Brisbane's biggest issue

The Brisbane Bullets were in a promising position to make the Finals at the start of the season but are in danger of missing the post-season due to a dip in their offensive output.

2001 NBL champion and current analyst, Damon Lowery, has called out the Bullets to help MVP candidate and scoring leader Nathan Sobey, who has scored 24, 36, 16 and 35 points in his last four games. 

Sobey is averaging 20 points per game this season, but Brisbane is 9th in offensive rating. 

“They need more points, Sobey can not do it all by himself,” Lowery said on NBL Overtime.

“As currently constructed, this team can not make the six because they don’t have enough scoring.”

Another issue for the Bullets has been the recent form of their imports, Shannon Scott and Chris Smith. 

While Smith is a contender for Sixth Man of the Year, he has scored in double digits just once in his past five games. Scott is averaging only 5.8 points and 3.9 assists, and could be moved to the bench to re-find some form. 

The recent signing of Casey Prather could spark a turnaround, but Lowery made the point that Brisbane could soon have three imports coming off the bench, an unforeseen sight in the NBL. 

“They’ve got two imports, I can’t remember the last time I saw two imports come off the bench," Lowery said. 

“Now they’ve got Prather, they’ve got three. Three imports at some stage that will come off the bench probably, it’s unheard of.” 

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Lowery explained three-time NBL champion Prather could be a great asset to the Bullets, who are coming off a win over the Phoenix last Saturday night, their only taste of victory in the last five games. 

“They’ve got a whole bunch of 6’2/6’3 dudes, three 6’11/7-foot dudes, and nothing in the middle," Lowery said.

“That DJ Mitchell spot who was hurt, they need that spot. So if Casey can come in and provide that perimeter three-man scoring, a little bit of small-ball four maybe, that will go a long way.”

Although Brisbane has seen huge improvements under rookie head coach Justin Schueller, it still needs to bank wins to make the Play-In. 

The Bullets take on the Sydney Kings on Sunday at 4:00pm AEDT. The game will be broadcast live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play.