NBA championship-winner Matthew Dellavedova believes Nathan Sobey’s rise is reflective of the shape of Australian basketball.
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The tenacious Milwaukee Bucks guard spoke about Sobey’s transformation from NBL burst player to potential Australian Boomer during a visit to the Adelaide 36ers’ hometown of Warrnambool on Sunday.
Dellavedova, who hails from Maryborough, said Sobey was making the most of his opportunities.
“It’s great seeing fellow Vic Country guys doing really well,” he said.
“He’s obviously played really well with Adelaide and is a great athlete and getting the chance to go over to (the NBA) summer league and be in the Boomers’ program as well is exciting to see.”
Read more: Bendigo junior sport in photos
Dellavedova, who played alongside Lebron James in Cleveland Cavaliers’ historic 2016 championship before being traded to the Bucks on a four-year $38 million deal, said the depth of Australian basketball was increasing.
“I think it’s the strongest it’s probably been in a little while,” he said.
“We’ve got eight Aussies in the NBA and a lot of Aussie girls in the WNBA and the NBL and WNBL are going in the right direction.
“The Boomers and Opals are going pretty strong as well, so I think it’s a pretty exciting time for Australian basketball.”
Dellavedova, 26, spent one-on-one time with Warrnambool Seahawks’ under-12 basketball team following its win in a ‘Team Up With Delly’ competition run by his apparel sponsor Peak.
Each player received a signed Dellavedova Australian Boomers’ jersey and had their photo taken with the Olympian.
He then took ran a Q&A session and clinics with 100s of aspiring south-west players at the Arc.
It was not his first visit to Warrnambool.
“My sister had a jamboree here once so I helped out,” Dellavedova said.
“I think I was the demonstrator when I was probably 14 at the coaches’ clinics and we (my family) used to come down here on the summer holidays.”
Seahawks players Finn O’Sullivan and Nicholas Unwin said the visit was “a dream come true”.
“We did this Delly contest and we took a lot of photos around Warrnambool and Koroit,” Finn said.
The pair said they asked Dellavedova “how he felt meeting LeBron and Kyrie (Irving)”, about his first minutes in the NBA and who his basketball idol was.
Finn said his young Seahawks team had enjoyed a successful representative season.
“We were close in the Bendigo championship,” he said.
“We just got knocked off against Sale but we still fought out hard and won the division two final.”
Justine McCullagh-Beasy
Sports journalist with an interest in feature reporting. Email: justine.mc@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Sports journalist with an interest in feature reporting. Email: justine.mc@austcommunitymedia.com.au
