Basketball On The Internet.

TO the best of my research, CJ Bruton hasn’t actually said the “R” word, despite strong independent rumors he and Kristi Harrower soon will launch their exclusive “Who Says Basketball Is Only For Tall Folks?” academy.

(No female taller than 163cm or male taller than 181cm need apply.)

But everything strongly points to CJ’s match on Friday for New Zealand against Cairns as his last as an NBL stalwart of 515 games, 7,663 points, 1,853 assists, 672 steals and even 1,528 rebounds.

He debuted for Perth in 1994 alongside Ricky Grace, playing against Darryl McDonald of the North Melbourne Giants at the Glasshouse.

He sank a memorable shot from beyond halfcourt in that game (check out the youtube video of it here ... and Brett Brown’s hair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRRUtkZWXFU ) and he draws the curtain on his career with NZ in 2014, alongside Kerron Johnson, playing against Jamar Wilson  of the Cairns Taipans at Vector Arena.

In between that first game and his last, CJ has won six NBL Championships at three clubs, matching the record once held solely by David Stiff who won two with Adelaide, two with Sydney and two with Melbourne.

Bruton made his career stops at Perth, Brisbane, Wollongong, Canberra, Sydney and New Zealand, winning two championships with the Kings, one at the Bullets and three with the Breakers.

It is a phenomenal feat for a young man who grew up in the shadow of his father Cal, whose achievements in the NBL were legion and who, even this season was remembered and honored with his name jointly on The Blitz Preseason Tournament’s perpetual Cup.

But pretty much from that first day when he sank the last-second shot to close the first quarter, CJ has been his own man, his own identity and has forged his own career.

Few could be a prouder father than Cal, his son one of the most reliable and consistent at being able to hit the big shot. But it wasn’t just the fact he can and could hit the big shot – it was the self-belief and confidence he generated through the fact he WANTED the big shot.

I remember him screwing up late in a game against the 36ers a few years back in Auckland, then making a couple of massive threes to force overtime, then win the game. Just shook my head in admiration.

The heart of a champion and the eye of an assassin.

I recall too, watching him bust a move on Darnell Mee in Game 3 of the 2005 Grand Final series, the Kings already 2-0 ahead in what was a rare best-of-five Championship.

Mee had won two Championships in Adelaide and developed a justified reputation for his work at the defensive end as a five-time winner of the NBL’s Best Defensive Player award.

But he was 34 when CJ faked him out and took a clear lane to the hoop, and rarely has there been a better single example of the baton being passed.

When you’ve been around the game for a while, you steadily identify the players who talk the talk and actually walk the walk.

CJ had the strut, and more than enough opposition scalps with it.

A player (or two) of note hangs up the boots at the end of most seasons and often it is only the club whose uniform he is wearing which acknowledges it.

That’s probably as it should be too but when CJ walks off the hardwood for the final time, fans who love the game nationwide should be applauding, remembering those moments he made them shiver with excitement when they were following his exploits.

Or those moments when they were terrified late in a game when he had the ball and their team was in his sights.

I am not sure there has been anyone in the NBL who has done what he does any better. He came in as a budding champion and departs as a bona fide champion.

No-one can begrudge him any of the kudos he so richly deserves. The game will be poorer for his decision to leave it as an on-court competitor.

And I, for one, will forever be grateful I had the opportunity to watch, enjoy, occasionally chronicle but always revel in watching him reveal his skills and talent for us all to savor.

From 1994 to 2014, the time passed much too quickly.