TASMANIAN Adam Gibson said he is proud to continue flying the flag for the National Basketball League in the Boomers team.
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While the likes of NBA big guns Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova inevitably grab the headlines in the latest 12-man Australian team, Gibson, Chris Goulding and Damian Martin represent the NBL contingent for the six games that make up this year's international series.
And after 11 years in the domestic competition, the 28-year-old Adelaide 36er believes it can hold its own against the bigger leagues.
"To be able to show you do not have to go overseas to make an Australian team and you can still do it from home is a big thing for the NBL as well as the publicity for basketball in this country," Gibson said.
The Cluan product has been named in the squad to play Lithuania and Slovenia, followed by the FIBA Oceania Championships across two games against New Zealand.
"We have had a really long off-season," he said.
"We have been back training and doing our own stuff, playing with some imports and local players. However, it is a lot different than playing games which is always very hard to emulate."
Gibson played at the 2010 world championship, 2012 London Olympics and 2014 FIBA world cup and is looking forward to a reunion with Corey Webster and Thomas Abercrombie who have played for the New Zealand Breakers since 2008 and helped knock Adelaide out of the playoffs last season.
"Webster and Abercrombie are a couple of their main focuses so to be able to slow them down and make it hard for them to score will make a difference. I also hope to knock down a couple of shots and maybe play a bit at the point," Gibson said.
"It's going to be unreal. There can be about 13,000 in Perth but to add another couple of thousand people and for everyone to be behind us, it should be a real buzz.
"We also beat New Zealand in 2013 in Sydney to qualify and that crowd was great but to have what looks like a sell-out at Rod Laver Arena, it is going to be huge.
"The hype around basketball in Australia has really grown and I expect it to be a massive game."