BRISBANE will bounce back to life in the National Basketball League next year with an old name and familiar venue but new colours.

NBL officials will be in Brisbane today to address the corporate and basketball communities about the return of the team, which will continue to be known as the Bullets, after seven years in the wilderness.

Brisbane will also adopt the traditional Queensland sporting colours of maroon and gold instead of the blue and gold once worn by the three-time NBL champions.

It will mirror the colour combination of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA, whose spearhead is superstar LeBron James.

NBL bosses will hold a forum with basketball identities, potential sponsors and future ownership partners at the Brisbane Convention Centre today.

They will then unveil the team’s new logo and its first fulltime employee, believed to be assistant coach C.J. Bruton.

5 REASONS WE LOVED THE BULLETS

Bruton is a six-time NBL title winner as a player, including the 2007 championship with the Bullets, and gives the club an identifiable and credible face.

The NBL has been swamped with applications for the Bullets’ general manager role, which was advertised last week.

The NBL has also identified a number of possible candidates to be head coach.

The team will play at two venues in the 2016-2017 NBL season. One is set to be the Brisbane Convention Centre at South Bank.

NBL officials were also interested onlookers at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for the ANZ Championship netball grand final when Boondall was configured to hold 7000 spectators.

The Gold Coast was also keen to host some NBL home games.

NBL general manager Jeremy Loeliger said it was a no-brainer to call the team the “Bullets’’.

“The Brisbane Bullets are returning to Brisbane. It is such a strong brand,’’ Loeliger said.

“They were the Bullets from 1979 so it would be unfortunate to see a Brisbane team by any other name.

“There’s been a few false starts (with returning a team to Brisbane) but we are here to reassure people that this isn’t a false start.

“Brisbane is such a strong market for basketball.

“We are happy to stand up and make sure the Bullets are back in 2016-17.’’

He said the colour scheme change was to “embrace the spirit of Queensland’’.

An accounting firm has been engaged to manage a tender process for possible investors to eventually buy into an ownership consortium.

The foundation club died in 2008 after former childcare mogul Eddy Groves handed back the ownership licence to the NBL.

The return of a Brisbane team was part of the recent broadcast deal struck with Fox Sports, who will televise every game in 2015-16 as part of a five-year arrangement with the NBL.