Small Ball or Bust | NBL Bullets

Just when Bullets fans thought losing Arnas Velička was as bad as it could get, last night made things worse. Tyrell Harrison went down 10 minutes after Jacob Holt went down. In one game Brisbane lost its starting centre and the bloke meant to cover for him, and Velička was already out. That leaves the team without its starting point guard and both of its bigs.

THE POINT GUARD SPOT IS SORTED. THE MIDDLE ISN'T.

The backcourt is mostly covered. Raul Neto has 453 NBA games behind him and should pick up the lead guard minutes, with Mitch Norton backing him up. The real problem is in the paint.

ENTER JAYLIN WILLIAMS, CENTRE (SORT OF)

Jaylin Williams is a 6'8" (203cm) American forward from Auburn and the Sacramento Kings' G League setup, and he's now probably Brisbane's starting centre. He's not exactly a big man, but he's what they've got. Expect him to play heavy minutes at the five, scrap for rebounds and try to hold up against much bigger players.

THE CHEATHAM COMPARISON

If you want a picture of what this looks like, imagine Nick Rakocevic going down and Zylan Cheatham having to play the five full-time. Williams is in the same spot. He's an athletic, active forward who's undersized at centre, but he's got the energy to make up for some of it. That's good news for SuperCoach, because these hybrid forwards usually rack up rebounds, steals and hustle stats when they're thrown into the middle. The trade-off is that bigger, stronger centres will cause him problems on defence. Fantasy points are fantasy points, though.

WEAVER HAS TO GO RUN-AND-GUN

Will Weaver now needs to rebuild the system around pace. If the Bullets get stuck in the half court against a real centre, it'll get ugly. They have to push in transition, spread the floor, and score before the opposition's bigs get set. With Will Magnay coming up on the schedule, we'll find out quickly whether small ball can work.

THE SUPERCOACH VERDICT

Williams is the clear buy. More minutes, more rebounds and a bigger role add up to a better SuperCoach scorer, and he's probably still cheap. There's a risk that Brisbane signs another big and cuts into his minutes, so keep an eye on the news. For now, he's the guy to get into your side.

Mattrix