“Always a danger game”: Wells on challenge of new-look Bullets

Mike Wells says every game in the Hungry Jack’s NBL is a danger game, but Friday night’s clash with Brisbane presents a level of extra danger for his Adelaide 36ers side given a sense of unknown about the Bullets.

The Bullets have struggled for consistency with injuries and personnel changes leaving them eighth on the ladder with a 5-10 record.

The FIBA break came at a good time for Stu Lash’s side, which appears rejuvenated with the return from injury of several key players, the reappearance of Javon Freeman-Liberty and arrival of fellow import Terry Taylor.

But it means Wells and the 36ers have not seen the group play together, making scouting a difficult task.

“I think it'll be a lot like the beginning of the season,” Wells told Adelaide media on Thursday.

“They have a very talented group. We haven't seen them play together as a team, but we know they're talented individually.

“We know how hard they'll play. There's some characteristics with their personnel that, you know, we'll be able to identify and we'll just have to kind of play the game, sort of like at the beginning (of the season).

“We have a ton of respect for them and who they are and how they've been playing and we also know the talent that they've added to their group.”

As for whether it’s a danger game coming off a week with no game, Wells stopped short.

“It's always a danger game,” he said, commenting on the closeness of the NBL competition.

“We’ve got to focus on our team and we’ve got to focus on our group and our collective resolve and what we want to do.

“That's what we've been trying to do here over the break but, you know, you want to play well and you want to play well at home, and those are key factors in this league and, you know, starting the right way would be huge.”

The Sixers paused after 14 games with an 11-3 record, sitting in second place on the NBL ladder.

The FIBA break allowed the group to get new import Troy Brown Jnr up to speed with team plays.

One player who hasn’t had as much time to work closely with Brown is Flynn Cameron, who spent much of the FIBA break in camp with the New Zealand Tall Blacks.

While he only rejoined the 36ers on Wednesday, Wells said he didn’t think that would impact the role he asks of the 25-year-old.

“We had some very, very good practices and there were times that we needed other guys to play a much more dominant role in practice,” Wells said of Cameron’s absence from training.

“We've had the ability to have a couple of days here with Flynn being back and, you know, the group’s comfortable with Flynn… and so, you know, it's pretty much seamless adding him back into the group.”

With a quick turnaround to play Perth on Sunday afternoon, Wells was asked whether there was any special focus on protecting Bryce Cotton as the five-time NBL MVP returns to Perth for the first time since his highly publicised off-season move.

The experienced American said the full focus was on defending the home court against the Bullets on Friday night and attention would only turn to the Wildcats afterwards.

“Those are all things that you guys can talk about and debate, and they'll be different debates if we don't play well on Friday night,” he said.

“With a week or ten days off, you know, the focus is totally on us and trying to get our offensive and defensive rhythm back and playing well at home.

“You see some teams that'll come out of the break and really have a rhythm and some teams it takes a little while. We want to make sure that we're not one of the teams that are trying to play catch up.

“We want to hit the game right with the right rhythm and the right pace and the right focus, and, you know, handling our business on Friday night is the whole focus, and then we'll think about the next one.”

Tip off on Friday night is at 7pm.