Team first: Reath embraces Boomers role

Unassuming, softly spoken, perhaps even a little shy? Those words may describe Duop Reath off the court, but on it he’s anything but.

The starting centre for the Boomers at this World Cup, has had an interesting journey to get to this point, but it is all of those steps along the way that have helped him become who he is today.

Reath was born in South Sudan and didn’t move to Australia until he was nine years old. His family, seeking a better life away from the war-torn life they knew, arrived in Brisbane but soon after moved to Perth, where they settled. Reath and his family had to adjust to a new way of doing things in a brand new environment. 

“Growing up, I wouldn’t say it was tough, it was more like getting used to a new environment, getting used to new people, getting used to a new culture, so just an adjustment period,” Reath told NBL Media on Thursday in Okinawa, Japan.

“But, as everybody knows, adjustment periods have good and bad that come with them, so just getting used to everything took me a while. But I enjoyed it, it was good.”

Like most South Sudanese kids at the time, Reath grew up playing soccer. It was all he knew. 

Nobody in his community really played basketball, nobody really knew about basketball, so growing up, he wanted to be a soccer player. It was something he enjoyed and in his new home in Perth, he had dreams of someday playing for the Socceroos.

“Then I started having a crazy growth spurt in high school, all my friends started shifting to the basketball side of things, and I just kind of followed that,” he explained.

It clearly turned out to be a good decision, given where he is now. 

Playing in his second major tournament with the Boomers after being part of the Rose Gold team that won Bronze in Tokyo, Reath has become a staple of the Australian national team. However, his motherland, South Sudan is also competing in this World Cup.

When he was growing up in Perth and developing through the junior basketball pathways, Reath never even considered playing for his native South Sudan in FIBA tournaments, because it simply wasn’t an option. South Sudan entered FIBA officially in late 2013 when Reath was already 17 years old.

“Growing up, the basketball side of things, there wasn’t really a [South Sudan] basketball team and so that option was never really available,” explained Reath. 

“So all we knew was, to play for a national team, it was only Australia that was there. Then coming up I did some stuff with the Emus when I was a little bit younger, like some camps with them, so I followed that pathway and that was really cool, just following that.”

Despite taking that pathway, Reath is still very much on the Bright Stars bandwagon. He has a lot of friends who are playing on that team in Manila and when they got their first win on Monday, he was as happy as anyone.

And considering how important his South Sudanese heritage is to him, it was a very special moment for him.

“It means a lot,” he acknowledged. 

“I’m really proud of those guys. It feels like I’m part of them, you know I’m part of the team as well with them. Seeing how far they’ve come from day one til now to try to qualify, so just really proud. I think having that pride coming from South Sudan solidifies it even more. But yeah, very proud man, very proud.”

Like every player on that team and every South Sudanese player who is playing elsewhere, Reath is fully aware of how inspiring the Bright Stars’ journey to this point is. And as someone who proudly represents the South Sudanese community, even when playing for Australia, he hopes that he is also helping the next generation to realise what they can achieve; what is possible.

“I definitely want to inspire the youth coming up,” explained Reath. 

“Like for example, if I’d seen the South Sudanese team -- what they’re doing now -- when I was younger, it definitely would have been an inspiring moment for me. So, definitely just want to inspire the youth.”

Given what Reath has achieved in his career to-date, he is already doing that. 

He’s certainly made the most of his opportunities. After being recruited out of High School in Perth to play collegiately in the United States, he finished up at Louisiana State University having won a couple of SEC player of the week awards. 

He started his professional career in Serbia with FMP, before moving to KK Crvena Zvezda two years later. There he captured an ABA (Adriatic) League and Serbian League title in 2021. 

Reath then joined the Boomers for that historic run in Tokyo in 2021, before returning to Australia to play for the Illawarra Hawks, where he helped them to the second-best regular season record and their second straight semi-finals appearance.

This past year, Reath played in China’s CBA and also had a short stint in Lebanon for ten games.

Those varied experiences and different leagues, have all helped to shape who he is as a player today.

“I feel like I’ve been in a lot of different environments, different cultures,” he detailed. 

“I think that’s really helped my game as well. Different coaching styles, different styles of play; I’ve been able to play free in some places. For example, when I was playing in China, I was playing a little more free; in Lebanon I was playing a little more free. 

“So, that’s really helped me [and] my development. And it’s allowed me to understand what my strengths are, what my weaknesses are, what I’ve gotta work on. So, I’ve enjoyed that.”

Boomers Head Coach Brian Goorjian has played a role in Reath’s development too. Goorjian had Reath in Tokyo as well as that season with the Hawks, and is now utilising him as his starting centre in Okinawa. 

“Goorj, ever since I met him, always been around, always helping me, telling me things I’ve got to work on,” Reath said. 

“For example, when I was in China [he was] just telling me I’ve got to stay on top of things, making sure that I’m getting extra work in, to work hard over there. So, he’s always been a great person to be around.”

In between those professional seasons, Reath has had four different NBA Summer League campaigns with Dallas, Brooklyn, Phoenix and this year with the Portland Trail Blazers.

He's always had NBA potential but has been waiting for the right opportunity to come along, and this year he may finally have found it. Reath was one of the surprise standouts of the tournament in Las Vegas.

In five games, he averaged 13 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 1.2 steals, 1.4 assists, and shot 48 per cent from the field and 38 per cent on threes. He was certainly turning heads and while nothing definitive has come of that just yet, there are many who believe he may get a real shot at a training camp this year.

Reath though, is trying to keep a lid on that and stay focused on this Boomers campaign.

“That was a really fun summer league,” he acknowledged. 

“That was probably one of my first ones where I’ve really had the chance to play and impact the game. So, it was a good test for me. 

“But right now, I’m really just focusing on the World Cup, seeing how this goes, try to medal and that’s really where my whole focus is at right now.”

And that focus has been important given that bigger role that Reath has been thrust into here in Okinawa. He was always going to play more in this campaign than he did in Tokyo, but when Jock Landale was ruled out of the World Cup, his importance to this group became even more apparent.

Reath already had confidence in his ability to contribute coming into camp and is embracing the opportunity to play a larger role.

“I feel like at the end of the day, this kind of environment is all about the team; whatever you can do to help the team,” he said. 

“If that’s clapping on the bench, if that’s supporting the guys that are playing major minutes, that’s good enough. You just want to be able to help the team in any way, shape or form. 

“So, having a bigger role now just means that I’ve gotta be more focused and more ready to play every night. You’ve got to find a way to help the team win, so at the end of the day it’s just whatever [is needed] to help the team.”

And he’s being doing just that. After dominating the warm-up games, Reath’s offence has been a little harder to find in Tokyo, but he’s found other ways to help his team.

Boomers assistant coach Adam Caporn had this to say ahead of the Japan game on Tuesday night.

“I think Duop has done well across the course of the campaign. He’s played really well and he’s our starting five man. He’s performed great. We’re really happy, he’s doing a great job.”

In that game, Reath set the tone early, especially on the defensive end. He had two blocks in the opening minutes of the game, was active on the boards and took his opportunities on offence when they presented.

He helped the team get off to a strong start, which is something they had struggled with in their opening two games. By half-time, Reath had six points, two rebounds, two blocks and a steal, along with a plus-minus of +13.

By the time the game ended, he had added another basket, another block and another steal and was still a net positive on the floor. 

“Yeah it was good,” he said of his impact against Japan. 

“It was good to be able to make that impact early, set the tone, because we hadn’t been having the best of starts. Especially that last game against Germany, we didn’t have the best start, so just coming in knowing our backs were against the wall and it was a really, really big game for us. 

“Our focus had to be on another level and we just had to do more, bring more [in] that game. So, I was glad that we had a really good start.”

Reath is really enjoying this campaign with the Boomers. It’s a slightly different group, with some new and younger faces, but it’s the same experience as far as he’s concerned. 

So, adding Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Xavier Cooks and Jack White to the players that were in Tokyo hasn’t really changed the way they function as a team, or the approach they take.

“It’s been awesome,” Reath admitted. 

“It always comes back to the culture and the environment. It’s the same formula, the same culture, you know what to expect. So, you’ve got to adapt to this environment [when you come in], you can’t come in and try to be or do something different. You’ve got to adapt to this environment.”

The environment in Okinawa has certainly helped too. Despite the heat, the location where the teams are situated is a really relaxed spot. It’s right on the water and there’s a lot of restaurants, cafés and shops right by the team hotel.

A favourite spot for most of the players is the local coffee shop across the road from their hotel. As a self-proclaimed coffee snob from Melbourne, I can attest to the fact that the coffee there is really good and it’s a nice place to sit and chill out for a little while when there’s some downtime.

The first day that some us in the Australian media arrived, we ran into Reath and Josh Green outside this place and Reath was raving about how good the caramel lattes are from there. I wondered if they had become his secret weapon. 

Of course, when I spoke to him on Thursday, he had one with him.

“Yeah, that’s a caramel latte. That’s the secret weapon, that’s the one,” he joked.

Secret weapon or not, the Boomers still have a great shot to medal again at this tournament. There’s not really any margin for error, but they’ve been improving with each game and Reath thinks they’re in a really good spot to keep advancing, if they stay on this path.

“I’m feeling good about the team,” he said. 

“I just think that right now, it’s money time, you know? Our backs are always going to be against the wall now, so we’ve gotta come out, stay focused and just do our job.”

That path starts with Slovenia on Friday night. It’s a must-win game for the Boomers, as all games are from here on out. But, despite how incredible Luka Don?i? has been playing here in Okinawa, it’s a team they’ve beaten before. 

They have somewhat of a blueprint for success against Slovenia and the reality is, the Boomers are a different team, possibly a better team, than they were in Tokyo when they won Bronze. That’s something that the Slovenians are acutely aware of. 

“They are a different roster to what they were at the Olympics,” Slovenia guard Zoran Dragi? told Newscorp on Wednesday.

“In fact, they are even better. They have a few young players now and Patty is still playing at a high level.”

Reath isn’t concerned with what the Slovenians think though. He knows it’s about how the Boomers play that will dictate the outcome of this game.

“Yeah, it all comes down to following the game plan; trying to execute it to the best of our abilities. If we do that, we should always be alright.”

The Boomers earned qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday as the highest ranked team from the Oceania region at this World Cup, which Reath said was an awesome opportunity to compete for a medal again.

But for now, his focus is on doing whatever is needed to help this team medal at this World Cup. Their goal hasn’t changed and that’s just part of the current Boomers belief and culture.

“Gold Vibes Only. All the way,” said Reath.