WHEN you were part of the Boomers squad that was involved in the Philippines ‘basketbrawl’, a tough draw to start the NBL season does not seem that daunting at all.

Just ask new Brisbane recruit and Australian Boomers guard Cam Gliddon.

The NBL on Wednesday released its fixture for the 2018-19 campaign. The Bullets will play 12 of their first 15 games against the top-four teams from last season — Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and New Zealand.

Gliddon — who was part of the extensive recruiting drive from Brisbane in the off-season that also netted Boomers teammates Jason Cadee and Matt Hodgson as well as NBL great Mika Vukona — said there is nothing to fear in the draw for the new-look Bullets.

“I don’t see it as a bad thing,” Gliddon said. “They were the top four last year, this is a new season and every team has undergone changes.

“Those teams are tough because they are proven winners. They are the games you get up for. You really need to come up with a tough effort to beat those sides, which makes them really rewarding wins.

“Teams don’t hit their stride until the midpoint of the season so it can be a guessing game, that first half of the year. It’s a good time to steal a few wins off teams that look like they have a top-four roster, so I’ve got no qualms with the fixture.’’

Gliddon will come up against his old club Cairns in Brisbane’s first home game of the season, on October 13, and is settling into life as a Bullet at the club’s one-stop shop facility at the Clem Jones Centre at Carina.

Three weeks ago, he was on the Boomers bench when the ugly all-in brawl erupted in the FIBA World Cup qualifier near Manila.

FIBA handed down its controversial sanctions last week with 13 players and two coaches copping fines and suspensions.

The Boomers play their next round of qualifying matches against Qatar (away — Doha) and Kazakhstan (home — Bendigo) in September.

Gliddon said the Boomers squad is keen to move on from the incident but knows it will take time.

“It was a crazy situation and maybe it could have been handled better,’’ Gliddon said. “The whole situation was disappointing and it is something that won’t go away.

“After it happened, social media was flooded by it and you couldn’t get away from it. It went quiet for a bit and then the sanctions came out and social media got flooded again.

“It will take a while before it settles down and we can just move on.’’