Here's why Duop Reath is feeling good about this Boomers team
Reath shares his thoughts on depth and balance of the Boomers squad, and how everyone's focused on achieving that team goal.
Credit: FIBA
It’s been a big year for Duop Reath so far.
Coming off a strong showing at the 2023 NBA Summer League with the Portland Trail Blazers before being thrust into a starting role with the Australian Boomers at the 2023 FIBA World Cup following Jock Landale’s untimely injury, Reath was still searching for his next professional contract.
He signed a one-year deal with Portland, but was waived on the eve of the season, instead being re-signed to a two-way contract. He then worked his way into Portland’s rotation with strong play whenever called up from their G League affiliate, Rip City. After a few double-digit scoring games in limited minutes, he earned his first NBA start in late November, before starting three straight games in early December.
In late December, Reath’s strong play culminated in a career night with 25 points, nine rebounds, a block and a steal in 32 minutes off the bench versus the Sacramento Kings. He had more than proved he belonged in the NBA, and was rewarded with a three-year standard contract in February.
Reath ended up playing in 68 games for Portland, starting 20 and averaging 9.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 made threes (36%) and 0.6 blocks in just under 18 minutes per game. He had a season-high 13 rebounds against Minnesota in January and 26 points (5-6 3FGs) against Minnesota in March.
Reath, who spoke exclusively with The Pick and Roll at an Australia Boomers sponsorship launch with Foot Locker in Melbourne on Friday, certainly agrees that this past year has been very validating for him as a pro.
“It’s just validating. As in, it kind of just proves, you work hard, you do things the right way, just believe in yourself and have some faith, things can turn out the way that you want them to turn out,” said Reath.
“But, at the end of the day it’s a simple formula really – just keep working and leave it out there.”
The Boomers came together last week in Melbourne to begin their training camp ahead of the Paris Olympics. Seventeen players remain on the squad in contention for those final twelve roster spots, with Reath now considered one of the veterans of this group after being on the Rose Gold team in Tokyo and at the FIBA World Cup last year. At Saturday’s ABPA Awards night, Reath won the Boomers Players’ Player Award, as voted by his teammates.
The Boomers started a transitional phase last year, bringing in Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Xavier Cooks and Jack White, as well as featuring the likes of Josh Green a little more, with Joe Ingles playing a smaller role off the bench. And while they didn’t perform as well as they would have liked, the team is better for that experience as their style of play continues to evolve under Brian Goorjian. It’s one that is more about defensive length and pressure, transition opportunities and ball movement, utilising the athleticism and passing ability of the group.
Reath is excited about how this roster is shaping up as they continue to define how each piece ultimately fits together to create the best overall team.
“I’m feeling really good [about the team],” Reath said. “I think we’ve got a good balance now and everybody kind of understands their roles. That was the biggest thing at the Tokyo campaign; I think everybody really understood their roles and everybody knew what their job was.
“And I feel like this campaign, there’s a lot of clarity. Guys really understand what their jobs are and what they’ve got to do on the floor to help the team.”
Some of those younger names like Green, Giddey and Daniels, have showed tremendous growth in the past year. Green took on a more prominent role in Dallas with the Mavs, going all the way to the NBA Finals. Giddey emerged as an on-floor leader with the Boomers last year and his game continued to flourish during a difficult off-court season, while Daniels got greater opportunities with the New Orleans Pelicans in his second season, showing flashes of what he could become.
Giddey and Daniels have both been traded in the last week or two, and will likely take on even bigger roles in their new respective stops in Chicago and Atlanta. But Reath is really excited about what they can bring to this Boomers campaign, now that they’ve all had a taste of a major FIBA tournament (Green obviously more so, being in Tokyo as well).
“Yeah, those guys are so talented when it comes to basketball. I feel like you’ve got to let them be free and let them play their games,” explained Reath. “You kind of just play around them in a way. But I feel like they’re just so talented and one thing about young players is you’ve got to let them be free. You don’t want to restrict them too much and make them overthink on the court. You’ve got to give them a lot of freedom.
“And I think they also understand how to play within the system, what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to accomplish so, having those two variables correlate together, it’s easy for them.”
Of course, nothing will be easy for the Boomers in Paris. They’ve been drawn into Group A, which is looking like being the so-called ‘group of death’ of the three groups. Currently, the group features Canada, who took silver at the 2023 World Cup, but the group is likely to add Spain and one of Greece, Croatia or Slovenia when the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments conclude next week.
The Boomers have to beat all of those teams at some stage to get back onto the podium, and with a smaller field of just 12 teams in the Olympic Tournament, it highlights the importance of each and every game.
“This is the Olympics, so there’s not going to be any easy groups. That’s how I think about it,” said Reath.
“But I feel like at the end of the day, it’s really on us to make sure that we’re playing at our best, playing our type of basketball. Going into games and understanding the importance of every single game and taking it one game at a time. I think if we just focus on that, we should be alright. You know, it’s one game at a time.”
Reath and some of the Boomers were at the launch to celebrate the great new partnership that Foot Locker has with Basketball Australia. There were nine players there and they were all excited to talk about their shoe games, and at the prospect of some free shoes – although most of them never pay for shoes anyway.
Speaking with Reath in Okinawa during the World Cup last year, it came out that his drink of choice was a caramel latté, and that had helped to fuel him during the tournament.
Given we were at Foot Locker this time, I thought I’d ask what his shoe of choice was. On court, he played most of this past season in Nike KD 16s and plans to wear them in Paris. But he was more interested in talking about what he rocks off the court.
“The all-white Air Force 1s,” he said adamantly.
“Those are my go-to shoes since I was younger. Still is my go-to shoe. So, that’s like my caramel latté,” he joked.
Those shoes make him feel good, make him happy, just like drinking a caramel latté does. Another thing that is making him feel good right now? Jock Landale’s return to the Boomers.
Reath and Landale emerged in Tokyo as two rising front court stars who contributed to the Boomers’ success, especially with the injury to Aron Baynes, and Landale was clearly missed in Okinawa at the World Cup last year. It put a bit of extra pressure on Reath to perform, which he handled well, but he knows that having Landale back is so important to the team, in terms of the two being able to share the load but also in complementing each other’s games. There could very well be a scenario where both start, with Reath at the four and Landale at the five, or they could at least play alongside each other at times as well as splitting time at the five.
“Excited man. Obviously he’s a great player, talented player, one of the leaders on our team,” Reath said of Landale. “To have him back, it’s going to give us a good balance of everything that we’ve needed. Me and him playing together, I don’t think it will be a problem. My role has always been a floor spacer anyway, so that’s nothing new to me. I feel very comfortable doing that.
“But, just excited for him to come back. I know he’s really excited and stoked to be just able to play again at this level and represent Australia. So, I’m just looking forward to seeing him perform and do his thing.”
Photo Credit: James Rush - Boomers, including Reath, at Foot Locker on 28 June.
At the end of the day, the Australian Boomers are in a great spot. The depth of talent is as strong as it’s ever been with so many in the squad having been there before in the green and gold, or played in the NBA, or have come off a really strong and successful NBL season.
Whittling this 17-man squad down to the final twelve who will get on the plane to Paris, is not going to be easy for Brian Goorjian and his staff. The players already spoke about how competitive day one of camp was on Friday morning and they expect that to continue for the entirety of the lead-up to Paris.
Reath and his teammates know that to achieve their goal in Paris, it’s going to take the best possible team and not necessarily just the twelve best players. That fit has to be right and the competition at camp will, in many ways, be for players to prove why they deserve a particular role. And that makes for an exciting environment.
“I just think at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to Goorj and the selection committee to select the team that they believe is going to help us to achieve the goal, which is to try to go medal,” he explained.
“So, I feel like it might not be the best players, it might not be the guy that can do this, this and that. But I feel like they’re going to take the guys that they believe work together the best and play together the best, to give the team the best chance to win at the end of the day.
“There’s so much talent. Everybody’s really good this campaign, and I think that even if you don’t make this team, it’s nothing that should be taken personally because they’re probably going to select the team based on the best fit.”
If Goorjian manages to do that, with everyone understanding and playing their role, this team is capable of having the success they’re aiming for, which would just cap off what has already been a great year for Reath.