In honour of the prodigal son’s return from a left shoulder injury, on this very day one year ago, Kangaroo Kobe — Dante Exum — was taking a break from dominating the ‘Call of Duty WW II’ leaderboards and actually out there dominating on the hardwood for once, suiting up next to Jingling Joe Ingles and his mates on the Utah Jazz… And on a cold Illinois March night back in 2017, Dante lined up the Chicago Bulls squarely in his sights and went BANG like a bloody year 2000-vintage Matty Lloyd!
And granted, it feels like the poor bugger is always injured or coming back from an injury, but a year ago the Seabrook Sensation was finally hitting his stride after sitting out the season before because of the knee injury he suffered playing his heart out like a true Aussie battler for the Boomers. And Son of Cecil went to work on the Bulls like he was back on the Tarneit blacktops at Thomas Carr College, earning his two dimmies and strawberry Big M by putting in more work than a Woy Woy welder.
Flying around the court like his Geelong Supercats superstar pops did (just sans the Warwick Capper 1989 NBL short-shorts), in only 15 minutes of court time, Dante threw in 7 points and 4 rebounds, going 2-of-5 from the field, 0-1 from long distance and 3-5 from the charity stripe. And for those who weren’t there, those 7 points were scored on various forays to the rim that were a dazzling display of daring and danger reminiscent of a young Clyde the Glide Drexler, or my mate Stew punching durries and doin’ doughies up the Deni Ute Muster back in ‘06.
The rebounds, meanwhile, were the result of Dante possessing more drive than a XY Falcon, and more grit than a bloke named Dale who runs 8 landscaping businesses.
And only a week prior, Kangaroo Kobe had a CAREER HIGH 22 points in 26 minutes (going a lazy 7-of-8 from the field and 7-of-9 from the line), showing off the Mamba-mentality that made him the number 5 pick in the NBA draft only three years ago. With him possessing a basketball IQ so high it blew up the machine, having more hops than Skippy AND being longer than a Nullarbor road train, I reckon he’s a good chance to be a cross between noted squirrel-puncher John Stockton, the OG Leapin’ Leroy Loggins and Mountain Dew spokesman Grant Hill.
And now Dante’s Peak is finally back, slinging bullet-passes to old mate Jingling Joe Ingles for some picture-perfect three-bombs and shredding next to Donovan Mitchell in the Jazz’s awesome DMX backcourt! You little ripper! That’s a more beautiful than a Werribee sunrise! Welcome back Dante, we’ve missed ya mate!
#ONYA Kangaroo Kobe!
