Schueller proud of Bullets' culture growth

Brisbane Bullets coach Justin Schueller is proud of the way his group has grown their culture despite the adversity they've faced with Josh Bannan and Deng Adel close to returning, but Jarred Bairstow's NBL25 is now over.

The Bullets lost vice-captain Sam McDaniel to shoulder surgery after the very first game of the NBL season at HoopsFest in Perth and in all 15 games they have played so far, at no point have they been at full strength.

Only Keandre Cook, James Batemon, Mitch Norton and Rocco Zikarsky have played in all 15 games this season with Bannan having so far only featured in eight of them, Adel five and Bairstow eight.

Despite that, coach Schueller has been impressed with the way the group has continued to grow closer together and find different ways to perform on the floor with different line-ups.

The result is them currently holding a 7-8 record including having won four of the past six matches to be building some momentum now still with 14 games to play beginning this Friday night back at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre to the Cairns Taipans.

Schueller is delighted with the way the Bullets have handled what's been thrown at them so far this season and is excited for what the last 14 games has in store.

"We dealt with a lot of adversity at the front and now we're coming through the other end but three surgeries in a season's never great for a team," Schueller said.

"But the resilience of the group and how they've stayed together and our culture could have had a challenge from that, but we've actually grown even better in it.

"This group is really together and understanding how they need to be for each other, and at the midpoint of the season is all I can ask."

After starting the season with a hand injury, second-year Bullets forward Bannan was building nicely into NBL25 to earn a call up to play with the Australian Boomers at the Asia Cup Qualifiers during the FIBA international window.

However, he injured an ankle playing in the green and gold and has been sidelined since, but was close to playing in Sydney on Sunday and Schueller does expect him back this Friday night at home to the Snakes.

"We only made the decision he wasn’t playing right before the game which is always a fun one as a coach, but at the same time we wanted everyone to be able to be at 100 per cent when they're out there," he said.

"He just wasn’t quite there so I'm hopeful that by our next game that we'll have at least him back and Deng's not too far away either."

Once Bannan returns, that leaves Adel and Bairstow as the two players still sidelined for the Bullets with McDaniel having already been ruled out for the season and since been replaced by Emmett Naar.

The good news is that Adel's hand surgery is progressing nicely and he's on track to return no later than the January 4 home game against the Kings, but the news isn’t so good for Bairstow who is going to require ankle surgery.

"We're looking for Deng to be back more around New Year's so he's still a little bit off but he's progressing a lot better than initially thought on the timeline," Schueller said.

"Unfortunately we've found out that he (Bairstow) needs surgery as well so his season will be ended and we'll figure out what we're doing there."