Brisbane Bullets - History

History

The Bullets were established in 1979 for the foundation season of the National Basketball League, under the captaincy of Bruce Fitzgerald, and head coach Bob Young. Of the 18 games played during the inaugural NBL season, Brisbane won 13 and lost five, finishing in fifth place. Brisbane's Calvin Bruton finished as the league's highest points per game scorer of the season.

The Bullets made it to the finals in the second NBL season of 1980. Dave Claxton took over as head-coach as well. Finishing in third place, winning 17 of their 22 season games, the Bullets met the West Adelaide Bearcats in the second semi-final, losing 94-101. Brian Banks made the NBL First Team that season.

Brian Banks became the Bullets' captain the following season. After making the finals in the second season, Brisbane did so again in 1981. Brisbane finished in fifth place, but first-placed St. Kilda did not attend the finals, as they were in Brazil contesting the World Club Championship. The Bullets lost to Launceston Casino City 71-69 in the first semi-final. In 1982, with new coach Rick Harden, the Bullets missed out on qualifying for the finals, finishing eighth. In the following season, they finished fifth, still outside of finals contention. Import guard Ron "The Rat" Radliff, known for his long curly hair and brilliant outside shooting played his first season for the Bullets and in the NBL in 1983.

Under new coach Brian Kerle, who would go on to win the 1984 Coach of the Year award, the Bullets' first playoffs appearance since 1981 came about after finishing the 1984 regular season in 1st place with a 19-5 record, a major improvement on their 10-12 record in 1983. After defeating the Coburg Giants and the Geelong Supercats in the finals, the team were into their first ever grand final with the game to be played at The Glasshouse in Melbourne. Unfortunately they were not successful in capturing their first championship losing to the defending champion Canberra Cannons 14-82. Star import Leroy Loggins capped off a great season with the Bullets by winning the leagues Most Valuable Player award.

The Bullets had emerged as the league's most powerful team under Brian Kerle and again finished in first place the 1985 season with a 20-6 record and were again grand finalists after a hard fought win over the Cannons in the finals. With the game being held at their home venue (Chandler Arena), the Bullets were hot favourites to defeat the Adelaide 36ers in what was to be the last single game grand final in NBL history. Leading 78-74 going into the last period of play the Bullets then outscored Adelaide 42-21, setting an NBL grand final record for points scored in the final period and easily accounting for the 36ers 120-95 to record their first ever championship win.

The team's major change during the 1986 season was when they moved out of the 2,700 seat Chandler Arena and into the brand new Brisbane Entertainment Centre which could seat up to 13,500 fans, giving the Bullets the largest and newest home arena in the NBL at the time. They finished the regular season in 3rd place with a 17-8 record but progressed to their 3rd grand final in a row with wins over the Sydney Supersonics and regular finals opponent Canberra in the playoffs. In the first ever NBL grand final series to be played over three games, the Bullets would go down to the Adelaide 36ers 2-1, losing game 3 of the series 113-91 in Adelaide. Leroy Loggins was again voted the leagues MVP in 1986 giving himself and Brisbane a second MVP title.

1987 saw the Bullets back to second on the ladder with a 20-6 season, earning themselves a bye in the playoffs until the semi finals. There they defeated the Illawarra Hawks two games to one to advance to a league record 4th grand final in a row where this time they were up against the Perth Wildcats in their first ever grand final series. The Bullets won their second NBL championship winning two games to none. Leroy Loggins continued to star for the Bullets and in 1987 he won his third MVP award (shared with Adelaide's Mark Davis) as well as being voted as the Grand Final MVP.

The Bullets finished the 1988 regular season in third place with an 18-6 record but they would not reach their 5th grand final in a row after losing in the elimination final. A highlight of the 1988 season for the Bullets was first year player Shane Heal winning the NBL's Rookie of the Year award. The 1989 season saw the team fail to make the playoffs for the first time since 1983 when they finished the regular season in 8th place with an 11-13 record.

The team made a huge turn around in 1990, finishing in third place and going 18-8 for the season. They would again win their way into the grand final, again playing the Perth Wildcats. This time however the Bullets went down 2-1, losing game three at home 109-86. Game two of the series, with the Bullets leveling at one game all with a 106-90 win saw a then NBL grand final record crowd of 13,221 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. This is still the highest ever grand final crowd for a game played outside of Melbourne and the 7th largest overall. Brian Kerle won his second Coach of the Year award while new import guard Derek Rucker won the NBL's MVP award.

The 1991 season was not nearly as successful, as the team finished in ninth place, way out of finals contention with a 13-13 record. However, in 1992, the Bullets were back in the finals, making it to the quarter-finals. In 1993, Bruce Palmer became the new Bullets coach, and the team made it as far as the semi-finals.

From 1994 through to the 1996 seasons, the Bullets made it as far as the quarter-finals, finishing in fifth, sixth and eighth place respectively. David Ingham took over as head coach for the 1996 and 1997 seasons, with Brian Kerle returning to the club to coach the Bullets from 1998 to 2000 while the high cost of playing home games at the Entertainment Centre forced the Bullets to move to the smaller (4,000) capacity Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre from the 1998 season.

The Bullets failed to get to the finals during the early years of the 2000s. The 2001-02 season was especially disappointing for the Bullets, as they finished second-last on the regular season table, winning just 4 of their 28 fixtures. Although, the Bullets won 22 of their 33 fixtures in 2003-04 to finish in a more respectable fourth place on the ladder.

The team qualified for the finals in the 2004-05 and the 2005-06 seasons. They finished in fifth place in 2005-06, just missing out on a quarter-final place. They hosted the Perth Wildcats at home in game one, though they lost 96-91 and were eliminated.

During the 2006-07 pre-season Blitz, the Bullets won all three of their group stage games to finish at the top of Pool A and advance to the quarter-finals. Defeating the Wollongong Hawks and the Sydney Kings to make it into the final, the Bullets went on to defeat the Melbourne Tigers to win the pre-season title.

Following on from their pre-season success, the Bullets easily won the minor premiership for the 2006-07 season, claiming an end of season record of 28 wins and only 5 losses. This included an all-time NBL record-breaking 21-game winning streak, marking the Bullets' most successful season since 1979. After defeating the Sydney Kings in the semis, Brisbane made their first NBL grand final since 1990. They took out the finals series 3-1 over defending champions the Melbourne Tigers to be crowned NBL champions for the third and last time. Due to a conflict in scheduling, the grand final games in Brisbane were played at the Bullets former home, the Entertainment Centre, instead of their regular home at the Convention Centre.

In March 2008, the Bullets' childcare-centre mogul owner Eddy Groves - who had run into financial strife with his ABC Learning Centres empire - announced he would be forced to sell the club. On April 16, 2008, Logan businessman David Kemp was officially announced as the new owner. However, Kemp pulled out of the sale, and attempts to find a new ownership group were unsuccessful. On 30 June 2008, it was announced that the Bullets' license had been returned to the NBL. They have not played in the NBL since. .