Hard work getting rewarded for Norton and his teammates

Mitch Norton never doubted that provided he kept putting in the required work, he would get the chance to once again provide a great  impact in the NBL. But more importantly, he is enjoying all his Brisbane Bullets teammates getting rewarded for their efforts.

Norton arrived at the Bullets for his first season in Brisbane in NBL24 having already had an outstanding 300-plus game, two-time championship winning career that started at his hometown Townsville Crocodiles before continuing at the Illawarra Hawks and then the Perth Wildcats.

He had consolidated himself as one of the best two-way point guards in the league equally renowned for his tenacious defence as for his ball handling and play making abilities, and the penchant for stepping up in the big moments.

Moreover, he was a winner but that's what made his last season in Perth such a challenging one where he fell out of the Wildcats rotation for the most part and despite still being contracted, wanted to move on at season's end.

With someone the quality of Norton who still had plenty of basketball left to give, there were no shortage of suitors but it was the Bullets under new coach Justin Schueller where he felt would be the best fit for him.

And now 22 games into his career at Brisbane and it's hard to say it was anything but a masterful decision because he is playing at a high level, is contributing to the building of the new culture at the Bullets, and is providing leadership on top of production.

Norton is fresh off a season-high 18 points as well against the Illawarra Hawks on Sunday at Nissan Arena before another return to RAC Arena to play Bryce Cotton and his former Wildcats team this Friday night.

At no point through last season did Norton ever doubt that he could still be a strong contributor in the NBL on a team provided he continued to put in the same amount of work, and just wait for the opportunity to open up.

That's eventuated at the Bullets and he couldn’t be happier with what is starting to build with Brisbane now on a four-game winning streak to sit in fifth position at 11-11 with five weeks, and six games to go in NBL24.

"Throughout that period last year I never thought I couldn’t do it anymore. I knew what I was doing day in and day out, and that it would pay rewards at some stage," Norton said.

"I'm just glad that I've got a lot of trust and faith from Justin and the coaching staff and players here, and that's why I'm loving my time in Brisbane. It's a special period in this club's culture and I'm excited to try to lead this into bigger and better things."

Norton's work ethic has been at a high level going back to when he was a teenager getting a look in at the Crocs and ever since, but it's that desire to continue to improve and contribute as much as he can that has him continuing to put in the work.

That manifests itself in a number of ways with the dedication to tick all the boxes including not leaving practice until he has made 100 three-point shots at the end.

That's what always has him confident of contributing during games because he knows he has put in the work.

"Coming off on-balls is something that I can do well and find my bigs, even a couple of floaters have rolled in and out all year but they are starting to go now which is nice," he said.

"It's just about putting in the work and I make sure I make 100 threes at training before I leave, and it's just about giving myself confidence in my shot and it's starting to pay off a little bit."

It's a similar story with every member of the Bullets team as well and that's what makes Norton so happy for the entire team and all his teammates to now be starting to see reward for their hard work by getting some wins, and putting themselves in the top four hunt.

"I think it's good for us to get a bit of reward for the hard work that we've been putting in day in, day out," Norton said.

"Offensively making shots helps but defensively being able to lock down in crucial times, we've kinda struggled with that this year.

"But when the game's on the line and we need to get stops, we've got guys who can go out there and do it. Our bigs have done a great job all year having our backs as guards, and vice versa.

"We still need to do a bit better job on the perimeter to help the bigs out and not put them in vulnerable positions, but at the end of the day I'm loving this group and the group is starting to believe in what we're doing and continuing to pound the rock."