The Raul Deal: Weaver praises import's debut

Wednesday night proved to be a tough outing for the Brisbane Bullets, who battled hard but fell to the Tasmania JackJumpers.

This was despite Will Weaver’s side playing without big men Tyrell Harrison and Jacob Holt, star guard Arnas Velička and two-way wing Sam McDaniel.

One silver lining for the Bullets was three-time Olympian Raul Neto, who impressed during his Hungry Jack’s NBL debut.

In just 13 minutes and 46 seconds on the MyState Bank Arena court, the 464-game NBA veteran had 9 points (on a perfect 4/4 from the field), 6 assists and 1 triple, with the Bullets being +5 during that time.

“At both ends, the way he defends, the way he communicates, how quickly he picks things up and the fact that he was landing in Brisbane 41 hours ago or something, I can’t remember the last time 41 hours I was awake after flying across the Pacific,” Weaver said.

“It’s fair to say me and Raul are not made of the same genetic material, and we’re excited to have him as part of our program.

“I know that when he came off the court every time he looked at me like I kicked his dog, so I suspect he will be wanting to play more minutes.

“If I could play basketball like that, I too would be excited to get back on the court.”

Combining Neto gradually becoming more comfortable in the Bullets’ system and the team’s effort, Weaver believes there are plenty of positives to take into Saturday’s fixture with Illawarra.

“I thought there were lots of great moments that we can build on and lots of moments that were due to us playing in a different context to what we often train in and play in that were work-ons,” Weaver added.

“That’s the nature of these games, both teams are going to have 10 or 15 plays they hate, and have to fix, and 10 or 15 they love, and there’s the ratio with what the rest of them look like.

“As it was moving along, we generated 29 threes, and I bet 21 of them were pretty good, and sometimes you shoot 27 per cent.

“It doesn’t just come down to the three-point shooting, but one team goes 50 and 25, and there’s going to be a delta in the score.”

The Bullets play the Hawks from 5.30pm AEDT Saturday at the WIN Entertainment Centre, live on ESPN, 9Go! and 9Now.