Brisbane Bullets in turmoil as coaching carousel rolls on

Six years after their rebirth following eight years in the NBL wilderness, the Brisbane Bullets continue to frustrate fans as they lurch from one poor decision to another.

This week’s decision by general manager Sam Mackinnon to step down as the club’s head coach just a few weeks after putting his hand up to replace the sacked James Duncan is puzzling, given Mackinnon’s replacement is Brisbane assistant coach Greg Vanderjagt.

The mail from the Bullets’ bunker is that Mackinnon and chief executive Peter McLennan could be the next to follow Duncan out the door once the club’s owners review their options.

With due respect to Vanderjagt, who played 10 seasons in the NBL with Townsville and the Gold Coast and has served as an assistant coach with the Crocodiles and Bullets, he is probably not ready for a head coaching role just yet.

Brisbane have reportedly identified an overseas coach to replace Duncan, but they have options in their own backyard in unemployed coaches like Rob Beveridge and Joey Wright, who have both coached teams to championships.

There is also a number of top-quality young Australian coaches running programs in the USA that would be huge assets to the NBL.

Brisbane’s third and last NBL Championship was under the guidance of Wright in 2007, the year before the club’s then-owner Eddy Groves handed back its licence.

For the next eight years, fans and supporters battled hard to have the team reinstated to the NBL.

So what is going on at the Brisbane Bullets?

Duncan was under pressure after just a few games this season, but truth be known, he had a lot of detractors and doubters even before the campaign tipped off.

And it’s hardly a secret that Mackinnon and McLennan don’t see eye-to-eye, which is bad news for any front office — especially in basketball, as most of the big decisions are made there.

Brisbane’s owners, comprising former NBA star Kevin Martin, high-powered American sports executive Jason Levien and global investor Jake Silverstein, can’t be happy about the decisions being made by the club and are unlikely to tolerate too much more.

A reliable source claims the Bullets management announced Vanderjagt’s promotion and appointment even before they had contacted him with the news.

If that is the case, then fans have every right to ask what the hell is going on and just who is calling the shots.

Brisbane headed into the 2022-23 season with a solid playing roster and expectations of appearing in the finals, but they are struggling with a 4-10 record in second-last position.

One man highly qualified to comment on the problems within NBL clubs and the battles they encounter is Jeff Van Groningen, one of the most experienced GMs in the competition.

Van Groningen has been at the helm of four of the NBL’s 10 teams in the past two decades, taking two of them to championships — including Brisbane in 2007.

Van Groningen, who also spent a few years working for the Brisbane Broncos, now splits his time between Australia and the United States and is heavily involved in the marketing and commercial interests of Josh Giddey, the latest Aussie kid rocking the NBA.

As Van Groningen knows only too well, only a very few people within the four walls can fully understand the minutia of any NBL club.

With his vast experience, though, his opinions carry a lot of weight, and his philosophy and formula involve a good relationship between the owners, the GM, and the coach.

“When you have that, you have a solid backbone to work with,” Van Groningen told BettingSite.com.au this week when asked about Brisbane’s concerning situation.

“Just look at all the best and stable setups in the world’s best league (NBA) — they all have it,” he said.

“Golden State has Joe Lacob as a primary owner, Bob Myers as GM, and Steve Kerr is a fabulous head coach.

“It’s been like that for a long time now.

“Take San Antonio — Peter Holt, RC Buford, and Gregg Popovic, they have been together forever.

“The point is, stability is an asset.

“Again, speaking generally, I always think of two key words when it comes to rebuilding or building situations in professional basketball.

“One is expectation, and the other is communication.”

Van Groningen is speaking from experience having been head-hunted to turn the Sydney Kings around when they were struggling in 2016.

“I was fortunate to have a great working relationship with Harvey Lister (from his days with the Bullets) and his objectives mirrored mine and Andrew Gaze was our coach,” he said.

The Kings had come off a pretty disappointing season playing in front of crowds of 5,000 at the State Sports Centre.

But with the recruitment of former NBA star Andrew Bogut, a new venue, and an aggressive marketing approach, they broke the 20,000-crowd mark on the way to a record-equalling 18 wins for the season.

It’s what the Brisbane Bullets ownership group has to look closely at next season: rebuilding and restructuring.

Asked about Brisbane’s coaching dramas, Van Groningen stressed it was a decision for the owners and GM but concurred Wright and Beveridge had outstanding qualities they could bring to the club.

“They’d be my first choices, they should both be coaching in the NBL,” he said.

Wright has already indicated he probably wouldn’t make a comeback to Brisbane after his acrimonious split with Adelaide, but there’s no reason not to knock on his door and ask.

“Rob Beveridge is out there, Joey Wright is out there, both have won NBL titles, you really can’t do more than that,” added Van Groningen.

He then rattled off a whole heap of potential candidates including Darryl McDonald, Bruce Bolden, Mike Kelly, Jamie Pearlman, Michael Downer, and Lanard Copeland who had claims and enough experience at various levels.

And he said NBL clubs should not forget the number of young Australians like Adam Caporn, Damian Cotter and David Patrick running coaching programs for teams in the USA.

“These are Aussie guys NBA clubs consider good enough to run programs for them,” he said.

“Patrick is a recruiting genius, he recruited Ben Simmons to college in the States.

“It was Patrick who got him into the US system.

“He got Matthew Dellavedova there, he got Patty Mills there.

“He’s sitting at Sacramento as a college coach, but he’d make a great NBL coach.”

Groningen said Caporn — currently coaching Brooklyn’s NBA feeder team, the Long Island Nets — would be a “sexy” hire for an NBL club.

But right now Brisbane’s owners just need to bite the bullet and make some tough calls to get the NBL foundation club going in the right direction.

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