Adelaide coach Joey Wright has hailed 36ers guard Nathan Sobey's emergence as a team leader after his five-star performance in Saturday's 119-99 rout of the Sydney Kings.
Wright raised eyebrows with his decision to axe import Adris Deleon earlier in the season and hand the playmaking reins to Sobey, who had essentially been a shooting guard throughout his five-year NBL career.
Despite the occasional flare-up with Wright, the 28-year-old has handled the transition with relative ease.
Sobey leads the NBL in assists (5.1 per game), is eighth in scoring (16.2) and 12th in steals (1.1).
He has been particularly effective lately and the Sixers (12-10) are well placed for a run at the finals.
"He's been coming along really well," Wright said.
"To see where he's at now versus where he was at the last couple of years is amazing.
"He does a lot of work off the court in bettering his leadership skills and he's bringing that. He's learning to talk and play.
"When you're young you're just trying to play and when you get to next level you try to play and help others play, and that's where he's at now. He has that ability to go out and play and help others play.
"It's great to see his development and hopefully he continues to grow."
The 20-point thrashing was Sydney's heaviest loss of the season and second straight home defeat.
Hulking Kings centre Andrew Bogut had a game to forget, finishing with six points and two rebounds before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
"Right now we're not playing at a level that's going to be competitive with many teams in this competition," Sydney coach Andrew Gaze said.
Newly-signed Kings import Ray Turner had an inauspicious debut, fouling out in just seven minutes and tallying two points.
"He's coming here to fill a specific role," Gaze said.
"He's not coming in to transform our team and play 30 minutes a game. He has to learn quickly, but he's a smart guy and a good guy and we think he'll pick it up."
