australia, it makes me proud to be part of it and we draw a lot of inspiration from it. Renee Garlepp and Paul Gorris, both friends of mine and incredible coaches and great leaders, I've spoken to both of them and couldn't be happier for them and I'm just proud to be part of something so special.