TASMANIAN basketballer Adam Gibson is heading to Europe after being picked in the Australian Boomers team to compete at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.
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Hailing from Cluan near Westbury, the NBL Adelaide 36ers player will be joined in the team by another former Launceston player in Chris Goulding.
The final 12-man squad has a distinct NBA flavour with San Antonio Spurs NBA champion Aron Baynes among a host of stars looking to take the Boomers to their first medal at a major tournament.
Joining Baynes is Utah Jazz top five NBA draft pick Dante Exum, along with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova and Chicago Bulls forward Cameron Bairstow.
Three-time Olympian and Boomers stalwart David Andersen will go around for his fifth major international tournament in the green and gold, leading a strong contingent of experienced leaders, including Joe Ingles, Gibson and Brad Newley.
The quartet brings eight Olympic Games and five World Cups worth of experience to a young and exciting squad that has six players making their major tournament debuts for the Boomers.
Star of the 2014 Sino-Australia Challenge Brock Motum joins Bairstow and Exum as debutants, along with sharp-shooting guard Goulding, European-based Ryan Broekhoff, and centre Nathan Jawai.
Boomers head coach Andrej Lemanis said the challenge of reducing 17 into 12 was made all the more difficult because of the performance of the players in camp.
‘‘The selection process has been vigorous and thorough,’’ Lemanis said.
‘‘The really positive news for Australian basketball is that we have a depth of talent available now, which certainly made final selection challenging.’’
The team will depart for Europe on Tuesday, beginning its nine-game pre-FIBA Basketball World Cup tour in Lithuania, before heading to Finland and France.