Bruton was already impressed by 36ers roster from afar

From afar CJ Bruton was jealous about the squad the Adelaide 36ers were building for #NBL22 and that's why he can't hide his excitement of their prospects even with just the two imports.

It's no secret that Bruton had been groomed by Andrej Lemanis to be the next head coach at the Brisbane Bullets and then when the club went a different direction with the appointment of James Duncan, he went through the paces with the Cairns Taipans but never felt really in the hunt.

While he had options to head to the United States to further his coaching future, he decided to remain at the Bullets as an assistant coach and was trying to have a significant input on building the team under the new coach.

However, his pleas to sign Kai Sotto went unnoticed, Vic Law and Matt Hodgson are now at the rival Perth Wildcats, and Harry Froling is at the Illawarra Hawks. 

Bruton was still happy enough to work with what Brisbane was building but every time the 36ers made a new roster announcement he would feel somewhat envious that he wasn’t getting to work with that group and worried about trying to go up against them.

The true kick in the guts came when the Sixers signed Philippines sensation Kai Sotto after Bruton had pushed so hard for the Bullets to do so after following his progress since he was in high school and such a potential prospect.

Then all of a sudden when Conner Henry and the 36ers parted ways, Bruton caught up with someone he has a strong history with, Jeff Van Groningen, and within a few weeks he was appointed head coach for the first time.

With 516 games and six championships to his name in the NBL, his pedigree was strong and having felt ready to already been a head coach but spurned by the Bullets and Taipans, all of a sudden that team Bruton was worried about trying to beat in Adelaide was suddenly his.

The 36ers still have some roster space and time to make another signing or two, but right now Bruton couldn’t be more excited about the playing squad he is taking on having been put together largely by Sixers GM of basketball van Groningen.

The Sixers already had Daniel Johnson and Sunday Dech under contract, were able to re-sign Isaac Humphries and have since added imports Todd Withers and Dusty Hannans, Melbourne United championship winner Mitch McCarron, emerging guard Tad Dufelmeier and are giving the first NBL opportunity to Manny Malou.

In an ideal world, the coach will have a big say in putting his playing group together coming into a season, but this has been a unique situation with Bruton taking over in Adelaide and he couldn’t possibly have any complaints over his roster.

"From afar when the team was coming together in the first place and thinking about going up against them, it looked like a tough team and now knowing it's my team, it's an exciting mix in the group with youth and experience," Bruton told Sixers Fix with Scott Ninnis which you can listen to by clicking here.

"We'll have the ability with Todd and Dusty to be versatile and then we have championship winners with Sunday Dech and Mitch McCarron so that's a pretty exciting back court with our back court and the guy who can lock down different players. 

"DJ has always been on the cusp of having an all-time great and by the time he's done he'll go down in the books with Adelaide, and he's been one of the players of the decade as a scorer who can put the ball in the bucket. He does it with such ease. 

"Having Isaac Humphries who is an elite player who has had stints overseas too including the NBA and having him back in Adelaide is definitely an added bonus with his intangibles and size. The attributes he can bring to the floor is huge. 

"Todd and Dusty bring that experience too having travelled the globe a little bit, and they understand culture and I think our Australian culture will embrace both of those guys and show them a lot of love, and we'll get a lot of value out of them as well."

Perhaps the one player Bruton is now looking forward to getting stuck into working alongside once he arrives in Adelaide from Brisbane having undergone knee surgery recently is 18-year-old Philippines star Kai Sotto.

Bruton was disappointed the Bullets didn’t heed his advice to sign and was frustrated he went to Adelaide, but ultimately that's turned out to be a great blessing in disguise.

"Then with Kai Sotto, we've got the blessing of having a young kid who has been putting on my doorstep who I was pushing for when I was in Brisbane," Bruton said. 

"From the time we were in the hub I was trying to push that through the organisation and not knowing which way our organisation was headed, and who was coaching. Everyone let it fall on deaf ears but I said he was coming to someone and I still remember following Kai from when he was in high school. 

"He ended up back in the Philippines after taking his name out of the G-League elite where he was trying to play before COVID. Then when that fell through he tried to go back to the G-League and I knew he was going to get snapped up. 

"I wanted the club to jump on him but it never happened and then when I was in Brisbane still I saw the 36ers snap him up and I was really disappointed to miss out on working with him. 

"He has such a great upside even though I know he's still young and as an 18-year-old kid there will be some adjustment for him to play against men in the NBL, but I'm so excited by his ability to already make an impact. 

"I can't see why he won't be able to make his mark this season and like Mo King, they both have aspirations for bigger and better things. But it's all about them making themselves part of our team and helping us play well, and that's important for their development."