Australian basketball great Shane Heal has implored the Boomers to broaden their search for new assistant coaches following head coach Brian Goorjian’s decision to step down.

Goorjian took over as Boomers coach in late 2001 and took Australia to the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games in Athens and Beijing respectively. Goorjian returned for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo which saw the Boomers claim the bronze medal; the nation’s first ever medal in their Olympic history.

Tasmania JackJumpers coach Scott Roth has already been floated as a potential head candidate. Heal said after the losses to Greece and Serbia, Australia is in serious need of European coaches to be added to the coaching staff.

“Goorjian is a tremendous coach and it is disappointing to see him bow out,” Heal told SEN 1170 Breakfast.

“It will be interesting to see which way they go (for a new head coach) but one thing I think we need is somebody that is European based on the coaching staff.

“We need a different mentality because all of the assistant coaches during this campaign were American based.

“To win a medal, you need to understand how the Europeans play.

“We need to learn a lot from Europeans because we can’t play like Americans or Canadians do.

“We just don’t have the same talent.”

Despite the Boomers going 1-3 in their Olympics campaign in Paris and failing to at least match their bronze medal from Tokyo, Heal is optimistic about the future of Australian basketball.

“It was nice to see the boys get that first ever medal in Tokyo,” Heal added.

“We also have some absolute superstars coming through with Josh Giddey who has had an amazing tournament.

“He will be somebody who is with us for a long, long time. It’s incredibly exciting.”

The Opals remain in the hunt for a medal and take on the United States on Saturday morning at 1:30am AEST.