Great get by Brisbane. They'll be pushing for playoffs if Bairstow gets going.

He was good with the pelicans

A good signing Brisbane look a decent playoff chance.
Only weakness I see is frontcourt depth but they can still add another import down the track.

What's the deal with Travis Obe Trice?

Strong signing.

Several teams look stronger than last season- Bullets being one of them, obviously- with Adelaide the only team whose significantly roster has been significantly downgraded.

It's going to be very competitive.

Bairstow the key though.

He should be exceptional in this league, if he's still up for it.
Hopefully our shorter season helps.

Still not sold on Brisbane though. There's a lot of backcourt depth, but upfront there's a lot riding on Bairstow and Grandpa Vukona

With imports, it's not always about skills, it's more about attitude... A locked in and focused import with NBA experience and the willingness to understand they're not the be-all and end all should do well, but we've seen what happens when the attitude isn't there even if the NBA experience is...

Nice signing. I agree with previous replies... a lot is riding on how Bairstow goes.

Cadee / Gibson
Gliddon / *Holt / Hiejima
*Gee / Te Rangi
Bairstow / Vukona
Hodgson / Magnay

Exactly, if he comes with the right attitude he should be really good.

Players with NBA experience coupled with some euro/aisian experience, who come in with a good attitude and health are usually very successful in the NBL. Very few failures of this and the guys with this type of experience that have failed is generally as a result of attitude/off court issues.

I also not sold on the overall Bullets roster, and think its a huge risk to rely heavily on Bairstow given his health the last couple of seasons.

Outside of Gee and Bairstow (if healthy) and Gliddon, not sure how many of these other players start or play heaps on a team like Perth or Melbourne.

I personally think they absolutely need a import PF/C, even a role player type to support Bairstow, not sure relying too heavily on Vukona and Hodgson is the right move.

I personally still have the bullets missing the playoffs, but would not be surprised if Gee is a MVP candidate.

Magnay can give them some minutes. He was really solid when given minutes last year. Will learn a heap from Mika.

Magnay played like a dog with two tails last season. Hope he's matured a bit since, because he's untrustworthy against solid competition

Brisbane's biggest weakness is their guards. They don't have a single guard who I think is a starter on any other team. People can toss off over the fact that they're "Boomers" but really, the Australian point guard crop in the NBL is very slim pickings.

I would think Gliddon, Gibson, Cadee or Holt all start at the Hawks in either guard position. Not that Illawarra need any more guards.

I wouldn't think any of them start ahead of Jackson or Jett, but that's the beauty of following sports, different people see things different ways.

The right attitude helps, but it won't overcome other deficiencies, especially not in a starter.
But he seems to be a very good player. He's had an ok NBA career, which is more than most of our imports, and whilst ageing is still well within the NBL age-bracket. No reason to think he won't do very well here.

The Bullets perhaps lack the superstar guard that others have, but if Holt gets back to near his best he will be close, Gliddon is also good, and plenty of backup.

Will be interesting to see how the frontcourt shapes up. Do you start Bairstow at Centre, and Vukona at PF? Or are they expecting Hodgson to step up into a starting role?

I'm surprised they were so willing to let Jervis go.

Either way, they are betting the farm on Bairstow.
Which might just pay off. If fit and up to speed, he could be MVP material. But if he gets injured, they better have a good import waiting in the wings.

Hard to say how Gee will be, IMO. Shooting was his weakness, but he's surrounded by shooters here. The comments re: attitude are bang on I think - guys with his number of games in the NBA sometimes approach the NBL like they've been asked to go out of their way to fill in for a div 5 social comp team.