Hoops

Brisbane Bullets - How do you rate their Return?

Good to hear Tough Luck. Sounds familiar and CJ's there so that might explain a lot.

Lel, touche!

Impressive thread and discussion.

No flogs here.

Anon is spot on in regards to how the Bullets have been in the community.

Really disappointing. My neighbors work for one of the local district leagues. The Bullets were very committed in the preseason. Since then, however, things have really turned sour.

They were supposed to have three visits with Bullets players or staff after the preseason. On precisely zero of those occasions did the Bullets show up.

It took them half the season for Caitlin Dooley, membership and corporate sales manager, to have all of the member packs arranged and shipped. If you want evidence of this scroll back through their Facebook page.

Everyone at the Bullets is a 'manager' or an 'executive'. Yet they manage nobody whatsoever and very rarely are able to manage themselves. Too many cooks and not enough true leadership.

Game night entertainment is a joke. I've been a game nights event manager at a professional level before. I've tried to communicate with the Bullets in regards to how they can improve their game night very quickly, effectively and for almost zero cost. They have been unwilling to listen to anybody. This is a big problem because before the start of the season they made big claims that they wanted - and needed - to be called out by their fans and by corporate on their bullshit.

Finally, as fans of the team and who attend every game, I miss Jermaine Beal. Out of all of the players on the team, he was the one who spent the most amount of time and energy communicating with the fans. It wasn't even close. And it wasn't just the type of "Hey, I'm here" deal. If you spoke to him a couple of times he'd recognize your name or something about you. Sure, his on-court performances weren't up to the standard that he or the team would have liked but the reason why he was released was due to 'culture.' I don't know what he was like around his teammates but he was always fantastic with the paying customers and corporate. This is different to so many of the team and the office.

One of you asked who owns the team. The team is owned by a conglomerate. C.J. Bruton has put in a significant percentage of his investment money to get the Bullets back. There are a few others who are in there with him.

Ultimately, the only team that I can remember being as poor all around from top to bottom in terms of professionalism are the abomination that was the Victoria Giants.

Anon's comments there are certainly at odds with what I've heard about the community engagement, which is the players have been spent significant hours in the community. I wouldn't give it too much credibility unless there are some more sources.

Interesting to hear the feedback about the off-court stuff. It's obviously something we don't get to see what other teams are doing.
Wildcats are obsessive about getting into the community, I just assumed that other teams did similar.

Obviously some patience is required, but end of the day, that's where Brissy will need to succeed, bums on seats.

Joe is linked to Joey W. Nuff said. They are mates for life.

A huge turn around for Adelaide has been Big Joe, Brisbane would be thinking about gtting him too I would imagine...Glad Joey is sticking around..

Wow if thats really the case about the Bullets off the court then that is dissapointing. Brisbane is a very fickle and competitive sports market. They cant afford to be half assed. They would have a hard enough time as it is to get noticed by corporates and media, so the least they could do is present themselves worthy of support by working the community trail a bit harder.

Ive heard their court announcer through the TV and wow he sounds awful. That should be an easy fix. Get better people involved and there could be a future for the Bullets.

On court, the Bullets have fared as well as one could've hoped re-entering the league in what has been an uber competitive season.

Questions still need to be asked of Lemanis though. He had a large say in the composition of an awkward unbalanced roster. Bringing Te Rangi from across the ditch and then giving him good minutes has been a disaster, and despite being young I really don't know about the value of Kenyon when others could've been had (Tueta/Kendle at a pinch) and been instant contributors.

Rigid offensive sets have fit poorly with the group and the defensive schemes haven't suited either. Expected more from a national coach.

Off court has been a hot mess. At a time where competition for attention is at a high, Brisbane have failed with their game night product. I'll call it fairly, everything is bad - music, drumline, cheergirls, announcer, misc game break entertainment. No true hoopers were approached for help and the show is being run by Firebirds staff, which is an entirely different product.

There is a reason games have been announced as 'sell-outs' yet 1/3 seats are empty. Season/other ticket holders are simply not entertained and don't wish to be fed a half-arsed product. One has to wonder how things would be if the group had got on the front foot in the early building stages and made an effort to bring Big Joe back from Darwin. Instead he falls to Adelaide and well, look at their program.

Also dirty on the Bullets for their pitiful lack of engagement with local associations. They went to great lengths to have associations partner with them by agreeing to promote the team and have the Bullets logo on their rep gear, but have failed on requests to have even one player show up to trophy/grand final nights and the like. Usual response is that the players are busy or on off days and they'll get around to it when the season is finished, but what's the point then.

I'm really hoping things turn around, but if they continue on the current path I'm saying Brisbane won't be around for a fourth season.

Like all teams, work in progress, i thinkt hey were ok, injury killed them and some recruiting.

They'll change it up again next year and be right again.

Yeah, obviously with injuries the season result doesn't reflect clearly. They were right in contention for a finals berth.

They had the opportunity to use the 3rd import all season to address their backcourt deficiencies. Not doing so didn't give them a chance to fight through the injuries

Off court they've probably done alright, on court not so much. They made some puzzling player selections which made the team a bit bottom heavy and I hope at least one of their 20 forwards gets the chop next season so they can get a decent point guard.

I think the Bullet's season shows just how vulnerable and fragile a team could be when it comes to injury.

Out of the blocks early, then hit a few bumps and downhill from there

I thought Gibson came good and was really solid in recent weeks before he got injured. Looked like the only guard competent of getting the ball of the backcourt and was able to hit the three when offence was needed.

Up until the injury bug solid. Not much else you can say were decimated in all key areas, plus Beal was a no show didn't help. But you can't know that as an organisation until he shows his true colours.

There's no shame in finishing last in a league this close.
They were competitive, which is the important thing.
Injury misfortune cost them a fair chance this season. Like Sydney, they'll adjust and improve based on what they've learned this season.

Decent return, but stays say they will likely finish last with a wooden spoon. Injuries crippled them, and beal was woeful since week 1 really.

The league is just too strong this season, and when Gibson and beal are ur starting guards, with pretty much SEABL guys making up the rest of guard rotations, you will struggle in any league.

Solid return. For an expansion team to be 10-15 after the run of injuries they've had is certainly respectable.

Made a mistake with their recruiting and were short one quality guard with speed, but overall they have built a solid base for their second season with most of their players returning.

They will get improvement from greater knowledge of Lemanis' system and just need to get the replacements for Beal and Bairstow right to be a real challenger.

With Wilkinson replacing Redhage

My Team

Ballinger, Wilkinson, Worthington, Weigh
Khazzouh, Trueman
D Martin, Penney, Braswell, Howard

Where can I improve ???
I'm pretty happy with it.