Player response reignites DMac's coaching passion

It's no surprise to see the Brisbane Bullets respond to Darryl McDonald due to what he's done in Australian basketball over the past 30 years and now that he's two games in as interim coach, he wants to remain as long as possible.

Having twice been an interim coach previously firstly at the Melbourne Tigers and then with Melbourne United, McDonald didn’t know if he ever wanted to be a head coach at NBL level again or to put his hand up for a permanent job.

So he had to do a lot of thinking when approached to replace Stu Lash at least in the interim this season with the Bullets, but two games later, and with the response of the players, he wants to keep doing it as long as possible.

The response of the players was clearly noticeable on Monday night with the Bullets beating the New Zealand Breakers 99-85 with McDonald's finger prints over all of it both in an execution and effort point of view.

Above and beyond anything else when it comes to the job as coach moving forward, McDonald was just delighted for the Brisbane public to get to celebrate a win and strong performance from their team for just the second home victory of the season ahead of Christmas.

"It definitely feels good and we haven’t had one in a while and we were on a seven-game losing streak, and then we haven’t won on our home floor so that's even better you know what I mean," McDonald said.

"But for me it was all about the fans and the members and the sponsors because I just want these guys to play hard for them. The energy from them was there, the energy in the building was there, and we just came out and gave ourselves every opportunity to get a win."

Following McDonald's first game in charge he made it clear he wanted Tyrell Harrison to be more of a focus of the offence, and that paid dividends in the win on Monday night.

Not only was Harrison a dominant figure with 24 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, and Terry Taylor had 14 first half points as well as his front court partner, but it opened everything else up too with the Bullets going 11/27 from three-point range in a much improved shooting performance.

"We decided we just wanted to go to simple actions to get Tyrell shots, to get Terry shots and to get Ducas shots, and to get Javon going," McDonald said.

"It was just simple actions to get those guys looks and we would live with the results, and we ended up with 23 assists which is pretty even though the 15 turnovers is something that we've got to fix.

"I thought we had great minutes from our guys off the bench too and Tohi comes in, Jacob Holt, Tristan Devers and we had great bench production, and I can't even remember the last time we put up 99 points but we haven’t done that in a long time.

"And in this league, if you can put up that many points you give yourselves an opportunity to win."

Having had two previous stints as an interim coach firstly at the Melbourne Tigers back in NBL11 and then with United in NBL15, McDonald was gun shy when approached to replace Stu Lash at least temporarily with the Bullets.

He then might have regretted agreeing to it with Saturday's 29-point loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, but you could instantly see his impact on the players in Monday's drought breaking win against the New Zealand Breakers.

What stood out above everything else was the freedom the players were playing with, the focus on sticking to a simplified offensive structure, and then the way they were responding to McDonald.

Given the standing he has in the game going back to his 486-game, three-time championship winning career and now having coached in the league for 15 years, that's obvious but it has now sparked his interest in keeping this job beyond an interim basis.

"When I first heard about it and Mal came to me, I was pretty much like I don't want to do this because I've been in this position before, and I've done it twice with nothing at the end of it," McDonald said.

"He pretty much told me he wanted me to do it and not to worry about that, and then when I got around the group the first day the welcoming from them and being around these guys, I was understanding that I think we've got something special here.

"Yeah, why not, let's get through it and it's hard when I know they're reaching out to get another coach even though I understand it given we've lost a fair bit with fans, members and sponsors.

"They need a big name to kinda get all that back and I understand that, but right now it's me that's coaching the next game and I'll just coach every game until my time is up.

"I never thought I'd get another opportunity and I'll be honest, wasn’t really looking for it, but now that I'm in, I wanna stay and keep giving it a chance to see what happens."

Looking back on those first two stints that McDonald had as an interim coach at the Tigers and United, he did put his hand up for the role on a permanent basis but when overlooked he decided he didn't really want to pursue being an NBL head coach.

At the same time, he has continued to develop and was part of great success under Dean Vickerman in Melbourne along with in the NBL1 South at the Knox Raiders, and since joining the Bullets, has also done well coaching in the NBL1 North at the Northside Wizards.

What he's focused on is continuing to learn and grow as a coach every day without really knowing where it might lead at 61 years of age.

"I think getting the opportunity to work under coaches like Dean Vickerman and (Justin) Schueller has been good for me and you just learn, and pick up different things," McDonald said.

"The game was different back then than it is now and there's a lot more technology now and all that kinda stuff, but you just pick up little things from coaches and you try to carry it over.

"I've done NBL1 a couple of times and I was an assistant coach when we won a championship at Knox and every day you're learning, and you can get online and just take different things that you see like offences and defences, and what you want to do here and there.

"I'm also a bit of an old school and I'm going to let them play. I'll give you the opportunity to play so go out there and hoop, and in basketball you're going to make mistakes but that's fine as long as you own it.

"We had guys giving me a hand up and saying my bad and I know that happens in basketball where not everything is going to be perfect but you have to own up to what you've done when you know it's not good for the team.

"That's one of the main things for myself that we've all been preaching."