Cadee hoping to make an impact on Adelaide 36ers return

Having turned 32 last week, Jason Cadee has been a mainstay in the nation’s peak professional basketball league and has no intention of slowing down.

With 13 seasons in the NBL along with state league duties in the off-season and representative honours, for Cadee the highlights are many.

“You go through different teams, different phases some more challenging than others, and you think about the players I’ve been able to play with and really connect with,” he said.

“I think one of the main things for me is my longevity in the sport too. I feel like I’ve done an excellent job of being able to be effective and influence multiple groups for my whole 13 years.”

Before his career had even launched in the NBL, the sport and his fan base were almost robbed of his talent.

In July 2010, months after signing his first professional contract with the Gold Coast Blaze, the car he was travelling in on Sydney’s M7 was collided with by a semi-trailer, pushing Cadee off the road and spinning out of control.

He was trapped in the wreck for close to two hours, escaping with a broken pelvis and having to withdraw from the Boomers squad but with greater respect for what was ahead.

“I wouldn’t say I think about it all the time, but it definitely pops up,” Cadee said.

“Especially when people talk about my career because that was the very start of it. I was leaving AIS to basically get ready to go off to the Gold Coast, and it kind of started all off.

“It’s definitely something I think back on, and kind of the outcome I really always come to is I still don’t know how I’m alive.

“That’s not even exaggerating, that’s just the straight-up truth. Like when you describe it to someone, I got T-boned by a semi-trailer going 100km an hour.

“I think the biggest thing that probably helped was that when it happened, I was so young and I was probably so immature towards it all in terms of I just didn’t understand what actually took place and I probably was easier at that age to block it out.

“I kind of treated it like any injury which probably wasn’t the greatest thing as well but it probably did also help me get back and back on the floor.”

In the NBL, Cadee has gone on to play over 350 games for the Gold Coast Blaze (2010-2012), Adelaide 36ers (2012-2014), Sydney Kings (2014-2018) and Brisbane Bullets (2018-2023).

“I always wanted to play in the NBL and I’ve managed to do it for 13 years,” he said.

“I think when you strip it back to what I thought about when I was a young boy, that was the environment I aspired to be in.

“When I think about that, how could you not enjoy it?

“It’s been my job for 13 years and then there’s also the other side where it’s challenging. You’re a competitor, you want to do well and you want to win.

“People are gonna like you, people are not gonna like you.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, there are people that want your job, there’s an expectation on you and expectation on the team.

“All of those things start to play into it and that’s what becoming a professional is all about.”

Cadee helped Adelaide reach the 2014 NBL Grand Final, where they lost 2-1 to the Wildcats, but will now return to the club on a two-year deal.

Through changes in coaching and direction, the last 18 months with the Bullets allowed Cadee to see the writing on the wall.

“Obviously there’s been a lot going on the last few years in Brisbane, a place I’ve truly loved playing in, I feel like I’ve connected with the community, almost on a level that I did in Sydney, which I never thought was possible given Sydney was home,” he said.

“I’ve truly loved being here through its challenges and since Andrej Lemanis left, the club’s kind of gone a different route with different things.

“It was more recently that you could notice with the number of changes made at Brisbane and the direction they were heading with things that it was going to be heading into a phase that was a bit of an unknown.

“I’m not very good at that side of things, I usually look after those around me but when I knew that was the direction that it was going, I knew it was heading towards a bit of a hurdle.

“I kind of knew it was going to lead to me just seeing what was out there and what interest through the league was like.

“I spoke to a few people and then I thought let’s go to free agency for the first time and see how it plays out.

“Let everybody put their best options and offers fall it and so we did that and let it fall as it did.”

The move means he teams up with former Bullets star CJ Bruton, who is at the helm as head coach of the Adelaide 36ers after leaving the River City in 2021.

“CJ was one of the first people to pick up the phone,” Cadee said.

“He’s someone that how can you not like CJ as a person.

“I understand what he’s trying to do without ever being in his system as a head coach, I think I already know what he would be after.

“The club as a whole, if I think about how, it was ten years ago when I left to how it is now. They are at the Entertainment Centre and they’re getting sell-outs week in week out.

“They are investing in their club and the community is invested in the club.

“I just looked at it from a point of view of where I can go and enjoy playing basketball and where can I go and try and be a part of something, not trying to fix pieces.

“I think Adelaide with CJ there was a start and I had a talk to their CEO Nic (Barbato) and their owner Grant Kelley and after that know that it was a good place for me and my family to go to.

“I know this may sound silly but I cannot remember a time when I was able to just go to training for three weeks straight, put my shoes on and improve as a basketball player with just the little things.

“As an individual, I’m looking forward to just getting back to being excited about playing basketball and worrying about getting better and building through the community and helping young kids and just being myself.

“I’m just looking forward to worrying about basketball and really getting back to enjoying myself.”

In Cadee, the 36ers have recruited a player who can be the ultimate sixth man while also being ready to line up in the starting five.

He is Mr Reliable and his game is based on an unselfish style of play that sees assists and feeding the ball to his teammates as vital.

Cadee recorded his 1,000th assist in his NBL career against the Taipans in November last year.

“I’d like to say it’s why a lot of people enjoy playing with me,” he said.

“I feel like most guys I’ve ever played with really enjoy it, and I think a bit of it is I kind of just understand the game really well.

“I understand my teammates and I understand where they want to be on the court.

“Playing with Sobes (Nathan Sobey), I know where he wants to be and where he moves to and the different actions he likes to come off.

“Especially with bigs, I feel I have been really able to work with, Will Magnay was another one I connected really well with. He was able to shine out of it but he was just easy to play with so I think it’s more of my understanding of the game that has led to my ability to find people.

“LP (Lamar Patterson) also I think everyone thought he was just a scorer when he first came out here, but his understanding of where to be and when to get buckets, and his understanding of how to find people is one of the best I’ve seen in some time.

“Just his ability to see the floor. I remember when he first started playing and making plays, people weren’t even ready for it. They didn’t see what he was seeing. It’s one of the reasons why he’s a really great basketballer when he’s fit and firing.”

In the NBL offseason, Cadee played in the Queensland State League, Queensland Basketball League, Waratah League, NZNBL and Greek League, picking up accolades along the way.

These include two QBL/NBL1 North championships with the Brisbane Capitals (2019) and Gold Coast Rollers (2022), being named QBL MVP (2019) and NBL1 North Finals MVP last season.

“I love being able to go back and play at that level and playing in local communities and kids within arm’s reach and want to come and talk to you before and after games,” Cadee said.

“I just always love that environment and I feel like it’s probably the one area where my game truly shines in a different way because I feel like I’ve always done well at making others around me better.

“I would say that’s one environment where it definitely probably shows on a bigger level than others because I have the ability to make guys around me better, whether that be young kids or older guys.”

With the new contract signed and his home team now sorted, Cadee is ready to hit the hard court and re-energise Adelaide.

Both of his parents starred on the representative stage in the sport, with mother Debbie playing for the Australian Opals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and father Robbie featuring for the Boomers at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and going on to coach the Opals at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Jason and his partner, Jasmine, have two young children, so the question had to be asked about the legacy of the Cadee name with basketball in hand.

“It’s funny because me and Anthony Petrie (Gold Coast Rollers coach) are best mates and we talk about it all the time.

“He tries to tell me that I’ve got one of the most coordinated three-year-olds he’s ever seen. Look he already has a love for it already and he is very coordinated. But who knows he’s so young.

“There is definitely a bit of me that hopes he’d love it as much as I did when I was a kid, but there’s also very much a bit of me that goes whatever he chooses to do, he chooses to do.

“I actually had a discussion with someone, I wonder if there’s ever been a third-generation NBL player in terms of my dad, then me and then him.

“But I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.”

For now, it is Cadee’s time to show what he can do for Adelaide.

“I still feel good and young,” he said.

“In ten years, I have missed one game and that was this year due to a concussion.

“I’m fit enough to play and find the ability to play through stuff at times that no one would know about.

“I will know when it is time to retire but for now, I want to be myself and keep playing good basketball.

“I hope I can go to Adelaide and be part of something great.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge of what Adelaide is trying to build and win a title and get back to playing playoff basketball.”

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