The most mesmerising Australian sportsman since Shane Warne, David Campese and Wally Lewis were at their height?

I’m going to go with Ben Simmons. Have you ever seen anything like him? I never have. This bloke is a rookie, going up against veterans of the NBA, and making them look ordinary! In the first two games of the play-off series with his Philadelphia 76ers, he has posted the best stats for a play-off debutant since... Michael Jordan.

Lessons from Down Under: Ben Simmons is dominating for the 76ers in the NBA. Credit:AP

But again, the mere stats don’t do justice to him. It is the way he plays, the fact that he looks like he is on fast-forward, while all around him have their shoes stuck in a marsh of honey; the fact that he seems to leap like Nureyev from three or four metres out, casually dunk it, and then without so much as a fist-pump, run back to his position. He seems a buttoned down sort of bloke, still closely follows his AFL team in Melbourne, and gets tickets for his high school mates when they are in the States.

On the strength of his play this season, the young Australian will all but certainly be named Rookie of the Year, and his team – coached by one of Australian basketball’s favourite adopted sons, Brett Brown – just might go all the way. Therein, see, lies quite a story.