Justin Schueller: Building new beginnings

The Brisbane Bullets totally stripped their on-court product back to its foundations at the start of NBL24. After years of disappointing results and underwhelming performances, the club looked to start anew with rookie head coach Justin Schueller at the helm. Only Aron Baynes, Nathan Sobey and Tyrell Harrison remained rostered following the disappointing season that was NBL23, and Schueller had a blank canvas on which to paint the Bullets' new beginnings.

From just how much change there was within the organisation ahead of the campaign, it almost feels surprising to be looking back on the season past through a lens of 'what might have been'. Through all the pre-season rebuilding and in-season trials, the Bullets missed out on the post-season on percentage alone.

This off-season is already shaping as markedly different from last year. The coaching team is in place and the bulk of the roster looks set to remain, and although the recently announced departure of Sobey means Brisbane will be without its local star for the past half-decade, the Bullets look to be approaching NBL25 as a genuine Finals fancy as opposed to the long shot they were predicted as being 12 months ago.

Schueller told NBL Media he believes this past season will eventually be viewed as where the route of a new era of success began for the Bullets.

“I know when I look back on this season it’ll be known as our foundation year that allowed us to build whatever we wanted on top,” Schueller reflected during the NBL24 Championship Series.

“With this group, we were able to change the culture and change what the Bullets were about. We know how people perceive who we are and what we stand for now and to be able to tick that box is definitely important for us.

“When we look back at it, (Josh) Bannan misses seven games, (Aron) Baynes gets suspended for five, Shannon (Scott) misses seven weeks with a hamstring, Norto’s (Mitch Norton) shot doesn’t count after the buzzer. We look at Tassie who we beat twice and we lost to by two points, and we miss Finals on percentage, so we know we’re right there. 

“That’s what our job and our focus is now and through the off-season, what we can do around the edges and on the periphery to give us a point of difference to make sure we’re not sitting here in this position again.

“We were a foundation club, and we have past players around this place, so we wanted them to have a sense of pride in who we were and how we went about things, and that’s been the most pleasing byproduct of the season. Leroy wants to be around the club again, Brian Kerle was at every game, our past legends were around and were really proud of how we go about it.”

Leroy Loggins was a fixture at Bullets games this season. He previously represented the club for almost two decades and won three titles and three MVP awards in that time.

Those peripheral areas will be built around the players who played roles in Brisbane’s NBL24 campaign, and will have crucial parts to play in any success the club may experience moving forward.

Established NBL players in Tyrell Harrison and Sam McDaniel broke through their own ceilings to become genuine, game-changing talents within the NBL landscape after multiple seasons of, ultimately, flattering to deceive. Mitch Norton came in to the group as a veteran, guiding hand for a new, inexperienced roster. 

Josh Bannan shrugged off early-season injury issues to finish the campaign strongly, and has since thrown his hat into the ring for the NBA Draft, and Next Star Rocco Zikarsky will only be better for having experienced professional basketball at such a young age ahead of his sophomore campaign.

While there are pieces and skillsets that need to be added to the core of this Bullets group to ensure it not only remains competitive, but takes a leap forward next season - particularly without Sobey - Schueller says that roster continuity was part of the long-term strategy heading into NBL24.

“We knew if we were going to build a foundation we needed to get the right people, but also people we know we can grow our core with,” he said. “We talk about a core of Sam McDaniel, Mitch Norton, Josh Bannan, Tyrell Harrison that are around that age bracket – although 'Norto' is that little bit outside of it – we know can carry this group through for a period of time and keep getting better and better.

“When you look at that core that’s where we believe championship success can come and then once you achieve, how we can turn that into sustained success. Around the edges are the parts we’ll look to improve and get better at.”

That improving of peripheral pieces isn’t just early off-season talk from Schueller. The nature of New Zealand's acquisition of Sam Mennenga from Cairns and the rapid-fire re-signings of key players around the league is already shaping this upcoming free agency period as like one we've never seen before.

He’s already identified the areas in which his team needs to improve, and will approach this off-season with a tangible plan in how the Bullets can get better.

“As we go into recruiting we need to keep adding the right type of people. We want more winners in the building, we want great culture fit guys, and we need guys who can play in a little bit of a different way to the guys we already have.

“We want to add a little bit more athleticism in our trail big spot, we want to add more shooting and consistent shooting, we need to add someone that can get in the paint and create for others.

“Those are the three key areas we look at where we missed out, we let ourselves down from the three-point line, we weren’t consistent enough at getting our feet in the paint and generating good shots, and just our general athleticism, at times, we felt was a little bit below some of the teams we played. Those are our focus areas moving ahead.”

All of Schueller’s reflections on Brisbane’s NBL24 regular season aren’t only focused on the team as a whole. There’s also been some introspection about how he can improve his own craft heading into NBL25.

He took the Bullets job after an extensive assistant coaching career at Melbourne United and stints as head coach at various international youth representative levels, and this Bullets team was partially forged utilising connections from those key areas.

He worked with McDaniel and mid-season acquisition Casey Prather as part of United’s 2018 and 2021 title-winning teams respectively. Bannan and Zikarsky, on the other hand, were two of the leading lights in the former youth teams Schueller had led.

(L-R) Sam McDaniel, Justin Schueller and Dillon Stith in 2019.

Head coaching at a senior level is a different beast in itself though, and Schueller says he’s already learned plenty he can implement next season.

“My coaching philosophy for a long time has been to throw people in the deep end, and they’ll find their level pretty quick,” he said.

“With us going through guys getting suspended in Round 2, I was in the deep end pretty quick, and I think that’s what’s helped me the most this year. I think that’s what helped me the most this year, I think we only had our full roster twice this year and just having to navigate through some different challenges along the way was a big learning curve and one I think we handled pretty well.

“Having those challenges which you never think are going to be in front of you when you take on a role, you expect it to be pretty smooth sailing along the way, that one was definitely one for me, just how to navigate the unexpected has been the big one.

“When I review everything myself I think I need to keep trusting my gut more. There were times this year where I didn’t back myself to make the right call one this or that and that’s something I think you only get better and better at with the more trial and error reps you have.

“I’m really excited to get back into year two.”