Under siege Bullets will come out firing

Adelaide will be searching to end their three-game losing streak when the 36ers host Brisbane Bullets on Brett Maher Court on Saturday night.

The Bullets have had their fair share of controversary recently, parting ways with head coach James Duncan earlier this month, then interim head coach Sam MacKinnon was released of his duties to focus on his GM of basketball role this week, replaced by assistant coach Greg Vanderjagt.

Brisbane then travelled to Far North Queensland on Wednesday night and ran into a fired-up Cairns Taipans, who won 85-76, the Bullets now 4-10 on the season.

Both sides will be desperate to start turning around their NBL23 campaign on Saturday night, the first time these two clubs have met this season.

THE KEY
Not too many NBL rosters can say they have an NBA champion on their roster, but the Bullets can say exactly that with boom off-season recruit Aron Baynes.

Baynes, who won the NBA title with San Antonio Spurs in 2014, is the man in the middle Brisbane have been searching for and the 208cm big man is starting to get back into top form after a long road to recovery from a neck injury.

The Bullets captain, who had 17 points and five rebounds in Brisbane’s loss to Cairns, leads from the front at both ends of the floor.

He will cause more than a few headaches for the 36ers frontcourt and Baynes’ initial match-up with Daniel Johnson will be intriguing to watch.

Johnson and Baynes love to live on the perimeter, which is where Adelaide will want the Bullets centre for most of the match, because he can do a lot of damage inside the paint.

THE SECRET
The unknown of a newly signed import can create concerns, and the Bullets have just recently added swingman Andrew White III to their roster.

White III, a known sharpshooter from outside who was recruited from Turkish side Büyükçekmece Basketbol, made his NBL debut against the Taipans and connected on all three of his three-pointers for nine points in just over 18 minutes.

Along with White III, Brisbane have matchwinners in DJ Mitchell and Gorjok Gak at the power forward spot.

Mitchell and Gak have both had their moments so far this season and Adelaide will have to take a keen interest in their skillsets as one or both can get hot very quickly and turn a game around in a short space of time.

THE FINAL WORD
Adelaide will also have to contain a pair of former 36ers on Saturday night, with Nathan Sobey and Jason Cadee a huge part of the Brisbane backcourt.

Sobey, who is averaging 14.6 points, 4.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds per night, has overcome a troubling knee issue from the pre-season and is firing on all cylinders now.

Cadee is running the Brisbane offense and played big minutes against the Taipans in the absence of import import Tyler Johnson (knee).

Johnson could make his return against the 36ers on Saturday night which will boost the Bullets guard rotation and Vanderjagt also has former New Zealand Breaker Rasmus Bach at his disposal as well.

Brisbane are nearly close to full strength, the Bullets only missing Tanner Krebs (ankle), and will come to Adelaide with a ‘nothing to lose’ mentality given their recent plight.

This is a dangerous proposition for a 36ers side which simply must win to keep their NBL23 campaign on the right track.

DEPTH CHART
Cadee | Stattmann | Sapwell
Johnson | Bach
Sobey | White III
Mitchell | Gak
Baynes | Froling