Gun-for-hire looking to fire for Bullets and Boomers
Brisbane Bullets gun recruit and Australian Boomers squad member Nathan Sobey is ready to take his game to another level
NATHAN Sobey is all about getting better each time he steps on to a basketball court.
That’s why he joined the Brisbane Bullets and why he is relishing the prospect of the upcoming Boomers selection camp for the FIBA World Cup.
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The Bullets won the hotly-contested race for the athletic guard’s signature during the NBL free agency period, pipping the likes of Sydney and South-East Melbourne.
A relative late bloomer, the 29-year-old from Warrnambool in Victoria broke into the NBL with Cairns in 2014 before joining Adelaide in 2015.
He went on to become a bona fide star of the competition with the 36ers, earning an NBA Summer League stint, national selection and a Commonwealth Games gold medal along the way.
Sobey is one of the NBL’s best and brightest mixing it with Australia’s NBA and European-based stars at the World Cup selection camp that gets underway in Melbourne on Saturday.
The four-day camp will be a highly competitive battle for the 12 spots on the plane to the FIBA World Cup in China starting later this month.
Sobey said the intense experience can only help his game which he hopes to develop further at Brisbane as a point guard.
“I can’t wait to get into Boomers camp and start working with those guys that you don’t get to work with every day of the week. It can only make you better,’’ Sobey said.
“You spend time with high talent guys like Joe (Ingles), Patty (Mills), Aron (Baynes), Delly (Matthew Dellavedova) and the rest of the NBA boys and the game starts to slow down a bit for you.
“Individually, my main goal is to develop my game at point guard. It was one of the big reasons to come to Brisbane with Drej (Bullets and Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis), CJ Bruton (Bullets assistant coach and NBL great) and Sammy (Mackinnon, Brisbane assistant and NBL great).
“I’ve still got a long way to go but those guys and the Bullets are going to be great.’’
Sobey said the state-of-the-art facilities at Brisbane’s new training and playing home at the Queensland State Netball Centre was the cherry on top of his decision to sign with the Bullets.
“It’s a great facility, probably the best in the NBL so the club’s done a great job of taking everything to a higher level for us on and off the court,’’ he said.
“Last year Brisbane was a well-coached team with smart players who stuck to the game plan and they had success. I’m looking forward to playing with them rather than against them, especially a guy like Lamar Patterson who was very good last year and deserved the First Team NBL.’’
Originally published as Gun-for-hire looking to fire for Bullets and Boomers