Days away from his basketball return, Aron Baynes has signalled his intent to reach new heights and prove himself worthy of another Olympic campaign.
The centre's return from a serious injury will be in Brisbane colours on Sunday, when the Bullets open their NBL season in Perth.
The Queenslander slipped in the dressing room during an Olympic group stage game in Tokyo last July.
The mysterious incident left Baynes with large puncture wounds on his arm and internal bleeding that pressured the spine and left him unable to walk.
Two weeks in Japan passed before he was able to properly stand and fly home, while a month in a Brisbane hospital involved seven hours of rehabilitation each day.
Boasting nine years in the NBA, Baynes won a title with San Antonio in 2014, broke records with Phoenix in 2019 and alongside Patty Mills and Joe Ingles proved a central figure in the Boomers' march to a historic Olympic bronze last year.
Baynes worked out in front of NBA scouts and club bosses in the United States earlier this year before landing in Brisbane in a coup for the re-built Bullets.
Now 35, he says the NBL can launch him towards next year's World Cup and the Paris 2024 Games.
"I'm just trying to prove I can get back to what I did do and was doing, and try to get even better than that," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"The Boomers is the epitome of basketball; it's the ultimate to play with my second family.
"The green and gold, there's nothing better. It's the most fun but it's also the hardest. I want to do that for as long as I can.
"So I'm not looking to get there right now, just looking forward to proving I'm still the player I was."
Bullets teammate Nathan Sobey was part of the Boomers' bronze-medal squad and the story goes he dressed up as a doctor to gain access to the Tokyo hospital and present Baynes his medal.
"I think the story got blown out of proportion just a little bit," Sobey said of the dress-ups tale.
"But we were definitely there trying to do what we could to get in and see the big fella.
"It's pretty emotional to see someone go through that and not understand what it was going to look like going forward.
"Now to see him out there, how happy he is; it's an unreal sight and I'm loving every second of it."
The three-time Olympian was effective in short stints in Darwin's pre-season tournament and already looks in trademark condition.
Sobey has no doubt he'll be banging down the door for a spot on next year's World Cup squad before mounting his case for a medal hunt in Paris.
"Oh yeah, he's ready to go," he said.
"The countless hours, all day everyday, rehabbing to get right ... if anyone can do it it's him."
