Younger players in the Boomers squad who play in the United States want an NBA coach to take on the national job, on a fly-in fly-out basis, according to Andrew Bogut.

Australia’s basketball program will begin a new era after the Paris Olympics as Brian Goorjian steps down from the role, in an agreement reached before the 2024 Games.

Following the raw loss to Serbia, which saw the Aussies give up a 24-point lead, recriminations regarding the failed run in Paris have begun.

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Either way, the team was always moving forward into the unknown without Goorjian.

The 71-year-old, California-born coach led the Boomers to four Olympic tournaments in his two stints as head coach, from 2002-08 and 2020-24.

He was credited with maintaining the physical style of basketball that catapulted Australia to a bronze medal in Tokyo, the first ever at an Olympics. The Australians had played in the semi-finals four times without a winning a medal since 1988.

While, questionable selection calls around Matisse Thybulle and Joe Ingles tainted Goorjian’s last campaign with the Boomers, his overall impact on the game down under has been commendable.

But looking forward, there’s a cloud of uncertainty that still hangs over the team. Patty Mills’ future, who will be the next coach and how they’ll deploy their talents across the court, are all bubbling questions that need to be answered.

Reports that Mills wants to play at the LA Olympics in 2028, at the age of 38, were confirmed by Bogut on The Gold Standard podcast, who questioned whether the Aussie basketball great would have the speed to play international basketball at that age.

Mills turns 36 on Sunday. Long-time Australian teammate Ingles is 36. Matthew Dellavedova is 33. With no major international tournament until the next World Cup in 2027, it surely seems like this is the end of this run for that core of the Boomers.

Mills has worn Australia’s colours in no fewer than 15 international FIBA tournaments, including five Olympics — Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Tokyo three years ago on a run to a bronze medal, and now Paris.

He finished with 26 points against Serbia and if this was the end — at least on this stage — he would finish his Olympic career with 567 points.

That’s fifth-most in Olympic men’s basketball history, behind only Oscar Schmidt, Andrew Gaze, Pau Gasol and Luis Scola.

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The Boomers have several pieces to consistently be in contention on the international stage, although they’ll have to work out a way of playing in transition, without turning the ball over, which was a major issue all tournament.

Before that, they’ll need to find a coach, and Bogut says most of the younger players who play in the NBA share the same preference on who that should be, as talk grows that Aussie officials will seek out the services of an NBA coach.

“There’s a lot of danger with that. A fly-in, fly-out NBA coach that just comes in for a month and then leaves. Bit of danger in there,” Bogut said.

“Does he know the group as well? All that kind of stuff. But that’s probably more appealing to some of our NBA guys is to have an NBA guy that’s involved in the NBA on the day to day.

“What I’m hearing, a lot of the younger guys kind of want something like that.

“But from a sustainability of a national team program, you want someone that probably knows the Australian system a little bit better and the way things run over here.”

The Boomers can takes some heart from the fact they had the Serbians in such a hole, with the multiple time MVP Nikola Jokic in the side.

Whether they could have carried that type of play into the next game with US is an entirely different story. Whoever takes on the job, must curtail the lack of consistency the side played with in Paris, Bogut claims.

“The story of our tournament, we’ll look elite for four or five minutes and then look piss poor for four or five minutes,” he said. .

“We just couldn’t find that consistency…you got to turn that piss poor into just average and you’ll be fine.

“Everyone has ups and downs in games, but it was the contrast between how elite we were at times to then just fall off a cliff …(it) cost us and Serbia took advantage of that momentum.

“I thought our defence was pretty good throughout the game but in the second half, it’s hard to keep getting stops when you go down and just lay absolute eggs offensively.”