Adelaide the perfect place for Bruton's coaching journey to begin

Life or basketball has never brought any member of the famous Bruton family to Adelaide but new 36ers coach CJ has always held the city and the Sixers in high regard and couldn’t think of anywhere better to now begin his new chapter.

The Bruton journey down under began back in 1979 when Cal joined the Brisbane Bullets in the inaugural NBL season. He would go on to have a remarkable NBL career as a player and coach at the Bullets, Geelong Supercats, Perth Wildcats, Hobart Devils, Canberra Cannons and West Sydney Razorbacks.

CJ grew up with his father his hero and he rose through the ranks out west getting his senior basketball start winning an SBL championship at the Perry Lakes Hawks before his rookie NBL season with the Wildcats.

He would go on to play in six championships over a remarkable 516-game NBL career with the Wildcats, Bullets, Hawks, Cannons, King and Breakers.

Bruton then returned to Brisbane after retiring to be assistant coach to Andrej Lemanis at the Bullets and if there's one thing you notice about all that the Brutons have achieved in the NBL, never have they had a stop with a team from Melbourne or Adelaide.

While Melbourne might like to claim to be the home of basketball in Australia, Adelaide has been a remarkable hub for the game and even though Bruton has only ever been to the City of Churches as an opponent, he's always had enormous respect for the city and club.

Now that he is about to begin his life as a head coach in the NBL this season with the 36ers, Bruton couldn’t think of doing it anywhere but in Adelaide and with the Sixers.

"I look at Adelaide like Melbourne as one of the meccas of the game in Australia and while Perth has the runs on the board and Sydney has the big market, I always remember from the time I was growing up that I remember the history of Adelaide," Bruton said during an episode of Sixers Fix with Scott Ninnis.

"From Ray Gordon to Mike McKay to Ken Cole to Al Green and there's so many, I saw them as being like the Detroit Pistons Bad Boys with their toughness and competitiveness. They would always put up a fight and nobody would walk into Adelaide without leaving feeling all beat up and glad that you are leaving town. 

"More likely you would leave with your tail between your legs as well and I've always looked at Adelaide as that basketball hotspot and the old Doomsday Double became such a big deal for visiting teams because it had to start in Adelaide, and most teams didn’t recover by the time they got to Perth. 

"So Adelaide has always been a special place for me even to go there as a visiting player because you are always excited to play on that big stage in front of a lot of people with passionate fans. 

"The lights always seemed to be brighter for me in Adelaide and I had some good games and ones where I struggled, but it always seemed like they always had a team on the floor that was competitive and it's one of the top teams in the history of this league."

While a first time coming to Adelaide is a new step for Bruton who has now been in town for several weeks after knee surgery delayed his initial move, it's making the adjustment to now being a head coach and dealing with everything that comes with that which has his big focus right now.

"It's not so much about where, but what I'm still getting used to is being a head coach and being in this space. I dreamed of becoming a head coach and now I'm getting to fulfil that and my starting point is in Adelaide," Bruton said.

"I hope it's a long career for me like when I look at past players in Adelaide and look at the success and history of the franchise as someone who grew up in the era of watching them from the Bearcats to the 36ers and the legacy they've had. 

"It's understanding all facets of an area like South Australia and understand the juniors from the state programs and from the country to the metro of SA Basketball. 

"This is about understanding from the grassroots up and building that bond with kids who have been in Adelaide and grown up there, and are kids who have missed out but have been NBL1 players. 

"For me as a coach it's similar and it's still surreal knowing I'm a head coach but I'm super excited about being the next coach of the 36ers, and am proud to be associated with such a prestigious state of basketball."

As for how he became the 36ers coach, it was an unexpected set of circumstances that led to what now does appear to be an ideal fit for both Bruton and the Sixers.

If you go back six months and you could have been excused for locking in Bruton to replace Lemanis as coach at the Bullets and for Conner Henry to be coaching the 36ers for a second season.

However, things rarely go as anticipated in professional sport and once Bruton found out the 36ers were interested in him to be their new coach, I jumped at the chance to put his case forward and now hopes it becomes a long-term home for him and his family.

"It was shocking news throughout the NBL when we heard that Conner was no longer the head coach. I was at Bullets practice and the boys showed me a post on Twitter about it and that was how I had it confirmed to me what had happened," Bruton said.

"Everyone was interested to find out who would be next in line and what happened and how it went down, but at that stage I wasn’t really in that space to reach out to JVG and put my name forward. 

"I had a job with the Brisbane Bullets and was working out with the players there who were in town so I wasn’t thinking of anything else but within about a week or 10 days after I got a call from Jeff about having a chat.

"I didn’t think too much of it because JVG and I have known each other for a long time but that turned into him asking me if I was interested to put my name in the mix to coach the 36ers. 

"I talked it over with my wife who I call Princess about it all and how it might fit for us and there was a lot to weigh up. When I didn’t get one of the other jobs I was weighing up going over to the NBA to do some extra work but I knew I wanted to be a head coach and decided this could be the opportunity for me."