Melbourne United veteran Matthew Dellavedova set a four-year plan after his team's grand final heartbreak, but it's been largely about the two-minute execution for coach Dean Vickerman this pre-season.
The Tasmania JackJumpers were crowned champions last season after defeating Melbourne United 3-2 in one of the NBL's greatest-ever grand final series.
The final four games were decided by a combined 11 points, with the JackJumpers holding on for an 83-81 win in the deciding game five after Dellavedova's half-court buzzer beater narrowly missed.
Dellavedova returned to the gym a day after that disappointment, motivated to guide United to future NBL glory and determined to make it to the 2028 LA Olympics.
Vickerman spent the off-season pinpointing where it went wrong for his team and what he needed to do to fix it.
"You normally start your pre-season with your base of fitness and then your skill development," Vickerman said.
"But we wanted to start the pre-season with the last two minutes of the game and all the situations that come up and how comfortable we can feel in those moments.
"That's where our focus has been in the pre-season - about how good we can be in the last two or three minutes of the game.
"It was an area that we felt JackJumpers were a little bit better than us in the grand final series.
"We saw Delly be able to move on really quickly and put together a four-year plan a few days after the grand final series.
"And it helped me keep moving forward to say, 'You know, we've won some championships on the buzzer and lost some championships on the buzzer'."
Tasmania and Melbourne will lock horns at RAC Arena on Thursday night in a blockbuster grand final re-match to start the NBL season.
The match is part of the inaugural HoopsFest, a four-day festival of basketball that will see all 10 NBL teams play in Perth in round one.
The JackJumpers have endured a terrible lead-in to Thursday's opener, with guard Sean Macdonald arriving in Perth on crutches and in a moon boot following the club's hectic pre-season campaign.
Tasmania competed in the NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast before flying to Singapore for the Intercontinental Cup.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said there would be other players who will join Macdonald on the sidelines for round one, but he didn't detail who.
Vickerman said his United squad battled illness during the NBL Blitz, but he had no concerns going into round one.
United forward Kyle Bowen, who hails from Perth and spent time at the Wildcats as a development player, said his team were determined to go all the way this season.
"It (the grand final loss) obviously hurt, but we pressed the reset button and we're backing ourselves to win it all," Bowen said.
The Wildcats will host South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday night, while Saturday's double-header will pit New Zealand against Brisbane, and Illawarra against Cairns.
Sunday's match will feature title favourites Sydney Kings, under master coach Brian Goorjian, facing up to the Adelaide 36ers.
