NEW TEAM - BRUTON'S BREAKERS

MacKinnon is on his bike, and this Bullets team is no longer.

As I began writing my revised blog for the day, I was going to call out CJ Bruton on his talk of a "lucrative" Europe deal. In the meantime, CJ has committed to the New Zealand Breakers (along with Dillon Boucher in case you cared.)

This was going to be exactly my point on Bruton but he pulled the trigger quicker than what I thought. To me CJ was always going to stay in the NBL. He has used the Europe card too many times without setting foot in Europe. Then after a day or two has passed he then decides Australia (or now New Zealand) is the place for him and his family.

On the otherhand, the Breakers are showing they are trying to get serious about taking the championship trophy from our Australian shores for the first time in 30 years.

As for Sam MacKinnon I will defend his situation. If a player has an agreement with a party and that agreement is not met, I cannot see why that player should feel obligated to stick around.

Sure, there are new owners, but when MacKinnon signed with the Bullets (Groves ownership) he was under the impression that he was on a particular deal. If that end of the bargain cannot be lived up to by the new ownership, I believe the player should be able to become a free agent if they choose.

The Bullets under their new management can have first crack at the player, but if no deal can be struck, free agency should become the outcome.

On a brighter note for the Bullets they did sign youngster Adam Gibson. With the departure of the two stars mentioned above, Gibson now has to evolve in to a consistent "every night" player. Over his first three years he has been able to develop and hide in the shadows of other players in his team. Now we will see if he is the future of Australian basketball.

The Bullets are still holding hope that MVP runner up Ebi Ere will rejoin the club. It will be interesting to see what happens here as Ere and Bruton are close friends.

Shane Heal feels it will be a couple of weeks before a decision on his playing future with the Gold Coast Blaze is reached. After reading his quotes though, I feel there must be another team showing interest. Mr Kerle, have you called Hammer?

In other news, Adelaide's Boti Nagy has delivered two gems in the last 24 hours. (It is worth enlarging the picture of Sam MacKinnon on the bike.) Darren Ng signs with the Singapore Slingers. NBA star Andrew Bogut commits to the Olympic cause, but needs to get a NBA new contract in place before he joins the Aussie national team.

Unbelievable finish to a game in Russia!