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Adam Gibson and Anthony Petrie won’t be there for the Brisbane Bullets against the Adelaide 36ers on Thursday night and ironically it could have been their departures that inspired the Sixers rise this season.
Their replacements, Daniel Johnson (DJ) and Nathan Sobey, have risen to the next level.
Gibson and Petrie put together strong stints as part of their NBL careers in recent years with the 36ers and were still captain and vice-captain respectively last season, and key contributors to the grand final side of 2014.
They were terrific contributors and would have been welcomed back this season, but both wanted to be part of the reinstated Bullets franchise. Nobody could blame them for that but it left an experience and leadership hole in Adelaide.
For the 36ers to be successful, somebody needed to step up and that has happened better than anyone could have imagined.
With the youngest squad in the league and likely having the least money to spend on it, Adelaide is well clear on top of the NBL having won of 12 of the last 13 games and they are doing it in such a style that you can’t help but enjoy watching.
Everyone on the team has stepped up and it’s perhaps unfair to single two out, but when you are talking about filling the void left by the departing Gibson and Petrie, Sobey and Johnson fit that bill.
With young big men Matt Hodgson, Eric Jacobsen and Majok Deng, the Sixers needed Johnson to take the next step. That wasn’t so much in his production because he always delivered good scoring and rebounding numbers.
But Wright needed him to become a leader and even the coach has been pleasantly surprised with how well Johnson is doing as a leader to the point where he clearly is the standout big in the NBL.
“Gibbo and Peach both had such big personalities that it was just easier to sit back and let them do all those leadership things that DJ is now doing himself,” Wright said.
“The things that I see DJ doing this year in terms of leadership stuff is unbelievable. He has always played good basketball but I’ve never seen him show this leadership.
“I’ve coached him now for three years and he is grabbing guys around the shoulders and talking to them, he’s conversing with the coaching staff more, he’s giving us directions and ideas of what he sees. He has just stepped out of his shell.”
Sobey has become the undoubted breakout star in the NBL this season and is playing at such a level in terms of athletic abilities, shooting touch, remarkable moves at the rim and passionate defence that he’s the most energetic player in the league.
The 26-year-old must have put himself into calculations for future Boomers honours and his confidence in his ability extends to taking the big of shots with games on the line.
With Gibson gone and the 36ers losing captain Mitch Creek to injury in the first half of the season, they needed some help for Jerome Randle and Sobey has more than filled the void.
But Wright hasn’t been surprised in the slightest.
“When Sobes was in college I used to send him a lot of texts and I tried to keep in touch with him because I always thought he was going to be a star. John Rillie was the one who first told me about him so I kept my eye on him and thought he had everything that we liked as a player,” he said.
“He plays really hard, he’s athletic, he can score and shoot the ball so we were really happy with who he was and wanted to get a hold of him.
“But in the very first year out, we had no money and Cairns offered him some money so he went there. But the very next year we offered him a three-year deal and we made some room to do that. We felt like he was always going to be a good player.”
Sobey has no doubt that the closeness of the 36ers playing group is a big part of why they are performing so well, and why they have overcome the departure of Gibson and Petrie.
“Everyone says it, but we really are a close group. That does help us on the court in situations when we know we have each other’s back. That’s a huge thing for us,” Sobey said.
“They are two guys who have been around the league for a while obviously and they were leaders of the club before they left. They played a lot of minutes for us and that obviously opens up so much when they leave, not only on the court but the leadership as well.
“The minutes and leadership all opens up and someone has to take that responsibility moving forward, and there has been a bunch of people on the team who have taken on those roles and jumped all in with them, and are thriving on those opportunities.”
Wright hoped that he had compiled a group that could be competitive but it was one relying on the leadership of Randle, Johnson and Creek while hoping Sobey could take the next step and first or second-year players like Hodgson, Jacobsen, Deng and Drmic could stand up.
It’s all come together in remarkable fashion with 12 of the last 13 games going their way to have them on target for the minor premiership heading into this weekend at home to Brisbane and away to Melbourne.
Wright wasn’t sure what to expect coming into the season, but now that he’s seen the group in action he couldn’t be more proud.
“I was hoping it would and we were cautiously optimistic. That’s probably exactly where I’m at coming into most seasons. We felt like we had some young guys with some pretty big talent in Majok and Drmic, and we knew Sobey and Hodgy were coming along,” Wright said.
“We just felt like we had some really good talent but how they come together is so hard to tell at the beginning of the season. I was cautiously optimistic but I did feel like we could get going at some point.
“There’s a lot of similarities to my Brisbane team. There’s not as much wisdom and experience, or proven talent, but as far as the way they care about each other and the way they support each other in down times, they don’t care who gets the credit.
“If one guy is playing in front of them and he hits shots, the guy behind him is jumping up and down cheering him on. There has been a lot of maturing and growth in just one year and this group will be right up there in terms of how proud I am. Whatever happens from here, I’ll always be proud of what this group has achieved.”
Wright can’t help but have extra admiration for what the 36ers are doing considering that the NBL has implemented a soft salary cap this season allowing teams to go out and spend up big to add star power to their rosters if they can afford it.
The Sixers can’t but they are showing that passion and commitment to each other can take you a long way, and Wright couldn’t be happier with what they are doing.
“It does make me proud because I don’t think the average fan understands what we have to do compete, or just get out on the court in this league,” Wright said.
“It’s not apples to apples with what we are competing with, so for our guys to step up and play the ball that they have and put those things away, has been great.
“We played against a team a few weeks ago who had four NBA guys on the floor and we didn’t back down. Hodgy was out there working his butt off and didn’t back down against an NBA guy. I’m really proud of them for all of that.”
As for his old players Gibson and Petrie, who Wright did previously coach at the Gold Coast Blaze (and Brisbane in Gibson’s case), he feels for them with their current calf and knee injuries. But has no doubt they will be back as strong as ever.
“Both of them had to go to Brisbane for the reasons they did. If they look at that and keep that in perspective, that’s exactly what they had to do, both of them,” Wright said.
“They are champions and warriors so I would expect them to get over these injuries to be back out there on the court and be a force before long.”
ROUND 15 NBL RESULTS
THURSDAY
Adelaide 36ers 100 beat Melbourne United 73 at Titanium Security Arena
FRIDAY
New Zealand Breakers 92 beat Sydney Kings 74 at Vector Arena
Illawarra Hawks 85 beat Brisbane Bullets 80 at WIN Entertainment Centre
SATURDAY
Melbourne United 92 beat Cairns Taipans 85 at State Netball & Hockey Centre
Perth Wildcats 84 lost to Adelaide 36ers 95 at Perth Arena
SUNDAY
Brisbane Bullets 82 lost to New Zealand Breakers 84 at Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
MONDAY
Cairns Taipans 80 beat Perth Wildcats 78 at Cairns Convention Centre