Preview: Brisbane vs Adelaide (Round 1)

27 Sep

6 mins read

Written By

By Dan Woods for NBL.com.au

Can the Adelaide 36ers put their Blitz struggles behind them, or will the Brisbane Bullets continue their resurgence?

Friday, September 29 at 7:30pm AEST at Nissan Arena

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The departure of Jamaal Franklin and a less than convincing Blitz performance has left the Adelaide 36ers reeling, however their much improved final showing against the Tasmania JackJumpers could indicate CJ Bruton's team is on the up.

Franklin arrived in Adelaide to heavy fanfare following an extensive career to date in Asia, but has departed the club following just two official pre-season appearances, and NBL legend and former 36er Lanard Copeland has praised head coach CJ Bruton’s decisiveness to make the change.

Brisbane look to be on the ruse following a near disastrous NBL23 campaign, and Justin Schueller has steadied the ship of one of the NBL’s proudest club ahead of the new season.

Only Melbourne and Perth took part in more pre-season games than the Bullets, and Schueller has allowed his team as much court-time as possible to familiarise themselves with his new game plan.

They may have only earned one win at the Blitz – a 29-point triumph over Sydney – but narrow losses to Melbourne and Illawarra will have done nothing to dampen their confidence.

Hungry Jack’s NBL Blitz fixtures used for recent form

Brisbane
105-76 win over Sydney
95-88 loss to Illawarra
96-92 loss to Melbourne

Adelaide
86-82 loss to Tasmania
112-80 loss to Perth
101-75 loss to New Zealand

Mitch Norton
If everything continued as expected over the off-season Mitch Norton would still be in Perth, however the veteran guard had his contract cleared by the Wildcats and has returned to his home state with a point to prove.

Norton has been full of nothing but praise for the Wildcats and their organisation through his somewhat messy exit from the club alongside Todd Blanchfield, however his sights have now turned to helping pull this Brisbane side out of the culture quagmire it found itself in last season to return back to the upper echelons of the league.

While Shannon Scott is the nailed on starter for the Bullets when fit this season, Norton’s impact on the side is likely to go further than his on-court contributions, and he’s almost certainly already played his part in helping turn the club around.

“From the moment we started our roster build we kept saying we needed a Mitch Norton type in that spot, so when he became available we jumped at the opportunity … one of the things that stood out to me when talking about joining us was his want to continue to get better and a thirst to win. These are things that we will be about, and he is going to play a big part in turning our club around.” – Justin Schueller via Bullets Media.

Nick Marshall
When Craig Randall II departed Adelaide last season, it was Nick Marshall and Anthony Drmic who were called upon to fill the breach and take more responsibility on the wings. While plenty has changed since then – like Drmic’s move to Tasmania and Marshall’s elevation to the main Adelaide roster – the loss of an import guard will see players once again have to step up.

Keanu Rasmussen has been promoted to the main roster while the 36ers continue their search for a new import, but with Mitch McCarron likely to return to the point guard position and Jason Cadee nursing a finger injury, the burden could be placed on Marshall to once again up his game.

His potential as a future star of the NBL has been heavily discussed this off-season, and now it’s time for the 24-year-old to walk the walk.

“Nick Marshall is going to be a star of this league at some point … I think we’re going to see some further steps in that regard … there’s some young Nathan Sobey vibes where he’s a star ready to blow up at some point.” – Liam Santamaria on The Marketplace.

Nick Marshall in action against Tasmania at the NBL Blitz.

Aron Baynes vs Isaac Humphries

Isaac Humphries was a shining light for Adelaide during his side’s troubles at the Blitz, but he’ll need to be at his absolute best to contain an up-and-about Aron Baynes.

Baynes has emerged from the NBL24 pre-season a totally different beast than the player that was preparing for NBL23. After a full season under his belt following that horrific back injury suffered at the Tokyo Olympics, ‘Big Banger’ looks back to his best.

While Bayne’s NBA experience across his near-decade in the Association dwarfs Humphries’ handful of appearances for the Atlanta Hawks in 2019, both have shown they possess NBA ability when fully fit, and both have genuine potential to be the most dominant local big in this year’s NBL.

There's been wholesale change at the centre position for the 36ers ahead of this season, and Isaac Humphries looks set to be backed up by the undersized Jacob Wiley and Alex Starling at the five position for Adelaide, while Tohi Smith-Milner stepped it up against the JackJumpers.

With Brisbane possessing not only Baynes, but also genuine centres Tyrell Harrison and Rocco Zikarsky, Humphries' ability to provide size in the paint for Adelaide will be crucial down the stretch.

Gettyimages 1690467000
Isaac Humphries puts up a shot against Perth at the Blitz.

The Adelaide 36ers have lost each of its past seven season openers. Last time they won their first game of the season was a 19-point win over New Zealand in 2015, where Matthew Hodgson top scored with 18 points.