Barlow benched | Thebigtip

David Barlow was buried deep on the Australian bench throughout the Stankovic Cup, playing under 30 minutes for the entire tournament including a DNP-CD in the opening game.

After missing the warm-up series against Argentina, Barlow has been unable to crack the starting five for Australia after being the country’s starting small forward at the 2006 World Championships and the 2008 Olympics.

While coming in cold, Barlow made only 1/6 field goals through the tournament but grabbed an impressive 10 rebounds in his limited action, which only seemed to be raised when Matt Nielsen was sidelined with an injury and unable to play in the final two games.

While head coach Brett Brown appears to have fallen in love with the idea of playing two point guards for approximately half of every game, using Patrick Mills, Adam Gibson, Damien Martin and Steven Markovic in a rotating formula, Barlow appears to have been the one kicked out of any meaningful minutes as Joe Ingles and Brad Newley split time at the three-spot and occasional moments at off-guard.

In the prime of his basketball career, Barlow recently agreed to a second-year with Spanish club CAI Zaragoza, who after winning the second division championship last season have been promoted to the ACB (regarded as the best league outside the NBA).

In a true testament to Barlow’s abilities, he will continue to play as an import, not having the luxury of a dual-passport, after averaging 12.6ppg and 6.2rpg in his first season.

But despite Barlow’s effectiveness on court in the last year, he is taking a beating from the Australian coaching staff and for some unknown reason has been cast aside as the ugly duckling in this team.

Since Barlow entered the NBL, he played in 5 grand final series, winning three championships, in six seasons, and then followed that up with a championship in Spain. There is no doubt about it, Barlow is a natural at winning and providing his teams with a winning attitude.

But after being so dominant on the Australian scene for so long, Barlow has been pushed further down the bench. Further away from Assistant coach Andre Lemanis, who stood helplessly by as Barlow torched the Lemanis led New Zealand Breakers for 37 points on an NBL record 14/14 field goals (including 8/8 threes) in 2008.

For so long Australia hasn’t had the length and quickness to constantly cover the wing positions in International competition, now with the perfect antidote in Barlow, Newley and Ingles, Australia under the leadership of Brown has turned away from defeating our greatest weakness by not playing Barlow.

The advantage we get from being able to play Newley or Ingles at the two-spot, with the 6’9” Barlow at the three, and having a 6’6”/6’7” guard with a considerable wingspan is voided by constantly playing such a small line-up and not using our strengths.

One thing the current guard mix has is the ability to pressure opponents up the court, constantly forcing the opposition ball carriers to twist and turn while bringing the ball up the floor. And while it’s good in theory, it was never a strong suit for CJ Bruton, which is why I don’t believe Bruton’s retirement was as clear cut as we were told.

But I’d rather have Bruton and Barlow playing the minutes that matter when basketball destiny is on the line than having them either in retirement or on the bench.