Bullets shock: Brisbane appoint advisor Stu Lash as NBL club's new head coach

• Stu Lash has moved from Senior Basketball Advisor to head coach of the Brisbane Bullets
• Lash replaces Justin Schueller who was fired by the Bullets in February after two seasons
• Brisbane haven't made the playoffs since 2019

The Brisbane Bullets have shocked the Australian basketball landscape after appointing the NBL club's Senior Basketball Advisor, Stu Lash, as their new head coach for the next three seasons.

Lash joined the Bullets as an advisor in January, 2023 and replaces Justin Schueller, who was sacked in February after taking the team to the edge of the play-in picture - winning 12 and 13 games in his two seasons at the helm.

He arrived in Brisbane after decades experience in elite level basketball, including the NBA in front office roles with the Memphis Grizzlies and also the Denver Nuggets, where he served on legendary coach George Karl's staff.

The decision was one no one saw coming following widespread belief the Bullets needed and wanted an experienced head coach after firing their past two coaches in James Duncan and Schueller, who both came from assistant coach roles in the NBL before stepping up into the lead chair with the Bullets.

Lash's appointment also comes after the Bullets hierarchy interviewed several world-class coaches for the position, which included former New Zealand Breakers coach Paul Henare and David Gomez, who is currently head coach of the Toyama Grouses in Japan and coached Australia's Brock Motum at the Shiga Lakes.

The 48-year-old, who will move to Brisbane permanently with his family, said there was evidence a person with no prior head coaching experience could be successful in the NBL.

"To be frank, I look at the success that guys like Justin Tatum, Mike Wells, Coach Kopp (Petteri Koponen) had last year. None of these guys had head coaching experience on a professional level either," Lash said.

"I think the role of the head coach has evolved over the last few years, with the way you have to treat professional athletes as grown men and understanding who they are as people, so you can really tap into them and get the best out of them.

'What concerns me the most is how darn good the league is. Like, it is a gauntlet. And in international basketball, usually it's two or three teams that dominate a league but in the NBL, it's one through 10, and it's a very short season, so there's no games that can be tossed away.

So (that's) what I'm most excited about, is just how challenging it is to win in this league."

Lash confirmed assistant coaches in NBL legend Darryl McDonald and Greg Vanderjagt would remain in their positions, while the possibility of adding an assistant with head coaching experience was something they would "unpack" in the coming days.

Bullets CEO Malcolm Watts said the club had 26 candidates for the position and Lash was involved as a decision-maker in the process before ownership reached out and asked "have you thought about Stu".

"I rang Stu and said to Stu to sleep on it. Stu said a couple of things the next day that really resonated with me," he said.

"The difficult part was us letting him know he needs to step back. He had to be a candidate in his own right. He had to go present a CV, interview and be in the dark, which was probably hard for someone who was in the tent.

"We spoke with 12 candidates, we interviewed six. We had a very strict criteria in terms of characteristics we were looking for, we had a review panel and a play sheet that we marked them all off on. Stu was well and truly in the top group.

"If you look at the situation and ask me what we need, we've got a win now attitude. Continuity is probably an X factor as well for Stu, he's built this roster over the last two years. All the relationships are in place here. What might have looked like another rebuild or reset for the Brisbane Bullets is far from it."

Watts was also quick to dispel any misconceptions the basketball community may have about the club's process in hiring a new coach after choosing from within.

"We ran a really strict process. Anyone that knows me, I mean, the link would be around integrity. That's all I stand for. I made sure that I was ultimately accountable," he said.

"We ran a very strict process at arm's length, as I said, it was difficult, it wasn't easy, but that was the situation that presented itself and where we've landed through the process has been the right decision and we'll stand by it."

With free agency tipping-off on Friday, Lash takes over a Bullets season already filled with talent with imports Casey Prather and James Batemon already under contract as well as defensive stopper Sam McDaniel, big man Tyrell Harrison, captain Mitch Norton and Tohi Smith-Milner.

Lash said he would not comment on particular players the Bullets would go after, following reports NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova would meet with four teams including the Bullets. But he did say there was "mutual" interest in bringing back Batemon, who is under contract, and Keandre Cook.

"We want to get better. There's some areas that we need to (bolster), in the front court probably is the priority," he said.

"We're in a nice position where we have five guys under contract, so our core is intact. So now it's just about shoring up the edges and then there's still a major move to be made in that backcourt area."

Watts confirmed Lash would solely focus on his coaching duties with the club to bring in Hajj Turner in the role of Director of Player Personnel and Recruitment.

He also said the Bullets ownership group and administration were taking this free agency "pretty serious".

"I think anyone who's been following the Bullets over the last 12 months can see that our ownership is serious. The investment we've put into the (high performance) facility all goes hand-in-hand," he said.

"I think our ownership makes smart investments and the time's right for us at the moment."

Bullets captain Mitch Norton said he was excited about Lash's appointment and pointed out Brisbane's defence as an area they need to address to make the playoffs for the first time since 2019, where they were swept by the Perth Wildcats.

"You look at the teams that were in the playoffs and the finals this year, they're hard-nosed defensive teams. I feel like that's where the identity needs to kind of shift a little," he said.

"Offensively, I feel like we've got a team that's unselfish and can share the ball and I feel like that's when you're most dangerous.

"I love the core group that we do have here, and I think it's something we can build on."

The Bullets also made another high-profile appointment today, announcing Professor Stephen Bird as the club's High Performance Director.

Bird has previously worked in high-performance roles with Basketball New Zealand as well as the Illawarra Hawks under Rob Beveridge.