Olgun Uluc, ESPN Basketball Insider Every week, ESPN's Olgun Uluc runs through what's catching his eye across the NBL, and takes you inside the conversations trickling around the Australian basketball ecosystem. This week, he looks at the optimism permeating out of Adelaide, a gamble that paid off for the Brisbane Bullets, and the Aussie getting the most out of being teammates with the projected No. 1 pick.
The Adelaide 36ers have turned things around, and in more ways than one.
Somehow, despite having the tied worst record in the NBL at 9-14, they still remain in the hunt for a play-in spot, on the back of some inspired basketball over the past few weeks.
Now, actually making the play-in is still a steep climb; it'd take a monumental effort so it's extremely unlikely they do sneak into the top-six. If they do finish without any post-season basketball, that doesn't mean this recent stretch has come in vain, though.
Rewind to midway through this season, and there were legitimate fears that the 36ers would have trouble convincing players to be part of their franchise beyond this season. CJ Bruton was at the helm, the 36ers were last on the ladder, and there wasn't even a sense of hope that the prospects of this team could be flipped for the better. A level of toxicity ran through the entire organisation, leaving many around the NBL completely dispirited with the franchise: is this where I go for my career to die?
Fast forward a month or two, and there have been some baby steps toward the 36ers being a functional organisation. Bruton is gone, players are feeling more empowered, and, of course, that's leading to winning, which cures a lot of things.
The back-end of this season has actually been quite optimistic for the 36ers, with the team picking up some signature wins to climb out of the 10th seed on the NBL ladder. They've logged victories against Melbourne United, the Sydney Kings, and Illawarra Hawks over the past few weeks, and it's largely on the back of impressive play from their big-three: Isaac Humphries, Trey Kell, and Dejan Vasiljevic.
That's where there's some hope. The 36ers are seeing positive signs recently, and are proactive about leaning into them.
Humphries - who, over the last 10 games, is averaging 20.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 57 percent from the field - has recently engaged in talks with the 36ers on a potential new deal, sources told ESPN. Those talks are in their infancy but the fact that they're even mutual is a positive step forward for this team, considering where they were only a few months ago.
The same goes with Vasiljevic, who's progressing positively toward a new three-year deal to remain in Adelaide, source said. The 36ers have long wanted to re-sign the sharpshooter to a new multi-year deal, but needed to wait until he signed new representation, which he recently did. That one seems the most likely to get done; and, again, being able to get a deal done with a marquee level local is a good sign for this franchise.
The team has yet to engage in talks with Kell, though the prospect of doing so isn't off the table.
All of these talks come without certainty on who the head coach beyond this season will be. Scott Ninnis, who's done an admirable job as interim head coach, has been public about his desire to remain in the position, but the 36ers are continuing to conduct a wide-ranging search to fill the vacancy. Brian Goorjian is among those the team has toward the top of their list of preferences, sources said, while there's a desire to keep Ninnis within the organisation in some capacity - not necessarily as head coach - moving forward.
The head coach position notwithstanding, the fact that talks with Humphries and Vasiljevic are even happening is a positive step. The idea of players actually considering a return to Adelaide sends a message around the league: this place isn't irredeemable.
There's still a ways to go to mend what's been fractured within the 36ers - both within the organisation and from a reputation perspective - but, if they're able to lock in those two key locals, that'd be a wildly positive step forward toward being a functional franchise again.
Brisbane's trust in Harrison paying off
The Brisbane Bullets had a decision to make this past off-season: do we sign Tyrell Harrison or Gorjok Gak?
Both were free agents, and went into the off-season projected as backup centres in the NBL. The Bullets already had Aron Baynes on the books, so there was only room for one.
A lot of the public sentiment was behind Gak after his impressive finish to the 2022-23 season, and because of his high-flying style of play.
The Bullets chose Harrison. The Kiwi big-man's injuries over the course of his career made it difficult to properly evaluate him, but his advanced numbers in his small sample size were quite elite. Basically, it just came down to whether you can trust that he'd stay on the floor; if he did, the output would be there.
The Bullets trusted that; they leant into Harrison and let Gak walk. It's turning out to be one of the best decisions of the last free agency.
Harrison is averaging 9.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game - all career-highs - and, perhaps more importantly, hasn't missed a game this season. He's overtaken Baynes as the Bullets' starting centre, and projects to be that for the remainder of this season and beyond.
The decision to choose Harrison wasn't necessarily the obvious one, but it came with upside, and that's what the Bullets are seeing right now: they have a local 7'1 centre, who's still just 24 years old, playing career basketball on what's generally been a winning team.
A quick note on Ben Henshall
Henshall - the 6'5, 19-year-old guard on the Perth Wildcats - has been something of an afterthought for John Rillie, buried deep on his team's bench over the course of this season. He's only played 64 total minutes this season; the Perth-native widely regarded within the organisation as a project, behind the team's veteran players in the rotation.
This hasn't been a wasted period of time for Henshall, though. Countless NBA teams have traveled through Perth over the course of the season - primarily to get eyes on Alex Sarr - and have come away with optimism about Henshall's prospects.
Multiple NBA scouts and executives who spoke with ESPN walked away from Wildcats practices and shootarounds - the only time they can actually see Henshall in any sort of meaningful action - high on the combo guard's size, athleticism, and feel on the offensive end.
The minutes haven't been there for Henshall, but he's still milked a lot of value from this season; working with high level players in practice every day, and having a ton of NBA eyes on him.
Fleur is off to Phoenix
In the midst of an up-and-down season for the Sydney Kings, a positive emerged on Wednesday morning: assistant coach Fleur McIntyre has accepted an assistant general manager role with the Phoenix Mercury.
McIntyre, a two-time NBL champion with the Kings, will finish the season in Sydney before heading to the U.S. ahead of the start of the 2024 WNBA season.
"I feel like I can bring my usual positive energy and loyalty to this new role," McIntyre said on Wednesday.
"I tend to throw myself into any opportunity I'm presented with; I don't know any other way than to just be me and work collaboratively to help the individuals and organisation I'm fortunate to be working with."
"I'm also lucky that I've worked closely with our front office the last three years at the Kings, alongside the likes of Chris Pongrass and Luc Longley.
"[As such] I feel I have some insight there in terms of how everything fits together but also from coaching and learning under Chase [Buford] and Mahmoud [Abdelfattah] the last three years - I believe I've had wonderful lessons on the basketball side."
The move for McIntyre continues the trend of the Kings graduating players and coaches to the NBA - in this case, the WNBA - joining the likes of Xavier Cooks, Jae'Sean Tate, Will Weaver, and Brian Bowen II, among others.
My favourite plays of the week
This is such a good read from Jason Cadee; it's a Josh Giddey type of pass, threading the needle with the opponent facing the other direction. Don't underestimate how good the hands from Isaac Humphries have to be here, too.
It takes some level of confidence for Tahjere McCall - a non-shooter for much of his career - to channel Steph Curry and turn to the Illawarra bench before this shot even falls.
Matthew Dellavedova knew to hunt this Chris Goulding hand-off.
NBL officiating is largely not great, and the Hawks have to be aware of that. They were lobbying for a challenge and, for some reason, the official was in a real rush to get the ball in. The 36ers took advantage.
Love the effort from Parker Jackson-Cartwright to pick up full court for practically the entire game against the Phoenix.
