Mag thankful for Bullets opportunity

Will Weaver continues to thank his lucky stars every day that he was still unsigned when he needed to call on him and Mawot Mag is thankful for the Brisbane Bullets opportunity and wants to repay his coach for the chance.

Coming out of his college career where he spent four years at Rutgers and then finished at Brigham Young University, Mag was a signature a host of NBL teams were after and he landed at the Cairns Taipans for NBL26.

Even though injury ended the versatile guard's season early, across his 16 appearances he did show encouraging signs of what he could do in the NBL including having six games where he scored five or more points, and played a high of 28 minutes against Melbourne United.

He then went straight into an NBL1 South season with the Waverley Falcons where he played straight away having not played since New Year's Eve in the NBL.

Mag went on to average 13.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals a game for the Falcons while shooting 49 per cent from the field, 37 from the outside and 83 from the foul line.

Still, the 25-year-old went unsigned coming into this NBL season but with the injury problems that the Bullets have suffered once again, Mag was brought in by coach Weaver and is having a significant impact.

Mag has now hit the floor seven times this season for the Bullets for 5.1 points and 3.4 steals which included playing a season-high 21 minutes for eight points, two rebounds and two steals on his return to Melbourne on Saturday night against United.

His focus was just on staying ready once the NBL1 South season with Waverley finished, hoping an opportunity opened up, and it has.

"Unfortunately I wasn't signed, but you know, always gotta have the stay ready mindset so that you stay ready so you don't have to get ready when the opportunity comes," Mag said.

"So I was still working, still motivated and I wasn't really dwelling on it. It is what it is and I was just in the gym every day to just control what I can control.

"Fortunately, coach Weaver has given me an opportunity and I'm very grateful for that, and hopefully I can fulfill expectations and keep on working hard every day."

Coach Weaver doesn’t leave any stone unturned when looking at signing a player to make sure he will fit the culture, the play style and everything else that he is trying to build within his team.

But everything he heard about Mag, and what he had signed, made him know that he was a player he wanted part of the Bullets organisation.

"There are a number of good players that you can sign and much fewer that you're as confident in to come in and be the player and person that Mawot is," Weaver said.

"What made me realise that was talking to all his former coaches, Adam Forde, Kevin Young and they all said the same thing about what his daily habits are like, and that's why this guy's ceiling is as high as it is.

"However long he's with us, I'm grateful to have him on our team and I'm also going to be a little bit jealous when inevitably he gets signed by some other NBL team in a couple of weeks."

What Weaver likes above everything else about Mag is his competitive spirit and hustle. That was clearly on show again in Melbourne where despite the Bullets ending up losing by 28 points, he was fighting for offensive rebounds, battling over loose balls and continually putting his body on the line.

He has plenty of skills and talents with the ball in his hands too so it's the full package that Weaver is so excited by with him.

"It's at the free-throw line, defensive matchups, rebounding and he's another one that's playing a role right now, but you can clearly see what this guy's trajectory is like," Weaver said.

"As a league, we have to do a better job of identifying and developing guys like him. You could see programs that develop players and players that develop themselves, and both our teams tonight (along with Melbourne) have a number of guys like that that I'm excited to see where their careers go."

Last Saturday night might have been a tough loss in Melbourne for the Bullets, but like his coach, Mag took a positive approach afterwards where he's happy to be part of the group, and is looking forward to the next challenge which comes this Friday on the road to the New Zealand Breakers.

"Things are going well and that's a credit to my teammates and coaches for bringing me in from day one like they have," Mag said.

"Coach Weaver has always been in my ear and is always supportive to keep playing through mistakes and be you, go out there and be you.

"So in this game we came in with a game plan and unfortunately we didn't win but we've just gotta go watch film, learn from it, get better and just stack days, you know.

"The next opponent is New Zealand so the only thing we can do is really focus on what we can control, and then go from there."

What Mag has been immediately impressed with at the Bullets is the way the group is connected which comes down from coach Weaver to captain Mitch Norton and right throughout the entire playing group.

"I feel pretty good about where we are heading and unfortunately we have a lot of injuries, but we're still connected as a unit," Mag said.

"Everybody is connected together and we come in every day bringing energy, and everybody gets along with everybody, so there's no problem at all going to work together.

"We'll figure it out and it will take time, but it's a long season and it's all about how you finish rather than how you start."