The Brisbane Bullets have appointed Stu Lash as their next head coach, ultimately hiring from within the franchise following an extensive search to fill the position.
Lash has been with the Bullets since the beginning of 2023 as the team's Senior Basketball Advisor -- effectively operating as a traditional general manager -- but will now move to the sidelines in the hopes of continuing the team's road back to being one of the NBL's storied organisations.
"It's a full circle moment for me," Lash told ESPN.
"My basketball career started with coaching. All I ever wanted to do coming up was be a coach. Then, the business of basketball and life takes you to different twists and turns that you can maybe never predict. Once it became a reality that this was possible, the competitor in me really started to come out. Starting to look at what we have in place, the types of guys we have, what our staff looks like, the confidence was there that we can win."
Prior to joining the Bullets' front office, the 48-year-old Lash put together a career across a heap of disciplines within high-level basketball. The American spent five NBA seasons with the Denver Nuggets, within both the front office and coaching staff, before joining the Memphis Grizzlies as Director of Player Personnel and Basketball Development.
Lash has also spent time in player representation, and coached within a high school program in Colorado before becoming part of the Bullets' front office.
"From a leadership standpoint, I've been able to be exposed to every facet of how a professional organisation runs," Lash said.
"From my time on the coaching staff with the Nuggets, to my time in the front office with the Grizzlies, and even my time working within the player representation space -- both as a player development coach and then transitioning into an agent -- being able to use those experiences through those different aspects of the game, and take that into a leadership position as a coach, I think is an x-factor for me.
"There's not a scenario we're gonna come across throughout the season that I have not been part of. I have a deep coaching network that I really rely on, from guys like George Karl, to Dave Joerger, a number of different assistants throughout the NBA, Scott Brooks, who I'm really close with. I've just been talking this through with everybody and, the one thing that came back to me from coach Karl that really resonated when I told him, was: go love the game."
Lash fills the vacant position left by Justin Schueller, who was in the role for two seasons, with the team parting ways with the Australian in February following a 12-17 record over the 2024-25 NBL campaign.
The Bullets' search for a new head coach initially began with Lash as one of the decision-makers, with the team starting the process with 26 candidates, sources told ESPN. Those candidates ranged from leagues across world basketball, from the NBA G-League, Europe, Asia, and Australia, among others.
As that list was cut down, the team's ownership inquired to Bullets CEO Mal Watts if Lash might be a suitable candidate.
"Mal called me, and walked me through that conversation he had with ownership," Lash said. "My first reaction was something that's not common for me, which is, I was quiet. It kind of took a minute or two, and I think my reaction has been similar to what a lot of peoples' reactions have been, of, 'oh, wow'. Once we started really dissecting it, each day it made more and more sense."
Once Lash decided he was interested in the position, he was moved out of the selection panel and was one of what ended up as a group of six finalists for the position. Among the other finalists, sources said: former New Zealand Breakers head coach Paul Henare.
That list of finalists was cut down to two, with Lash's experience across high-level basketball and his familiarity with the Bullets ultimately earning him the position.
"This marks an exciting chapter for the Bullets as we take deliberate steps toward long-term success," Watts said.
"Stu Lash is a proven leader with a deep understanding of the club's roster and culture, as well as an elite basketball pedigree. Myself, along with our ownership, players and staff, firmly believe that Stu has the ability and mindset to unlock the full potential of the Bullets and lead the team to success both on and off the court."
Lash has signed a three-year deal as head coach of the Bullets, sources said, and has hope that can extend beyond that time frame as he relocates his family from the United States to Brisbane, Queensland.
"Stu brings high energy," George Karl, a Naismith Memorial Basketball hall of famer and one-time NBA Coach of the Year, said of Lash. "He was great with players, self-motivated and displayed strong traits as a teacher and natural leader."
Kevin Martin, a former NBA player and co-owner of the Bullets echoed that sentiment: "I have known Stu throughout my NBA journey, during his time both as a coach and an executive. He is a talented basketball mind and a person of strong character, and I believe he will do a fantastic job leading the Bullets as our next head coach. This is a great get for the Bullets."
The Bullets also made a significant change in their performance staff, hiring Professor Stephen Bird as the team's new High-Performance Director.
The appointment of Bird came following an internal medical review -- led by an independent body, Dr. Mark Young -- to "assess player performance, recovery, and injury prevention strategies". Bird is a performance scientist and strength and conditioning coach who's participated in two Olympic Games. He was the Performance Team Lead for Basketball New Zealand from 2020-2024.
On the court, the Bullets have not made the playoffs since the 2018-19 season, which was the only time they've qualified for the postseason since returning to the league in the 2016-17 campaign.
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Ahead of the opening of free agency on Friday, however, the Bullets have a very formidable foundation in place, with Tyrell Harrison, Mitch Norton, James Batemon, Casey Prather, Tohi Smith-Milner, and Sam McDaniel all currently rostered. As head coach, Lash says he wants "a physical, tough defensive team" that plays with pace: "We will play with pace, but I like to call it more of a selective pace; as the roster continues to build, I want to be able to play both effectively in transition, but understands that, when we are in the half-court, identify matchups for our top players; put them in a position to succeed."
Given the way Batemon's contract is structured, there's no certainty he'll return for the 2025-26 season, but the expectation is that he will, sources said, while the Bullets are among the four teams who have Matthew Dellavedova as their top priority going into free agency.
"Knowing our players and where their strengths are, and how they can impact winning for us; there's no learning curve there for me, in terms of understanding the makeup of our guys," Lash said of taking over the roster.
"I'm looking at a guy like Casey Prather, and how to put him in the best position to be effective. Looking at Tyrell Harrison, and what ways we can unlock more offensive production from him. Having core players and All-NBL level defenders in Sam McDaniel and Mitch Norton. Really just knowing the group as well as I do, along with our coaching staff, to come in and hit the ground running right away. I wish we were playing games tonight."
The Bullets plan to retain assistant coaches Greg Vanderjagt and Darryl McDonald, sources said.
The franchise's decision-makers sought the opinions of both Prather and Norton ahead of signing Lash, and both were proponents of the choice.
"It's everything," Lash said of having the backing of the team's most senior players.
"It's why I'm confident coming into the position. It shows that, the times I have been around the club over the last two and a half years, I'm making an impact, and those guys see me, they trust me, they know I'm straight up with them.
"I can't understate the level of communication I had with the guys over the two years. I wasn't just some advisor off in America watching our games... I was all in. I'm texting guys all the time. I'm calling Casey and being like, you need to watch these last three games with Paolo Banchero, because I think there are some similarities there in how you can exploit your matchups. Through that time, trust was earned."
The hiring of Lash is a sign of the Bullets putting value in his basketball experiences and leadership style over proven runs on the board as a head coach. It's a pathway more and more NBL teams are going down, with the Illawarra Hawks winning the 2025 NBL Championship with a first-time head coach in Justin Tatum, while the New Zealand Breakers signed a rookie coach in Petteri Koponen last off-season.
Lash hopes to use lessons learned over his career, as well as his relationships with high-level coaches he's crossed paths with, to guide his first season as a head coach in a professional league.
"George Karl is a Hall of Fame coach, and somebody that was an outside-the-box thinker in how he looked at the game, and he wasn't afraid to try unorthodox methods, and that's something I feel strongly about," Lash said.
"I don't believe I'm gonna come in and turn the league upside down, but I do think there are ways to impact practice, travel, game preparation, a lot of different areas even outside of the game, that we want to be more innovative in."