BOOMERS coach Andrej Lemanis holds no grudge against Mitch Creek for pulling out of the Australian team on the eve of the Commonwealth Games and is fully supportive of the Adelaide star’s bid to make the NBA.

Creek and 36ers teammate Matt Hodgson (knee surgery) are late withdrawals from the Boomers squad and will be replaced by Mitch Norton and Lucas Walker in the Australian team which begins its campaign against Canada in Cairns on Friday.

The replacements came from a wider squad of 18 players that had to be submitted at the end of February.

Creek has been the best player for the Boomers in the FIBA Asia Cup and World Cup qualifiers but will miss the Commonwealth Games after opting to link with German club BG Gottingen which will be a springboard into the NBA Summer League and a possible contract in the world’s best competition.

Lemanis said the Boomers knew about Creek’s intention several weeks ago and backed his decision.

“It was difficult for Mitch because he loves being a part of the Boomers program but this is his crack at his NBA dream and we completely support him,’’ Lemanis said.

“It’s always been his desire to make the NBA. He has been communicating with us all the way through so we respect it.’’

The Boomers are already without their NBA stars who are still playing the regular season in the US and Cairns Taipans guard Mitch McCarron who is playing in Europe.

Creek, 25, was outstanding in the recently completed NBL grand final series when he averaged 14 points and nine rebounds a game for the 36ers who fell to Chris Goulding’s Melbourne United in game five of the best-of-five series on Saturday night.

The athletic and skillful small forward has been the heart and soul of the NBL-based Boomers who are 10-0 with a for-and-against of plus-271 since the start of the FIBA Asia Cup last year.

The loss of Creek is a blow to the Boomers but Australia will still be favourite to win gold when the semi-finals and finals come to the Gold Coast after the pool games.