Not only is Isaac White coming into NBL25 fresh off becoming an NBL1 North championship winning captain, but he has no doubt the role he played at the Mackay Meteors has him ready for a more significant impact with the Brisbane Bullets.
White was a man on a mission in the recently completed NBL1 North season with Mackay to help outgoing coach Joel Khalu depart with a championship.
In the end, White had a standout season as captain with the Meteors and ended up leading them to the championship with the Grand Final triumph against Sam McDaniel, Greg Vanderjagt and the Brisbane Capitals.
Not only that, but White had a terrific individual season to be named to the All-First Team on the back of 24.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists a game while shooting 51 per cent from the floor, 39 per cent from downtown and 88 per cent at the free-throw line.
On the back of that, White is now preparing for his second season in Brisbane with the Bullets and to continue his 111-game NBL career and has no doubt his campaign at Mackay has him best situated to have an even greater impact.
Playing a role similar that that in NBL
While at the end of the day, what White wanted to do was bring an NBL1 North championship back to Mackay this off-season and he delivered on that promise, he also knew it was important to play a role that would help him improve in the NBL.
White had a standout 2023 season in the NBL1 North at Mackay as the leading scorer in the country, but that was with the ball in his hands a lot more as the main creator which wouldn’t necessarily translate to the NBL with the Bullets.
That's where his role this season at the Meteors playing more off the ball and then being called upon to catch and create or shoot was more equivalent to what he'll be called on to do in his minutes during NBL25 with the Bullets.
"Last year I developed a lot with having the ball in my hands. I played a lot of one and a lot of two at Mackay, and I basically just had to shoot the ball largely every time I touched it and it was a lot off the bounce," White said.
"Then at the NBL level I come up against bigger defenders and better guys, and that package doesn’t necessarily translate. So for me this year was about getting off ball and being super efficient.
"With my touches, when the ball got to me it was time to score and I didn’t need to mess around with the ball too much in between.
"And when I say that's more of the role I have in the NBL, it's because I have some really good teammates who are a lot better than me with the ball in their hand and decision-making.
"I can be a true scorer where when I get the ball and make a quick decision that's when I'm probably at my best. It just helps because now I've had four, five months of reps at the game speed and in game situations playing like that. Now I can go put it on the floor in the NBL."
Fairytale NBL1 North championship
In a lot of ways the NBL1 North championship with Mackay was a fairytale for White to end up captaining that team to the triumph along with sending out Khalu as coach in the best possible way, and with the likes of Todd Blanchfield, Emmett Naar, Luca Yates, Amarco Doyle and Aiden Krause.
It might have only been a second season for White with Mackay, but he has embraced the club and the city so much that bringing them a championship meant the world to him.
"It's no secret that I absolutely love Mackay. I love the team, the coach, the boys and everything like that," White said.
"I probably had the perfect off-season for me and it was good because I was such a big piece of that team obviously, but we had a bunch of guys that from day one wanted to sacrifice and do the right thing for the team to win.
"That's the kind of environment I thrive in and obviously we went and got the result. That was just the cherry on top but it was a great year for me to play a position that was more true to what I'm going to play in the NBL so from a personal development standpoint it was a lot better for me.
"But also, to get after a championship and getting it done at home in front of the home fans is fairytale like to be honest."
Levelling up for NBL25
White has now quickly turned his attention to the upcoming NBL season with the Bullets with pre-season in full swing.
Not only is White excited to be back with the likes of Josh Bannan, Mitch Norton, Casey Prather, Sam McDaniel, Rocco Zikarsky and Tyrell Harrison, but also for the new faces Deng Adel, James Batemon, Jarred Bairstow, Tohi Smith-Milner and Keandre Cook.
"Things have definitely gone up a level physically and just in each position guys are battling," White said.
"It's tough to even get open to get the ball at the moment, which is going to make us better and I think the additions we've made this year will make us better.
"We've added Bairstow, Keandre now and guys like that who play super physical. We've got Casey back at his best too so it's definitely a level up and with a good month of this we're only going to keep getting a lot better."
Pre-season games ahead of season
While pre-season training is important to bring a group together and develop their chemistry and game style ahead of any season, what brings everyone together even quicker is playing real games.
That's why White is happy the Bullets are going to have such a packed schedule leading up to the season-opener in Perth as part of HoopsFest.
"I think the advantage of getting a lot of guys back from last year is that we're not starting from scratch," White said.
"As we've already seen, guys can pick up where we finished last year with our offence and defence so being able to go and play a bunch of games now hopefully means that by Round 1 we'll be a lot further along than we were last year potentially.
"Then also just as a bonus games are a lot more fun. We'll have a little less time on the practice court and a bit more time in front of fans just playing the game we like."
Being a 'dog' in practice
Another thing that White prides himself on is how hard he competes in practice and especially to continue that friendly rivalry with Josh Bannan he built throughout last season, and now adding Jarred Bairstow in that mix.
He has no doubt that adding that competitive edge to practice only helps the team in the long run be better when they pull together for the same cause to compete on game night against real opposition.
"I've got to say Bairstow is in that conversation now too. He's probably a little less vocal than me and Banno are, but he's also a guy that's a bit of a dog," White said.
"In general you need a couple of guys like that on a team to raise the level of practice. I see that as one of my roles to come out and be a bit of a dog, and that's Banno's personality too.
"If we can keep it tame enough where it's not taking over practice, it's good for us and can raise the level of physicality and competitiveness.
"If we can get a good couple of months of pre-season and hit the floor with a bit of momentum to start the season, then I think that can be really dangerous and having guys like him around is awesome for the group in general."