GAME DAY MAG ISSUE 5, 2018-19
S T E L BVUSLHAWKS 018
ER, 2 B M E V O N THU, 22ND
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BRISBANE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE
PATTERSON HAPPY WITH ‘NO-BRAINER’ TO JOIN BULLETS
After an eventful arrival to the country, Lamar Patterson has settled in quickly at the Brisbane Bullets and couldn’t be feeling any better about what he called a ‘no-brainer’ decision to come play in the NBL. Patterson had heard nothing but good things from those he knew who had come to Australia previously and did already know Stephen Holt when the Bullets came calling looking for a replacement for another former NBA wing, Alonzo Gee. Patterson was back home in the United States following a dominant season with Lhasa Pure Land in China awaiting his next move which he thought was going to be back in the G-League. But he had spoken with NBL
clubs previously, was open to the prospect should a viable opportunity open up and when the Bullets came calling it took him little time to say yes.
forward role looking capable of being equally effective getting to the rim and as a jump shooter on top of being ball handler and distributor, and solid rebounder and defender.
Patterson made headlines nationally for his arrival with his French bulldog Kobe who joined him on the flight down under, but it has been his basketball doing the talking since and he looks like the ideal fit for this Bullets team.
While that has so far only resulted in one win from the four games he’s played, he likes what the Bullets are doing and sees no reason they can’t succeed as the season progresses.
Remarkably Patterson’s first three games in the NBL were all decided on the buzzer with a win in Adelaide thanks to a Cam Gliddon three before losing in Perth on a Bryce Cotton triple and then suffering the same fate at home to New Zealand, thanks to Tom Abercrombie. Patterson already looks right at home with the Bullets in the small
“We’re not settling for mediocrity, we want to be the best versions of ourselves and we know we can play,” Patterson said. “It’s just about getting myself settled and whatever transitions the team makes just getting adjusted to that. But the team has been great helping me mesh in and teaching me the systems, and making the coaches’ job easier.
“This club is a smart club with no quitters and nothing but fighters. I’m proud to be here and hopefully we can do things within the league. But right now we have to take it one game at a time.” Patterson couldn’t be more impressed by the set up of the Bullets under coach Andrej Lemanis and feels the style of play suits all his strengths as a player perfectly. “Once I got here and I saw how coach Drej had his systems run, I knew I was going to fit in perfectly. It’s pretty much how basketball nowadays, with a free-flowing offence where you have so many different reads and options out of it,” he said. “For myself and the players around me, it’s almost demanding of you having a high IQ of the game. Collectively as a whole we have that and aside from the slow starts, we have showed that our growth and maturity later in the games by coming back from deficits. There are no quitters on this team and I’m proud to say that.” Patterson knew that what he would be experiencing in the NBL would be on another level to what he last played in China, but he was excited for that and it certainly hasn’t disappointed. “It’s been great and the league is pretty much what I expected,” he said.
has been good, I’ve been fitting in with the team and they’ve been helping me adjust well. I’m just happy to be here right now.” As for the way his career in the NBL started with the three buzzer-beater results and then a narrow loss in Melbourne against the defending champions, for Patterson it just shows the quality of the league. That’s what he knew he was getting himself into. “It just shows how narrow the gap is between the teams. They were three different teams and all buzzer-beaters,” Patterson said. “One we won away on the road and then another we lost on the road too and then a couple of days later was the one at home. “It definitely showed what we need to improve on and the two that we lost came after a slow start. So little tweaks and adjustments to fix that up can get us over the hump and I think we’ve seen now that every minute of the game is important.” Patterson had briefly chatted with NBL clubs previously and he did know of players who spoke highly of playing in Australia, so he was always willing to bypass a G-League season should the opportunity overseas open up that he thought suited him.
“It’s up-pace, a lot of skilled players and the games have obviously been decided with game winners that I’ve been involved with that probably doesn’t happen anywhere.
“I did know about the league and Brisbane wasn’t the only team that has reached out to me in Australia so I was aware of the league down here. but I just saw it as a good opportunity and I knew I could fit in well with this team,” he said.
“But other than that everything
“I was going to go the G-League
route so I had been working out and hadn’t got home from China in the middle to late August. “So I had been home a little while when Brisbane came calling and I felt like it was a perfect situation just to come here. I did some research and I knew a couple of guys on the team and I looked at the city and I felt like it was a win-win for me. I thought it was no-brainer of a decision.” Patterson might not have had the ideal opening to his time in Australia with the furore over Kobe at the airport, but now that he is settling in to life in Brisbane he couldn’t speak more highly of what he thinks of it. “It’s a beautiful country, you can’t complain. It’s hot every day and I got to skip winter back home where it’s pretty cold,” Patterson said. “The hardest adjustment for me has probably been driving, I had to drive around my little neighbourhood for a good 10, 15 minutes before I could go anywhere and be comfortable. But apart from that it’s pretty easy and it’s good. “I’ve been other places where people don’t speak English so going somewhere where it’s hot, beautiful and everyone speaks English makes it like paradise. It makes the transition on the court a lot easier as well to speak the same language so everything is going well. “It feels good to my ears being able to speak English every day and not having that language barrier, and I am getting used to some of those Aussie sayings slowly.” Written for Brisbane Bullets by Chris Pike
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