Exclusive: Brisbane's 'Chase' for new head coach should end with Buford

The sleeping giant that is the Brisbane Bullets need someone like a Chase Buford.

Marketwise, I think Brisbane is in a perfect storm with numerous factors at play, most notably the 2032 Olympic Games.

I remember going to a Kings and Bullets game a couple of years ago at Nissan Arena, it was sold out. We had won that game by around 50 points but the one thing I noticed was the fans stuck around until the end, no one left early. I was with my wife and kids at the time and I thought, wow this is pretty cool, they lost by 50 and they seem pretty happy leaving the arena, not because they lost but just because they saw basketball.

These people are begging for a good basketball product, they’re really begging for it.

Now they’ve moved to a new arena and I think their attendance high for the season was 8000-9000 people but if they can put together a product that’s competitive, there’s no reason why they can’t average 10,000 people to their game, they just have to give the fans a reason to come out there.

Enter Chase Buford.

The market in Brisbane needs someone who can establish professional habits, discipline and just the chance to win games, that’s what Brisbane needs. You’re rarely going to hire someone that's going to come in and win you a championship straight away, even though that’s what he did for us at the Kings.

I think the fans deserve someone that can come in where the fans can see a method to the madness and they can see where it's going and where it's going to go. I don't think they've had that since Andrej Lemanis.

There was varied success under Andre but he had a method to his madness, you could see what they were trying to do and build but since then it's been all over the place. It's not just a matter of necessarily winning every game but being in games and I think that's been an issue for Brisbane.

Around 10 wins a season is kind of where they've been for a long, long time and if they can just get that to 15, 16 and be in the mix of a play-in, I think fans will be much appreciative of that. Now, you get the feeling that Brisbane fans who I talk to, they're coming for the basketball but they're not expecting much from Brisbane, which is kind of sad to hear.

We had a great run with Chase, probably, our best two years we've had in a long, long time. We won back-to-back championships and we were hoping he’d return. It didn’t work out that way but if we can get him back in the NBL, I think it's a net positive for the NBL and I think Brisbane needs a strong personality. It would be a great get for the Bullets.

Chase is a passionate and sometimes emotional guy but the guy can coach.

He put together great systems offensively and defensively, we were top four in both and we had a good squad and I think he got the most out of the squad we had. He's been around a lot of NBA programs, even as a young fella growing up, he's got basketball pedigree and he's got a really good network to find players.

He had also won at the G-League level as well, so he just has a good head for basketball and coaching but by no means did we expect him to come in and go as well as he did straight away. He just came in and we didn't miss a beat for two years, besides the slow start in his first year.

Something that sticks out to me that shows what Chase is all about, was his first year at the Kings. I think we were 3-6 and things weren’t looking good, things were clunky, we had some injuries but once we got a bit of health, we stuck with him and he just put it together.

Just over the course of the season, I think he just stuck with what he believed in where a lot of coaches at 3-6 might start panicking and trying things that's not in their repertoire. He stuck with what he believed in and thought that over the course of the season it would pay dividends and that's exactly what happened.

Everyone's got a different opinion on his personality, some enjoyed his passion and at times over the top antics, some didn't. I think it's a mix, obviously kicking LED signs and stuff is not ideal and that's where it goes too far but look, I'd always take the side of someone who's passionate and overly passionate and sometimes has to be reared back than someone who's not, right?

I think the Australian media and the Australian public struggle with people like that because we're very much a society that you have to fit in.

It's like if you're trying to do things your own way, it's frowned upon, which I think is wrong. But that’s why a lot of blowback on Chase was at times was unfair. He was passionate, yes, he overstepped the mark numerous times and I think he'd be the first one to tell you that. But he was worth the price of admission on coaching alone and just watching him on the sideline, right? He's passionate, he's engaged, he's in the refs, he's in the crowd.

Maybe that’s what the Bullets need right now.

NBA champion Andrew Bogut is a columnist and contributor for basketball.com.au. He is part owner of the Sydney Kings.