Bullets come away with plenty of work ons

There were no signs of anyone at the Brisbane Bullets dropping their heads because of who they were missing, they still battled valiantly and only a tough shooting night cost them while Raul Neto made a more than encouraging debut.

The Bullets had a big task ahead of them being on the road to the league-leading Tasmania JackJumpers on Wednesday night taking on their front court of Will Magnay and Josh Bannan missing their own centre pairing, Tyrell Harrison and Jacob Holt with ankle injuries.

That was on top of Sam McDaniel and Arnas Velička sidelined too for the Bullets, but what Weaver has already been impressed with about this team is their fight and competitiveness.

They did that again on Wednesday night despite the 21-point defeat where their effort levels couldn’t be questioned – the major difference was the JackJumpers shooting 58 per cent to 42 along with 50 to 28 from downtown, and getting up 27 free-throw attempts to 12.

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

"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."

Lithuanian point guard Velička might well be the hardest player to replace in the league just about with how well he was running things for the Bullets, but they appear to have made the most of the tough situation with Brazilian Raul Neto.

The three-time Olympian who has 464 games of NBA experience only arrived in Brisbane on Monday before flying with the team to Hobart on Monday, but showed no signs of rust or jet lag.

He did only play 13:46, but with him out there the Bullets were +5 and he had nine points and six assists on perfect 4/4 shooting including knocking down a three.

Weaver was suitably impressed and would imagine his minutes increasing again on Saturday night in Wollongong against the Illawarra Hawks.

"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."

Max Mackinnon once again top scored for the Bullets with 21 points with 4/8 three-point shooting, but Weaver is never going to have any concern over whether his shots are falling or not.

That's why there are moments in games where Mackinnon might frustrate his coach, which included him sitting early in the third quarter, and it has nothing to do with shooting or scoring, it mostly has to do with things at the defensive end.

"Of my frustrations honestly, he probably got more than I remember with some of the other guys," Weaver said.

"I'm a little less focused I think based on my seven games on whether he makes shots and everyone thinks he's the best player ever or he misses them and they say he's this rookie that they don't know about.

"I'm a little bit more focused on all the stuff that happens in between, and we expect a lot of him, and he's a big part of our team. Defensively in particular he's learning how to drive winning and there were plays he made tonight on defence that drive winning, but there were too many that didn’t."

It was a gigantic challenge for Bullets rookie Harry Rouhliadeff to be thrust into starting in the five position in the absence of Harrison and Holt.

Not only that, but he was taking on a JackJumpers front court led by Magnay and Bannan, but he battled hard to have four points, four rebounds and a block, and while he only shot 1/9, that's the least of Weaver's concerns.

"I remember Will Magnay coming into the line-up for the Brisbane Bullets against Andrew Bogut and giving Bogues the business so this is the journey that talented guys that are coming back to the NBL for the first season is that you play great and you learn, or you play bad and you learn," Weaver said.

"Harry's one of the best learners I've ever been around and the reason he started was that as a coaching staff we have the most confidence in his ability to execute a game plan that was different to what we've had over the beginning of the year.

"Five or six guys out at a time means that you have to change some things, but one thing about Harry is that every time I go back to watch the film I see him do the hard details that almost certainly no fans, girlfriends or agents notice.

"We notice it and that's why he continues to earn more minutes and why he's got a really bright future."