Ice Kuol: Why Bul could be Adelaide's missing piece

Elite defence was always the question mark around the Adelaide 36ers in NBL26, which only makes their run to a five-game Championship Series all the more impressive.

Now, the runners-up have made a key move to sharpen their edge, adding flexibility and becoming more “functional”, according to Pete Hooley and ESPN’s Olgun Uluc.

“They lose DJ and they bring in Bul Kuol … they missed somebody who could be that point-of-attack defender, who could do it on both ends,” Hooley said on the Marketplace, presented by Paywise.

“That was the one player who one-on-one would always give Bryce Cotton a little bit of trouble and now Bryce doesn’t have to worry about that.

“Bul is going to help the Adelaide 36ers when he’s healthy.”

An ACL injury cruelled Kuol’s momentum late last season, ruling him out for the final three months just as he was hitting form with the Kings.

Now, he gets a fresh opportunity at another contending team.

“I spoke to Matt Weston (GM Basketball Operations) and he said ‘yes we are getting a terrific player in his own right, but we are also getting a terrific defender who guards our best player’,” Uluc said.

“Two birds, one stone; that is a great pickup for the 36ers.”

Kuol may miss the opening stretch of NBL27, with a return timeline still taking shape.

“My expectation is he’s probably back around the end of November, maybe a little bit later,” Uluc added.

“There will be a void that needs to be filled there, so the 36ers’ import spot … the one they reached out to Torrey Craig about … it feels like that’s the play style that they are continuing to look for, which is that ‘3-and-D’ wing type.

“It was a void last season. They didn’t have a tonne of positional size, especially on the perimeter. They didn’t have a tonne of point-of-attack defence.

“Now they can get Bul Kuol and an import and all of a sudden you have a really, really functional team.”

The 36ers parted ways with Vasiljevic last week, but are quickly building their roster, with Cotton, Flynn Cameron, Zylan Cheatham, Isaac Humphries and Nick Rakocevic already locked in.