I'm happy enough with Shaun and Mitch.

Gotta say Te Rangi doesn't do much for me, has always seemed fairly inefficient. Seems odd bringing him across the ditch for what I'm assuming would be a small role but coach obviously sees something in him. Anyone have a more positive outlook here than I?

Can't see how Brisbane would have offered anymore than NZ for Te Rangi? Te Rangi was a poster-boy for the club's 'develop from within' philosophy. Their offer would have been fair and reasonable, if not generous.

Bit of a kick in the guts to the Breakers if you ask me especially what they've done for Te Rangi and especially after the events of 2014.

Maybe after the Breakers said no to Te Rangi's contract demands, he had to accept whatever Brisbane offered and swallow his pride just so he could still have an NBL gig?


Agree with Mr Ben, the signing is strange. Lemanis commented on Te Rangi's youthfulness and (still) abundant potential. However, there is very limited loyalty in the NBL. If Te Rangi, kicks on and has good seasons, I reckon he will simply use that as a springboard to get back to NZ on favourable contractual terms (i.e. pay).

With the Te Rangi signing does that likely mean that the Bullets are out of the race for Steindl?

@MACDUB - Te Rangi was told his services were no longer required by the Breakers. He didn't leave by choice http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball/79446468/jettisoned-breaker-reuben-te-rangi-picked-up-by-brisbane-bullets

Second para of the article you linked shows it was largely by his (or his agent's) choice:

"As previously reported by Fairfax Media, Te Rangi's contract demands and lack of form in recent seasons had seen him squeezed out "

Re the choice of Brisbane to sign Te Rangi, anyone who saw him play for the Tall Blacks last international season would have interest at the right price.

He was good at the 1, 2 and 3 on their tour and obviously has a huge upside if he can translate that to club form.

Te Rangi should model has game after Mika and try to become the next small ball 4 with better range, instead of trying to become the next Tom Abercrombie

Finn Delany who has take Rueban's place is only 20 and has tons of upside but I wish Rueban well and hopefully Lemanis can coach him to his full potential.
The change in scenery may do him the world of good.

In their own way each of these signings makes sense and each player could be very valuable.

I have to say though, as someone from the sth qld area I am disappointed with how the team has been constructed so far from the local perspective. Sure gibbo played for the Bullets but QLD sports fans have the memory of goldfish, leaving Young as the only player with ties to the area.

The Kings (now) are a basket case but when Bob Turner first brought them back they started with a lot of locals and built the fan base from the ground up, and make no mistake coming back in from scratch they will need to build from the ground up.

For differing reasons they couldn't land the Teys, Hodgson, Tragardh, Coenraad, Martin, Steindl types but Bruce and Te Rangi seem to be taking spots from a guy like Issy Tueta or I would hope a phone call was at least made to Mitch McCarron.

Don't get me wrong it has the potential to be a good roster, and theory if you win the fans will come along. But Brisbane, especially Bullets fans are a fickle bunch and if they don't connect to the players and there is high roster turnover every year the fans will snooze. I hope someone behind the scenes is invested in the long term.

I do find the loyalty of the Nbl and basketball in general to be concerning. Hard to build a brand when most iconic players move on within a couple years ether to another club or overseas. Would love to bring in some kind of loyalty benefits for marquees to give them incentive to stick around.

QLD sports fans won't care where players are from if they win games.

Having home grown talent only matters when they are "superstars". Otherwise no one really cares. it's about dollars and winning.

I don't think Te Rangi is worthy of NBL minutes but he does have potential and when he hits his prime Penney will be long gone and probably so too will Abercrombie's athleticism so I understand Lemanis wanting to have him around, whether or not he's good enough to be a contracted player or just training fodder isn't my decision to make.

I'm a massive fan of Young and think he could be a game changer come playoff basketball when refs only call the hard fouls and a player like him will thrive. Could see as much court time as Kickert come playoffs but won't get 17 minutes a game during regular season.

Bruce could be a short version of Lucas Walker (career shows they have a couple of player of the week awards and yet inconsistent careers) or could become a very good NBL player, how he plays alongside Gibbo could be a fascinating aspect of the Bullets season.

Te Rangi started out with a lot of potential, but it seemed to me that he believed his own hype last season and was a waste of space... Maybe a change in scenery and being coached by Lemanis again will help?

Duncan, as the the Kings using local players, they didn't have a huge amount of choice as the team was put together from scraps the first season back, so I wouldn't use them as a measuring stick...

He hit threes, took it to the basket and finished, rebounded well, played point forward effectively. He basically looked like the player people are expecting him to be.

He went backwards last year, but that's not unusual for a young player, especially when stuck behind one of the better players in the league.