Rucker Excited for "Different Decision-Making" in Brisbane

Saturday, March 18, 2023

The Brisbane Bullets are in a transitional period off the court, and that could well reflect on the future of the playing group heading into NBL24.

Justin Schueller has been announced as the new head coach of the side and will bring Melbourne basketball legend Darryl McDonald across from his old side – Melbourne United – in support.

Club legend Sam Mackinnon has left the role of General Manager of Basketball, and CEO Peter McLennan has also left the organisation.

While bigs DJ Mitchell and Tyrell Harrison have re-signed, Derek Rucker – who won the NBL MVP as a player with the Bullets – says the side needs to prioritise the re-signing of veteran guard Jason Cadee.

“The Bullets as an organisation obviously have cleaned out the front office. That’s a whole new look and hopefully that will inject some different decision-making into the program.” Rucker said on The Marketplace.

“I really like what Jason’s about. I firmly maintain you must have one exceptional citizen on your team – somebody who does everything.

“He’s good on the court, he’s good with the fans, he’s good with the staff, he can be a sounding board for everyone, there are just so many bases you can cover with a player like Jason Cadee that I would not be willing to lose him from my program.

“Going forward post-career, those are the types of guys you want in your program.

“I see Jason Cadee being sort of like a Tommy Greer down the road and I think to lose him would be a mighty loss.”

Whether the Bullets look to bring back import guard Tyler Johnson also remains to be seen – as the former Miami Heat sharpshooter signed a one-year deal on arriving at the club ahead of the NBL23 season.

Johnson, who earned a nomination for the competition’s Sixth Man of the Year award, averaged 15.8 points on 48 per cent shooting, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WE'RE GOING TO OVERTIME<br><br>TYLER JOHNSON WITH THE DAGGER TO KEEP THE <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrisbaneBullets</a> ALIVE ???<br><br>Catch the rest of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action on 10 Peach, 10play and Kayo Freebies <a href="https://t.co/79FEHChs3a">pic.twitter.com/79FEHChs3a</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1578971535419015170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He finished the season with four 20-point games in his last five appearances, including an incredibly clutch 27-point, six rebounds performance in an overtime win against Adelaide.

“I had a lot of respect for what he did this season. He was professional, even when things were going bad, he hung in there,” Rucker said.

“I thought in the final third of the season he was one of the most efficient guards in the competition. Sobey was out injured, and Tyler really lifted for a stint.

“He figured out what was going on in the league and I think he made a case for other teams to look at him as a viable free agent option.

NBL Free Agency opens on March 30, with all team, player and mutual options needing to be confirmed by March 27.