Bullets search for full 40 minutes in Sunshine Stoush

The focus for the Brisbane Bullets has been cleaning up some controllable errors while getting Emmett Naar settled into the squad this week leading into the first Sunshine Stoush of NBL25 against the Cairns Taipans.

The Bullets did well to shake off scoring just nine points in the first 13 minutes at home last Saturday night against the Tasmania JackJumpers to have their own five-point lead in the fourth quarter before ending up losing by eight.

It was a rollercoaster ride of an evening for coach Justin Schueller, but upon reflection he liked a lot of what his team did and knows that moving forward they just need to do that for as close to 40 minutes as possible.

To make that happen, some of the costly errors that denied them a victory against the JackJumpers are what they have to cut out of the game. That's been the focus this week leading into Saturday night's game in Cairns against the Taipans.

"The disappointment in the group was that we knew exactly how Tassie were going to come out and lean more into their effort areas of the game, and we didn’t control that," Schueller said.

"We let missed shots really dictate how we were approaching things at the other end, but once we got our groove going it was just key errors that really cost us.

"Unfortunately that's where we're at as a group right now, we're still on that journey of that growth and we know that 40 minutes of consistency is who we are going to need to be.

"That's where we sat on the disappointment of it, but then flipped that to knowing they are all controllables we could have taken care of.

"It wasn’t so much being outplayed or anything, it was just a couple of key controllable errors that we've now put extra time and effort into tidying up. Now we get an opportunity to go against a desperate Cairns who won't be too dissimilar to what Tassie were."

The Bullets also announced the signing of their replacement for Sam McDaniel who will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury with Emmett Naar on board as of this week.

Naar previously played in the NBL at the Illawarra Hawks and is fresh off a brilliant NBL1 North season at the Mackay Meteors where he helped lead them to the championship alongside his now Bullets teammate Isaac White.

He also went on to have a standout NBL1 National Finals on the Sunshine Coast and now will join the Bullets to add some depth to the point guard position with him a renowned playmaker, ball handler, shot creator, and passer.

He won't travel with the Bullets team to Cairns on Saturday night, but Schueller is excited to bring him into the group.

"We're not actually going to take him on this trip. He had to tie up work and what not, and the fact he hasn’t been in an NBL game for a little bit we wanted to give him a full week of practice to settle into the group," Schueller said.

"The situation's probably good for him in that it is back up insurance minutes right now with the idea that he can challenge for a meaningful role as the back up one. Right now it's about getting him in the building, getting in some work and the eye to Melbourne being his first real hit out."

While Naar isn’t a like for like replacement in terms of the position or role that he will play for the Bullets, what he does do with his inclusion is provide depth in that point guard spot and allow everyone else to hopefully flourish in their roles as shooters and/or scorers.

"When we built the team the idea was for Sam McDaniel to be a starter and we were thinking more about Keandre Cook being that guy to be the impact scoring punch off the bench," Schueller said.

"Keandre has had a great start and continues to show his worth as a starter so now we've got JB (James Batemon) in that role and it was a little bit clearer to us that we can't replace Sam McDaniel, so what do we need to make the group function a bit better.

"Straightaway we looked at the point guard spot to give Norto a bit more support and Emmett is someone I've known for a long time, and have always valued what he can do in the league as a true point guard. I think he's going to be the great support that we need in that spot."