Rio ready for Rocky v Creed Forestville battle

Featured image: Melissa Belanic | @justbphotoau

Ahead of becoming the third generation of his family to play NBL at Brisbane Bullets, Rio Bruton's focused on an NBL1 Central championship with South Adelaide Panthers as a thank you for the faith they have put in him out of high school.

Having spent time at the Centre of Excellence, Bruton returned to Adelaide this year where his family has settled since hid dad and NBL legend CJ was appointed coach of the Adelaide 36ers back in 2021.

The 19-year-old has not only come back to gain experience in the NBL1 Central at South Adelaide, but he's become a genuine star already delivering 17.2 points in over 30 minutes a game while shooting the three ball, that became one his dad's trademarks, at over 40 per cent.

He has been a big reason why South Adelaide finished the regular season in third position, why they beat the Sturt Sabres to open the finals last Saturday night and why they are now one win away from a Grand Final appearance.

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Not only has Bruton impressed at NBL1 level, but he's attracted attention above too and now after his dad CJ won a championship in the NBL at the Bullets, and his grandad Cal coached and was a championship player, he has signed as a development player there.

But his immediate focus is this Saturday night's mouth watering second semi-final in the NBL1 Central for South Adelaide against Forestville where the winner will advance to the Grand Final.

Bruton and his teammates led by Woollacott Medallist Jeremy Smith will take the challenge up to Daniel Johnson, Alex Starling, Jordan Forbes, Greg Mays and Adam Doyle from the Eagles.

And he can't wait.

"That's definitely the goal and this is what we all play for, it's Creed vs Rocky and it's time to get your boxing gloves on and let's go to work," Bruton said.

Big win to open the finals

After finishing the regular season in third position, South Adelaide opened the finals last Saturday night on the road beating the second ranked Sturt 101-89 in the qualifying final.

That means that the next win the Panthers notch will take them to a second Grand Final in the past three years and Bruton is sure they can take plenty of confidence out of their win over Sturt, but also how they beat Forestville in the last meeting back on May 31.

"Most definitely and Sturt has been one of the more tougher teams throughout the entire season and especially for them to go on such a mass winning streak at the start," Bruton said.

"That pushed us to where we set ourselves to match them and get to where we want to get to which is ultimately the Grand Final and the championship.

"So matching up with Forestville now is a team that we beat in the regular season and it will be a really good challenge for us once again to hopefully knock them off."

Another match up with the Eagles

While Johnson and Starling are former South Adelaide players, and then there is that natural rivalry there between two high-powered teams with championships aspirations, Bruton isn’t necessarily buying into that side of things.

He's just looking at it simply that it's a contest between two teams who believe they can win the championship this season and Saturday night's game is a chance to get once step closer to that goal being ticked off.

"I don’t necessarily see it as a rivalry or anything, but like Adam Doyle said, it's another basketball that's just in the way of our ultimate goal and of what we're trying to do," Bruton said.

"It's the same for both teams and it's not necessarily a do-or-die situation because whatever happens, we'll still get a second chance regardless, but I'm definitely looking forward to going up against Forestville and all the opponents who have played such a huge part in my career so far.

"They've been helping me out for a long time and then a couple of them had been with my dad for little bits and periods for their career too so I'm really looking forward to it."

Being given a key role on contending team

For someone who was still 18 at the start of this NBL1 season and if you look at an experience team like Forestville that he's going up against, you could understand why Bruton was in a development role and not necessarily getting big moments on a contending team like the Panthers.

Instead, South Adelaide coach Paul Bell has backed Bruton all the way by starting him and playing him big minutes and with the backing of Smith as the experienced leader showing the way on a young team, it's paying dividends.

Bruton is playing over 30 minute a game and had some breakout performances including six games where he's scored 20-plus points as he tries to do what his dad did before his NBL career by winning an SBL championship back in Perth at the Perry Lakes Hawks aged 18 in 1994.

"The coaching staff and honestly my teammates have the utmost trust in me to just go out there and play freely, and do what I do best which is just playing the right way and doing whatever it takes to win a basketball game," Bruton said.

"I'll go out there and do it whether that's scoring 20 points a night and grabbing 10 offensive rebounds or just playing a role off the bench, starting or whatever.

"Anything it takes to win a basketball game I'm there to contribute and I'm very grateful and thankful that the South Adelaide organisation have so much belief in me.

"Especially as a guy who just came straight out of high school and is able to contribute to winning and to a club with so much rich history, and continuing that line."

Having an MVP take you under his wing

When Smith was weighing up where he wanted to play in 2026, he was at a point on his career where he wanted to be having a greater impact than just putting up numbers that he can still do in spades.

That's highlighted by him winning the Woollacott Medal and obviously he wants to win another championship, but the bigger picture was that he wanted to help develop younger players to get them on the right path to chase their dreams.

That has included Bruton along with Lloyd McVeigh coming off a development player season at the Cairns Taipans, and Bruton couldn’t be more thankful to have him take him under his wing as he has.

"He means a lot not only for myself but for the entire group and we have such a young group where the second oldest guy is probably only 23 years old, and one of our key guy is 22 in Lloyd McVeigh," Bruton said.

"Having him there as the big veteran piece who has been around the league, won a championship and MVP and done so much in terms of his career, having him as an outlet for not only basketball but life as well, it has been really crucial and I've been spending a whole lot of time with him.

"I've just been trying to pick his brain as much as possible and it's just been an absolute pleasure going to war with him and then battling out during practice, and with him helping me ultimately in where I want to get to."

Carrying on the Bruton legacy

Bruton would have been happy to embrace any NBL opportunity that came his way as a 19-year-old, but once the Bullets reached out for so many reasons it was something he couldn’t say no to.

After all, when his dad was assistant coach at the Bullets to Andrej Lemanis that's where Rio spent a lot of younger days around the players including one who is still there now, imposing centre Tyrell Harrison.

But then to play at a club where Cal was their inaugural coach in 1979 and played in a championship in 1985, and then CJ played in that 2007 title that is still widely considered the greatest NBL team of all-time, it couldn’t be a more perfect fit.

"It means a lot to me and it's a huge honour and blessing in itself and just being able to have those two who have played at the highest level nationally and internationally, I'm just extremely grateful that I have them by my side and I'm able to just learn from them and pick their brain," Bruton said.

"It's very special because it's not only the club that my grandfather and father has played for, it's also in the city that I was born and spent most of my time playing junior basketball with the Southern Districts Spartans as well as being around such an amazing group of players when my dad was coach of the Bullets for about six years.

"Getting to play with some of the guys that he had taken under his wing like a key piece like Tyrell Harrison and being able to learn from him is going to be such an amazing experience as well as the guys like Mitch Norton, Lat Mayen and everyone else on that team who have played at the collegiate level, in the NBA and internationally as well as here in the NBL."

Choosing NBL before college

Bruton did have a decision to make about where his immediate future would be and while college will still likely end up being his destination, he felt like a season first in the NBL would be his best to get him ready for that.

He still needed an NBL team to be interested obviously and he wasn’t taken anything for granted, and there was that dream a couple of years back of playing under his dad when he was coaching at the 36ers.

But that plan hasn’t worked out and then next best bet for Rio was to begin his NBL journey with the Bullets where his family name is held in such high esteem.

"It's definitely something that I had to weigh up in the air especially when I got older and finished high school," Bruton said.

"Obviously when my dad was with the Sixers at the time I always had a vision of being a development player first before I did anything else, and obviously I did have a few colleges reach out to me after my time in Canberra and at the CoE.

"It's definitely something that I talked about with my family for a long period of time but I think it was just best for me to take this gap year and develop and learn from professionals that I'm aspiring to be like.

"Especially in the long term that will help me with my development so when I go over to the States and am playing against guys my own age, I already have that professional exposure and experience that I've been getting here in Australia. I'm very happy and grateful with the decision that I made."