On guard: Scott ready to play

Brisbane head coach Justin Schueller has confirmed import point guard Shannon Scott is ready and raring to go ahead of Round 9, after the former Taipan checked off the final box needed ahead of an NBL24 return.

Scott last played in Round 4 in Brisbane’s blowout loss to South East Melbourne, and has since been sidelined by a hamstring injury.

The Bullets have yet to have their entire roster available for selection following a pre-season injury to Josh Bannan and suspension to Aron Baynes, but the pair has since returned to action for Schueller’s side.

With Scott back, Brisbane can finally test its mettle with a full rotation.

“Shannon played in our Summer League we run on a Tuesday night, he had a run there just to get that final tick of approval on the hamstring, so he got through that well,” Schueller told SEN.

“We expect everyone to be fit and ready to go and we’re going to put our foot to the floor and make our run now.

“The challenge we’ve had is changing rosters and we haven’t put our full roster on the floor as of yet. There were a few games there where ‘Baynesy’ was out, so we went with a smaller lineup which impacted our defensive rating.

“We also know we’ve played the top of the table to this point of the season so the things we’ve identified through this window and the ways we’ll be able to close the games out – and getting Shannon Scott back helps us significantly in that space too.

“We know we’re going to be well positioned with the lineups we see coming out from our opponents, we’re going to be well positioned for a charge to a playoff run.”

The Bullets should be content with their current 5-7 record. After last season’s distant ninth-place finish, they’ve established themselves as a genuine post-season contender in NBL24, however their sixth-place standing could easily be higher.

Brisbane has lost three straight games – all of which could easily have been wins – to fellow top six contenders Tasmania, Sydney and Perth, and will also be lamenting a missed opportunity against Melbourne in mid-October.

The mid-season break has given the Bullets a chance to reset, but Schueller is calling the game-lacking weekend anything but a break period.

“This has been an opportunity for us to continue to grow and we’re terming it the ‘good to great’ training window,” he said.

“We know we’ve had some good growth in this first part of the season, but there have been some things we definitely need to get better at and that’s our focus right now.

“The main part for us right now is just understanding we are as good as anyone in this comp, and not to hope to do well but to expect it.

“We’ve had an element of that as we’ve closed games out but we know there’s four games through this start of the year we were in positions to win so then the ladder position looks a lot brighter.”