Newly engaged Dalton thankful for Bullets chance

It's been quite the hectic last 12 months playing all over the world for Cal Dalton and he wouldn’t have it any other way, but having recently got engaged, he's grateful to the Brisbane Bullets for his chance in NBL26.

As the son of former Bullet Mark and growing up around Logan Basketball where his father was a long-time general manager, Dalton is thankful to at least be able to call Brisbane his regular home now again for the next six months.

After earning a chance in the back end of NBL25 to replace Tyrell Harrison in the Brisbane line-up, it's continued to be quite the hectic period for the 25-year-old who had just come off playing in Luxembourg, and then immediately went to firstly play in India and then New Zealand.

He then came back to finish the NBL1 North season at the Logan Thunder and then was there from the start of pre-season at the Bullets and now is on board for NBL25 as the Nominated Replacement Player.

Dalton will be starting the season this Friday night in Auckland against the New Zealand Breakers in the team too replacing the injured Jacob Holt, and he's feeling as prepared as ever for an NBL season.

"It's probably the first time coming into an NBL season where I've played a lot of basketball in the past year," Dalton said.

"Usually it stops and starts a little bit for me, but whereas at the end of the last NBL season I went straight overseas to India and then straight to New Zealand, and then into NBL1 and now have flowed into NBL pre-season.

"That's the first time I've had a consistent playing period for 12 months which has been awesome to make sure I'm in better shape and feel more ready to go for the start of the NBL season.

"There's nothing like game reps, you can only do so many individuals and everything in the off-season to get ready so it definitely helps how I'm feeling now."

Dalton grew up with basketball in his blood as not only the son of Mark but the nephew of both Karen and Brad who had their own distinguished careers, and he grew up around the game at Logan.

As a talented teenager, he starred on Queensland teams and then attended the Centre of Excellence before receiving his first chance with his hometown Bullets back in NBL21.

He then spent two seasons as a development player at Melbourne United but there's been some uncertain times since waiting for another NBL opportunity while continuing to develop his game and his body to ensure he was ready.

He was a training player for the Bullets before the chance opened up in the back end of NBL25 where he played four matches and that gave him the confidence in himself again that he could still play in the league.

Now while he hasn’t got a full contract with the Bullets, he's thankful for the chance he does have.

"I guess I'm kinda treating it like I've got my foot in the door rather than being fully back in, but it's exciting just to get another opportunity," Dalton said.

"You never know if you're going to get another one so I'm just super excited to play again and to just have a chance to hopefully prove myself to get a full spot again. I feel prepared and I feel ready so I just want to hurry up and play some games now.

"I think those games I played last year just reassured me a little bit that I can still play in the NBL. When you've been out for a while you start to think it's not going to happen, but those four games were good for me to walk away from that thinking that I can do this and it's still there.

"I'm lucky that I guess the Bullets feel the same way which is why this opportunity came up so I guess it's just about sticking with it and hopefully it all takes care of itself in the long run if I keep putting the work in."

Dalton has been around the Bullets for the past two seasons now even while not officially contracted so he's well placed to judge how the group is looking coming into NBL26.

He feels the combination of a core group including Mitch Norton, Casey Prather, Tyrell Harrison, Sam McDaniel and Tohi Smith-Milner returning, and topped off by signings Alex Ducas, Jaylen Adams and Javon Freeman-Liberty has them well placed heading into the new season under coach Stu Lash.

"I'd say everyone is feeling pretty confident and it's cool that the core group for the first time in a while have come back from last season," Dalton said.

"And the new guys have meshed in really easily to that which isn’t always the case. It's a shame we haven’t had Jacob and Ducas out there with us too much just yet, but the transition with the new guys coming in has probably been smoother than normal.

"That includes the imports and they've been great getting involved straight away with practice, and being around the group off the court. Everyone is getting along well so I would say we're feeling pretty confident as a group and we're just keen to get going."

Not only has Dalton been busy with his basketball over the last 12 months, but his life has had another significant recent development when he was successful in his proposal to long-term partner Krystal last month.

The fact that the pair can now start their life as an engaged couple together in Brisbane for at least as long as this NBL season lasts is something Dalton is thankful for.

"It's pretty exciting and it was probably a little bit overdue on my behalf, but we're just super happy and it went really well. It had me nervous leading into it, but it couldn’t have gone any better," Dalton said.

"And me getting to stay at home in Brisbane for this season was pretty big for us too. She has just started as a paramedic based in Brisbane in the past year so we got really lucky that I've stayed at the Bullets and she's based here.

"So we at least get this season together living here to start this new chapter which is super exciting for us. With that fringe NBL life, you just never know where you're going to be from season to season, or even month to month at times, and what league or country you're going to be in."