Bullets wins reward for "staying the course"

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Justin Schueller believes the lessons his side learned without Aron Baynes have given them a tougher edge.

After dropping four games in a row heading into Round 5, a pair of wins have seen the Brisbane Bullets roar back into form – right before star center Aron Baynes returns to the side.

The final game of Baynes’ five-game suspension was served in Sunday’s win over Tasmania, and wins over the Wildcats and JackJumpers have seen the Bullets rebound back to a 4-4 record – which is good enough to currently sit sixth on the ladder.

“The thing I love is you drop four in a row and that’s really a defining moment for a ball club,” head coach Justin Schueller said following the win against Tasmania. “Can you stay the course, can you keep doing what you’re doing and continue to understand if you have those habits things will go our way?

“We’ve dealt with everything so far this season, I’m hoping things get a little easier as we go, but we know they won’t and that’s what this group embraces.”

Baynes’ return will likely see recent starter Tyrell Harrison return to the bench for the Bullets, who also have Next Star Rocco Zikarsky to call on at the center position.

Zikarsky experienced a drastic uptick of minutes during Baynes’ absence, while Harrison played a crucial role in the final quarter of Brisbane’s comeback win over Perth on Friday night.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TYRELL HARRISON HAS A VENDETTA AGAINST THIS RING ?<br><br>Catch the final moments live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/o0myovcF0G">pic.twitter.com/o0myovcF0G</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1717880481813848351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“To go back to the ‘three-headed monster’ as we like to refer to it is definitely going to help us,” Schueler said of his center rotation.

“The other part is we’ve learned how to play and survive without Baynesy. so to be able to add a piece like that back now in a ball game where they’re really rolling and playing some great basketball as well, it’s going to be a red-hot contest.

“He’ll be champing at the bit and what we’re excited about is through these lessons we’ve had, we’re now able to add a piece and we’re only one piece shy now.

“It’s exciting to get him back.”

“We’ll take a big lift from having one of our leaders back,” Sam McDaniel added.

“Whatever he contributes will be a bonus, he’s been great leading the guys off the court at the moment and we’ll continue to look to him for leadership.”

Brisbane plays the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday, November 2 at 7:30pm AEDT.