Brisbane Bullets ready to break NBL playoff five year drought
Brisbane coach Justin Schueller has opened up on the Bullets’ off-season movements, their season pass mark and how the team owe it to the city to break their five year NBL playoff drought.
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Brisbane coach Justin Schueller says the Bullets owe it to the city to break a five-year NBL playoff drought.
And he believes, after an off-season revamp with two new imports and a returning NBA talent, new headquarters and shift to the club’s spiritual home at Boondall, a top-six finish is the pass mark for his squad.
“While every year the goal is a championship — we shouldn’t be in it if that’s not it — to me, we need to make playoffs for our city, our city deserves it,” Schueller told Code Sports.
“The changes we’ve made to be able to operate as a truly professional club, we now need to not just wait for that to happen.
“We’ve got to make it happen. So that’s the exciting thing for us, as we feel like we’re genuinely in control of that.
“We know the league’s better this year but, for us, playoffs is a must.
“That’s our pass mark, and if we don’t achieve that, that’ll be a disappointment.”
Since the club’s 2016 return to the NBL, the Bullets have made the playoffs just once, so it’s easy to write them off.
But, after the Bullets just missed out on the top-six on percentage, Schueller says do so at your own peril.
Asked how the club is better than last year, despite the departure of Boomers bronze medallist Nathan Sobey, Schueller says the on and off-court changes have sharpened the club’s focus on its goal.
“It’s a good question and we’re still learning how much better we are,” Schueller said.
“But we know we are better.
“We know that last year was a foundation year and that this off-season was about ‘All right, what are the gaps that we had to just miss out, and how do we rectify that?
“So we’ve brought in a lot of like-minded people who understand the way we want to go about things and play a certain style that we know has had success in this league.
“So that’s where our journey is at the moment, is getting everyone up to that level.
“We’ve added some imports and Australian talent that we know will impact this league and we’ve got a number of returning players who will improve internally.
“And so you put all that together, plus adding pieces to our staff and we feel really good about it.”
New import guard pairing James Batemon and Keandre Cook loom as key figures in getting over the playoff hump, while former NBA forward Deng Adel adds more athleticism to a team that was crying out for it last campaign.
Add to that improvement in the big department — Tyrell Harrison looks to have taken a step and boom Next Star Rocco Zikarsky is a can’t miss NBA prospect — fingers crossed on the health of Casey Prather and a potential All-NBL power forward in Josh Bannan and the pieces are there.
Two Towers 🤘 Ty and Roc have combined for 70 points and 32 boards in our last two pre-season games 🔥
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MAKING HARD DECISIONS
Along with Sobey, the Bullets bought out the contracts of imports Shannon Scott and Chris Smith and Aron Baynes quietly departed, allowing Schueller and Co to reshape the squad.
“We lost some talent in the off-season, but between myself, (senior basketball adviser) Stu (Lash) and (chief executive) Mal (Watts), there's one direction we’re headed,” Schueller said.
“We kind of knew Baynes was moving on early, he made us aware and the Sobes one was a tough call that I think worked out for him and allowed us to go into a different direction,” Schueller said.
“We were so close, right? And we knew we had some really good foundations late in the season.
“So it was then ‘what are the things that we need to be able to do to now go a level up?’
“So we brought new guys in the import space, go find a Deng Adel who can be that kind of local impact guy, and then lean into the young talent that we have, like Tyrell Harrison’s 25 and now it’s his job to anchor that centre spot and then lean into (Next Star) Rocco (Zikarsky) a bit more and give him the opportunity to go become the player that we know he can be.”
GLAD BANNAN’S BACK
Second-year star forward Josh Bannan did the NBA draft circuit in the off-season and played in the Summer League with LA Clippers.
Schueller always wants the best for his players and loves to see them go on to higher honours.
But he’s also not crying to see the 23-year-old back in the Sunshine State.
“It’s always a weird one. Like, you always want people to go and achieve their goals but there’s also no sadness in me to have him here, either,” Schueller said.
“I think it will be a level up year for him.”
Bannan’s rookie season was delayed by an ankle injury, keeping out of the first five games of the season.
It’s rotten luck, but a fracture in his hand has the potential to impact this season as well — he was ruled out of the NBL Blitz.
“It got forgotten how impactful he was and how much we missed him through the first five games,” Schueller said.
“He was able to come in and find his feet and I thought the way he finished the year was exceptional.
“It’s now on him how quick his escalation goes.”
‘HE GOT SHITTY AND TOOK OVER’
Then there’s triple NBL champion Casey Prather, now a 33-year-old veteran still working back to full strength from devastating injuries.
Signed mid-last season on a two year deal — the second an option — Prather played sparingly but brought winning culture to the locker room.
“I felt at that stage when we brought Casey in, we needed just someone that had experienced winning at the top end and could help that way and he did that straight away,” Schueller said.
“But we also knew his body wasn’t going to get to 100 per cent in the back end of last year.
“So there was an eye on, ‘let’s see how you’re going, and can we actually get your body back to 100 per cent.”
Prather committed to the task, remaining in Brisbane throughout the off-season to work closely with fitness staff on getting up to speed — and Schueller said it’s paying off.
“He committed to that and he’s just a beast right now,” Schueller said.
“There was one day there where he just took over practice because he got a little shitty.
“We’ll just keep managing him.
“He’s on that journey at his own speed, and we’re excited about what he can do.”
BRISSY’S BABY BOOM
Prather’s only trip back to the states was to bring his pregnant wife Ariana to be with him in Brisbane.
She gave birth to a baby boy Deuce — in Brisbane, making him Boomers eligible — and brings the list of recent first-time dads at the Bullets to three — with one on the way for Tohi Smith-Milner.
Tyrell Harrison (Nyx) and Mitch Norton (George) are doting dads to children under 1.
A few for the Tall Blacks and Boomers to monitor over the next 20-or-so years.
“We’ve got the best father-son squad in the NBL, you can put that in,” Schueller said.
“We’ve got that many babies in our building this year, first time dads. It’s really quite cool.”
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