McDaniel shows versatility on Bullets debut

Sam McDaniel arrived at the Brisbane Bullets for NBL24 bringing great versatility and experience, and all that was on show in his debut on Friday night as he played a crucial role in the first up win against the Adelaide 36ers.

McDaniel might have been playing his first game for the Bullets on Friday night at Nissan Arena to open the 2023/24 season, but he arrives already as an NBL championship winner with 117 games of experience behind him.

Not only that, but he was the Grand Final MVP of the Hobart Chargers winning the NBL1 South championship back in 2022 and then was the competition's Best Defensive Player in 2023 before settling in Brisbane ahead of his first season with the Bullets.

The 27-year-old then had to help fill the void in the power forward spot in the absence of injured fellow new recruit Josh Bannan on Friday night, but he did a tremendous job and was instrumental in the eventual 86-71 against the 36ers.

McDaniel ended the night with 13 points and 11 rebounds on the back of shooting 4/8 from the field including hitting his lone three-point attempt. He was just happy to play whatever role Hostplus Head Coach Justin Schueller asked of him.

"It was only a few days ago when Justin told me I might have to play a bit at the four so I was just going over the plays a bit the last couple of days just trying to get on top of that," McDaniel said.

"But it was good, they've done a great job of integrating me into that spot while Bannan is out and I was comfortable out there.

"I'm not so much out there looking for my own shot as much, but I think throughout the pre-season the coaches have been telling me to be aggressive so it was just about trying to find my spots to do that and try to play the best defence at the same time."

The game could hardly have got off to a worse start for the Bullets with the Sixers scoring the first 15 points, but Brisbane worked on top from there to outscore Adelaide 86 to 56 the rest of the night to score the first up 15-point win.

McDaniel feels it all started for the Bullets when they got into their groove at the defensive end.

"I think we just kind of stepped it up defensively a little bit and that's what we want to hang our hats on this year," he said.

"Things like ball pressure, being in the right spots and executing the scout, and the game plan are where the main changes that came for us. Then shots started to drop for us because of that."

McDaniel might have come off the bench on Friday night and might continue to do so, but still played over 24 minutes and a key role as did Isaac White, Mitch Norton and Tyrell Harrison.

That 'white' squad takes great pride in what they provide when they hit the floor and also with how hard they push the starting unit at practice.

"I think we just want to come on and compete," McDaniel said.

"Even every single day at practice, that's what we try to do and we call ourselves the white squad and try to make the starting five better, but also try to be as much as a defensive force as we can.

"We just want to bring that energy and I'm super proud of those guys who came out and made an impact."