Cadee's tribute to 300-gamer Nathan Sobey

• South East Melbourne Phoenix guard Nathan Sobey will play his 300th game against the Adelaide 36ers
• Sobey started his NBL career with the Cairns Taipans in 2014 and has played for the 36ers, Brisbane Bullets and Phoenix
• He won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with the Australian Boomers

"I knew he was going to show up."

Jason Cadee has paid tribute to his good friend and former teammate Nathan Sobey ahead of the South East Melbourne Phoenix star's 300th game against the Adelaide 36ers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre tonight.

Cadee and Sobey were teammates for four seasons at the Brisbane Bullets between 2019-2023 and have also played for the Australian Boomers together, going through some tough moments side-by-side including the infamous brawl in the Philippines in 2018.

They have also been the greatest of rivals, going head-to-head in an NBL1 North championship series in 2023, which Sobey won with the Ipswich Force. Sobey and the Phoenix also brought an end to Cadee's career in a play-in elimination game last NBL season.

But speaking on basketball.com.au podcast 'Cut to the Jase', Cadee gave a special shoutout to one of his closest mates and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games bronze medallist.

"(300 games) is a massive achievement," Cadee said.

"Sobes is someone who hasn't done it the typical route. Like you see a lot of people come through the CoE program or state teams, he was just from Warrnambool, never got picked any of those teams.

"He ends up going through the college system, finishes at Wyoming, comes back as a (development player) for Cairns, wasn't even a rostered player and then ends up in Adelaide and kind of that year where (Mitch Creek) got injured and Sobes just ended up shining.

"From there the rest is history, he turns into an Olympian, bronze medalist, multiple All-NBL teams."

A 424-game and 15-year NBL vet himself, Cadee said he and Sobey always heard the criticism he received across the league but didn't care because of the fierce competitor he is.

"He gets a bad rap at times. Shot selection this, shot selection that, and whatever and Sobes knows it. But the one thing that people have to understand is, and for me as a competitor going to war every night with Sobes when I was on his team, I knew that he was going to take some bad shots but I didn't care because I knew how hard he was going to play and how much he wanted to win.

"You love those people on your team because you love the way they go about it and I knew every single night I didn't have to question if Sobes was going to show up. I knew he was going to show up, I knew he was going to play his ass off.

"Sometimes it would result in him taking good or bad shots, but he was going to try and impact the game in any way possible. He was going to rebound, he was going to play hard and that's why I loved playing with him.

"Yes didn't win heaps of games and we weren't incredible at times, we had some rough things go on at the times as well, but he's just competitiveness and how he goes about it is why he's got so far.

"Whether he plays another 20 games, 50 games, 100 games, whatever it may be, how he's conducted his career and how he's gone about it is something kids should look towards because it truly shows, it doesn't matter where you are as a kid.

"You can be an elite 14-year-old and you won't make the NBL, you can be an average 17-year-old and you can end up playing 300 games in the NBL. I'm not saying Sobes was an average 17-year-old, I'm just saying everyone's journey's different, it's how you go about it.

"It's like Jade (Melbourne) said (on Cut to the Jase), you take your opportunities and he's done that. I think it's worth noting because it's not your just prototypical 300-game career."

Sobey, who has played for the Cairns Taipans, Adelaide 36ers, Brisbane Bullets and Phoenix in his illustrious career also appeared on episode three of 'Cut to the Jase'.