Weaver's vision starts with focus on small details

The character building under Will Weaver at the Brisbane Bullets was fully on show in Adelaide on Sunday and the coach believes that taking care of their little details will add to things coming together as a whole.

There was plenty working against the Bullets once they arrived at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday afternoon.

Firstly there were the things outside their control and that was an Adelaide 36ers team fresh off winning in New Zealand on Friday night to regain some form and confidence, and who were back in front of a sold out home crowd for the first time in almost a month.

Then from a Bullets perspective, they were fresh off a tough loss at home to the Cairns Taipans in a Sunshine Stoush on Thursday night and then also lost Max Mackinnon and Lat Mayen from that game.

They joined Sam McDaniel, Jacob Holt and Arnas Velička so the Bullets went into the game minus five fully rostered players against an opponent looking to celebrate their home return and their 1986 champions, and with six-time MVP Bryce Cotton.

But right from the outset the Bullets were on a mission and weren’t looking to make any excuses, the players available all were focused on their jobs and the result was a tremendous 40-minute performance.

Brisbane went on to win 96-89 having been in control the first three quarters and then withstanding a 36ers fightback, and also having to hold on to win after Tyrell Harrison fouled out with six minutes to go after he already had 24 points and 10 rebounds in the game.

What pleased Weaver the most about his team's performance is that everyone focused on the areas they needed to do well in, and it ended up being a strong all-round team performance.

"Getting lost in the details that drive winning is the mission that we're all on as a program, and as professionals and we're each trying to do our little details," Weaver said.

"I've got some different ones to take care of, the point guards have some to take care of, the big guys have some to take care of but getting lost in those details, agnostic to who's healthy and what position am I playing and who am I matched up on?

"It's like, yep, focus on how I can do the next thing to help our team win. Those are the micro steps of progress that we're taking as a program to get to a place where the macro becomes the thing that eventually we will become."

Right from the moment Weaver got the job with the Bullets, his No. 1 focus was to build a program that would represent the city of Brisbane and that they could be proud of.

That's what he saw out there on Sunday, a team that was fighting for their city and playing with a great amount of pride for who they are representing.

"That's what we're building, we're building a place that we all get to be a part of for a short little period of time, even if it's multiple seasons, it's a tiny blink," Weaver said.

"The city of Brisbane and the Bullets program will be known as a place that you join other people that are extremely serious about their craft and who are ambitious and chasing big hard goals.

"And when you come here, you'll never have more fun playing basketball and coming to work than you have with us."

While Weaver acknowledges that a lot of what is happening around the league is all about getting clicks and TikTok impressions, he feels it's crucial to acknowledge and promote the quality people involved.

That includes the officials and that's not because he's trying to get in their good graces or bringing in someone the quality of three-time Olympian and 464-game NBA veteran like Raul Neto, because that only serves to promote the club, the league and Australian basketball as a whole in the big picture.

"We were talking (with Neto) pre-game about the quality of officiating and how rare it is in world basketball to be able to have a conversation with an official that's collegial and organised, and based in reality and that crew showed it tonight," Weaver said.

"The league is growing and there's plenty more for the league to grow and to improve, and we've all got to do our parts as clubs but the biggest job of us is to bring in people like this guy.

"Hopefully they're as good a player as this guy is too but the quality of humans is as big a natural resource to lump into the beauties, rich and rare that we have as a league.

"We've got to make sure that we don't lose sight of that as we also try to get impressions on TikTok."