Cadee ready to thrive in NBL23

By Dan Woods - NBL Media

There are few players in the NBL who can boast the career longevity of Brisbane Bullets guard Jason Cadee.

After starting his career with the now defunct Gold Coast Blaze back in 2010, Cadee has been an ever-present in the league for over a decade. Stints in Adelaide and Sydney followed his time with the Blaze, but since 2018 he’s been an experienced presence on the Brisbane Bullets' roster. 

The arrival of Aron Baynes has meant that more eyes are on the Bullets than ever before.

They’ve certainly had exciting and notable players since their re-instatement to the NBL in 2017 – including former NBA players Will Magnay, Cam Bairstow and Lamar Patterson, and they still boast Olympic bronze medallist Nathan Sobey on their roster, but the arrival of Baynes and new import Tyler Johnson taken things to a whole new level.

“Before we signed 'Baynesey', everyone was saying we were going to finish last,” Cadee told NBL Media. “The impact he’s going to have on the organisation both on and off the floor is going to be massive.

“I played with (former Sydney centre) Aleks Maric a few years ago and everyone used to call him 'Truck'. Nobody wanted to run near 'Truck', get hurt by 'Truck', or hurt 'Truck' because he'd get them back. To have a guy like 'Baynesey' I feel like it’s going to be similar – people are going to be nervous about where he is and not want to get hit by him on a screen.

“Then obviously off the back of him, we sign Tyler Johnson. I feel like those two names have put us in the spotlight a bit, but for my mind there’s still a lot of work to do. We’ve got Tyler coming into an overseas environment for the first time, and we’ve also got 'Baynesey' coming back off a long layoff that everyone knows about.

“It is nice though to know there’s a lot of potential with the group we’ve got so far and we’ve got one piece to add.”

Aron Baynes. 

A serious injury to Nathan Sobey didn’t help the team’s cause in NBL22 and the young Bullets struggled to an eighth-place finish.

But everything seems to be falling in place right now. Brisbane's roster was officially completed on Monday with the introduction of Devondrick Walker and excitement is high leading into NBL23. 

“Last year we were a really inexperienced crew in a lot of our team. Then you lose two of your starters for basically the whole year … it’s probably going to be a different world for 'JD' (head coach James Duncan) this year than last,” Cadee said.

“This year we’ve got a way more experienced team, and I wouldn’t call us old, but we’re an older crew. It should hopefully be more of him getting to coach whereas last year he was more trying to manage so many things.

“He's a great guy 'JD', he loves basketball, he loves building relationships and really getting to know people in the club … I’d hope it’s a bit easier for him this year.”

James Duncan. 

Although Sobey has said he's eyeing off a return in the upcoming NBL Blitz, the nature of his bone bruise injury could see him remained sidelined for longer.

The Olympic bronze medallist first suffered the knee injury last season. Although he initially returned to the court in quick fashion, the problem reared its head again to sideline him for the remainder of the campaign.

Brisbane's number five says his teammate and close friend is closing in on a return.

“'Sobes' is one of the most diligent, hard-working guys I’ve ever been around and no stone will be left unturned as he tries to get back as soon as possible,” Cadee said.

“The other part is he’s not going to rush himself. Last year he rushed to get back and the injury came back again.

“He’s been way more involved in the last seven to ten days … he started doing some five on zero and some shooting stuff within the group this week … I’d like to think that means he’s only a few weeks away from really starting to ramp up. Normally once you get to a competitive stage it snowballs pretty quickly.

“People think when you’re injured you just get to sit on the sidelines but it’s one of the worst and most frustrating things that can happen. You just feel like you’re helpless sitting there watching all the time.

“I know being so close with him he’s really over that part of just chiming in from the sidelines. He really wants to be involved and be in those on-floor conversations and discussions. I, for one, am very excited to see 'Sobes' back on court whenever that may be.”

Nathan Sobey.

Cadee was one of a raft of NBL players to ply their trade in NBL1 over this off-season, linking up with Bullets teammates Tanner Krebs and DJ Mitchell to lead the Gold Coast Rollers to the NBL1 North title.

He took out the Finals MVP Award for his role in the clean sweep of finals opponents USC Rip City – his 35 points and 12 assists in game two saw him play a crucial role in the monster 47-point win to round out the series.

Cadee himself grew up with a close connection to his own community basketball club, Bankstown, and he says to be able to win the title for the Gold Coast fans was an incredible experience.

“The (Finals) MVP thing to me doesn’t mean much … you realise when you play NBL1, or as I’ve always called it, ABA, how much it means to a lot of people,” he reflected.

“You forget as you get a little bit older that’s some people’s Bankstown to me. I played all my juniors there, my mum played there, my dad played there, so when I go and play for a club like Gold Coast it’s got a very similar bloodlines for people.

“To see so many people so ecstatic and so happy, and to also do it with the group of guys we had and with Peach (Anthony Petrie) as a coach, it was really special.

“For me winning with 'LP' (former Bullet Lamar Patterson) was also really special. I know he’s not with the Bullets anymore, but he’s someone I love as a guy, he’s been fantastic and he’s fantastic to play with. To win something with him was pretty cool.”