Ducas takes pride in being a natural leader

Even as a teenager leading his hometown Geraldton Buccaneers to a championship, Alex Ducas has always shown great leadership and that's what he continues to try to do at the Brisbane Bullets even in his first NBL season.

Ducas might have only just turned 25, but he's crammed a lot into those years and leadership has always stood out. Winning has always followed him too at the Buccs in his hometown in the NBL1 West (then SBL), at Saint Mary's College or with Oklahoma City both in the NBA and G League.

He is now in his first NBL season at the Bullets and while things haven’t quite gone to plan for the team largely thanks to a horrific injury run, Ducas has shown what he's capable of not only in production, but as an emerging leader.

Bullets interim coach Darryl McDonald has no doubt that with the leadership qualities that Ducas continues to show and his ability to shoot and play as a slasher that he's the type of player that any team or club can be built around.

"He's a leader, man, and he's a guy who uses his voice which is something that we don’t have a lot of," McDonald said.

"We have a lot of quiet guys but he's one guy you're going to hear and you can hear him in games, and hear him at training and you can build him around.

"If you put players around him, he can effective and it's hard when we don't have a lot of other shooting out there so if you can put other shooters around, and we get Tyrell coming back and throw some imports in there, he's somebody you can definitely build around."

Perth might not be Ducas' hometown given he grew up in Geraldton, but HoopsFest was still in his home state of Western Australia and he loved everything about being part of it.

Whether it was family and friends sitting in the stands or his championship winning Buccaneers coach Dayle Joseph right behind him on the baseline, Ducas loved everything about another rare chance to play in front of them all.

"It's special and it's not really my hometown, but I had a lot of friends and family in the building, and a lot of familiar faces so it's always a great chance to be able to play in front of them," Ducas said.

"I mean I was in America for six years and they didn’t get to see me play live for a long time so any time I can play in front of family and friends it's always great."

Ducas might only have just turned 25 years of age last month and is only playing in the NBL for the first time, but he's always been a leader wherever he's played.

That first really came to light when he was only 18 years of age and was instrumental in that SBL championship for the Buccaneers back in WA in 2019 or right throughout his time at college where he continued Australia's strong legacy at Saint Mary's.

Then even starting his professional career he showed what he can do in the G League, had some good moments in the NBA as part of that OKC Thunder championship team and has tried to lead from the front all this season with the Bullets.

"I consider myself a leader in this group as well and I don't really view age compared to a leader, I think anybody can be a leader no matter how old you are," Ducas said.

"Even though it's my first season in the NBL, I came in with the mindset to share my knowledge that I've had over my short career, and I view myself as a leader and when it's my turn to step up and take some shots, I will.

"The main part is I get so much confidence from this guy (McDonald) here and my teammates to keep shooting and I haven’t had the best shooting the past few games or the whole season, but the message is always to keep shooting and they are trusting me.

"That gives me confidence to go out there and shoot the ball, and help anyway I can."

Whether it's some breakdowns on defence, some inopportune and careless turnovers or just some missed shots or bad shot selection, a lot of what is hurting the Bullets are things that are correctable.

That's a positive that Ducas can take where their commitment and effort can't be questioned despite the fact they are so shorthanded on a personnel front, and the record isn’t making for pleasant viewing.

That's where Ducas feels the Bullets can just tidy some of those things up and still have a positive end to a challenging season over the last seven games.

"It seems to be a bit of a habit for us but we'll learn from it and there's lots of things we can take away from this game and overall I'm proud of the guys for how we compete," Ducas said.

"I mean we come in and I don’t think anyone really gives us a chance, but we believe in this group and we really believe in our coaching staff, Mac and the guys we have on the court.

"That's kinda the message within the playing group is that as long as we come out and play hard, and compete at a very high level we'll give ourselves a chance every night.

"We started out well in this game and then made a few silly mistakes, but that's basketball and we just gotta learn from it and focus on the next game."

After Thursday night's loss in Perth to the Sydney Kings, Ducas was still finding the positives for every player at the Bullets where there's a chance to learn from that game just like any other, and for any member of the team to continue to find positives and grab any opportunities that come their way.

"The beauty of the game of basketball is that you can always get better at something and you can always focus on getting one per cent better every day and I think that's where we're looking right now," Ducas said.

"There's a lot of opportunities for younger guys or guys who aren’t getting much minutes to come in and show what they can do, and I think it's just about getting better every game.

"Obviously you learn from each game and whether it goes right or wrong, there's so much to take out of each game and if you just focus on getting better each day, then it can help you in the long run and we've got a lot of young guys here who have a long career ahead of them.

"It's never smooth sailing for anybody so there's a lot to learn in losing and I think our guys are getting better, and getting closer as a group and understanding their roles and it might be out of reach a little bit for playoffs, but the beauty of basketball is you can always get better at something and we've got a long way to go."

Like any player that's playing big minutes and Ducas has averaged 32 minutes over the past three games he's feeling banged up, but he isn't interested in excuses and just wants to keep showing up for his teammates, coaches and the city of Brisbane.

"I feel great and it's part of sports, I don't think anyone ever plays a game at 100 per cent so it's just part of the love for the game," Ducas said.

"It's also part of sacrificing for your teammates and the coaching staff who put in a lot of hours and make a lot of sacrifice to help us out as players, and it's my job.

"The least I can do is show up every day and give it my all and continue to get better."