Man. Can you believe that 12 years ago today Fanta Pants Shaq — Luke Schenscher — made his NBA debut!? That’s right, all the way back in 2006, Hope Forest’s favourite son played his FIRST EVER NBA game, manning the paint for 12 minutes against Big Zydrunas Ilgauskas and a young LeBron James as his Chicago Bulls got blown out by the Cleveland Cavaliers… but, in the process, he probably became the most iconic Chicago Bull to ever pull on the No. 45.
Answering the question ‘What would happen if Tim Duncan looked like Ronald McDonald and grew up 40kms south of Adelaide’ The Big Croweater — who, don’t forget, was also the first high school kid to play for the Boomers back in ’01 — showed off an array moves more fundamentally sound than his pronunciation of Dingabledinga!
The best Bloodnut Big Man in the NBA since Bill Walton wasn’t even close to being overawed by the moment either, going perfect from the field (2-of-2) in his NBA debut — hitting more shots than Tyson Chandler, Andres Nocioni, Chris Duhon and Othella HarringtonCOMBINED in their collective 70 minutes of court time— and finishing with 4 points.
The 7-foot-bloody-40 ginger ninja also tore down a single rebound with a gracefulness reminiscent of Big Sticks Kernahan flying into a pack to take a specky. … But, in the usual display of the NBA’s Anti-Strayan bias, Herr Dunkensher also got slogged with 3 rubbish fouls by the mongrel refs.
Still, it went down as the SIXTH best game of his rookie season… and his NINTH BEST EVER! Not a bloody bad outing for an NBA debut! Especially for a bloke who, at the time, looked like a bloody 7-foot Raggedy Andy!
Of course, after his two NBA seasons (and a stellar college career, where he led Georgia Tech to the ’04 Final Four and NCAA Championship Game) Big Luke went on to have an all-time great NBL career, playing four years with his hometown 36ers and even winning a title when he went over to Perth! Now Big Luke’s busy growing his beard and hair out and chilling in Oz, picking up a ball on the odd occasion to play in Big 3 tournaments, all while being a dead-set ledge.
So, hoist ‘em up in recognition of a great NBA debut by the Ginger Tim Duncan!
#ONYA Luuuuuuke!