Hoops

Perth Wildcats Starting 5

Yeah I'd have Wagstaff on Cadee, your questioning suggests that Sydney will constantly go to the mismatch and I don't see that happening... They have too many selfish players like Garlepp and we we don't know what we will get from Thornton but he has a history of getting up a lot of shots.
Cadee is notorious for standing around and waiting for the game come to him... If he was active then it would be another story.

I think Beal would be a greater asset coming off the bench, last year he was conservative to the detriment of the team and he was hardly going to be benched for U'u.

This squad is highly changeable and I think if anyone thinks they can get court time by not playing hard then they deserve to be on the bench

Williamson shot 26% from three last time he played in the NBL. Matt Knight and Tom Jervis were the only two players for the Wildcats last season to attempt a three and shoot worse than that, and Knight was pretty close at 25%.

He only shot 32.4% from three for his career, too. That's lower than the career numbers for Redhage, Beal, and Wagstaff, and only a tenth of a percent higher than Damian Martin.

Ughh... those ansty refs whistling all those lame flops...
:p

I can buy the reasoning if it's a matter of him not being integrated properly into the team yet.
To me that is as much a personality/ego/pecking order issue as a basketball one though. The "new guy" just walking into a starting spot amongst a group of veterans might ruffle too many feathers. Fair enough.

The bulk of this season's roster is settled, and chemistry should not be an issue. Nate is obviously going to take a while to mesh in. But that remains just as true regardless of which part of the game we're in, so that aspect is kind of a wash to me.

Paul's point about "those plans aren't fresh in the oppo's minds" is a fair one. I don't know if reality will reflect the theory, since it's kind of impossible to not be highly aware of Nate's presence once he checks in, but I'll pay it.

Overall I'm still not convinced though.
Do I expect him to start game 1? No of course not. But I think that he will pretty quickly establish himself as our starting centre.
I just feel that we'll be a much more potent team with him on the floor. Our front court is bursting with capable players, but Nate gives us a point of difference. I think that (unlike all the others) he's a guy that will be hard to contain one-on-one, and we desperately need that to get our offence going.

Isaac, you forgot flopping as amongst the list of some of their finest qualities!

LV, I've been saying very similar things for the past several days. I don't think there is any disagreement that the Cats roster is waaay top-heavy.
It's going to take some very impressive coaching to make it work.

LV, yeah I was oversimplifying with that. Knight can obviously play the 5 as well if the matchup works well, which I'm sure it will at times. My point was really just about Jawai's minutes rather than how his gaps are filled in.

I think he could start later in the season. They will feel him out, see how many minutes he can take. According to the interview I read he wants to slim down a lot too.

Why would Perth not start Jawai? Just wondering what the rationale is.

I acknowledge that he is unlikely to play big minutes, particularly in the first half of the season, but I'd be starting him. I think he has the potential to dominate a game, so I would want to maximise his minutes. I also think it gives the Cats their best chance to get off to a good start in games.
I'd be playing him something like the first 3 and last 3 minutes of each half, plus the 4 minutes split across the quarter time breaks (or as many of those minutes as he is able to be effective in), and having Jervis play the rest.

I imagine the controversy surrounding Greenwood's departure and then the rumours/signing of Jawai generated a bit of interest.

Quick Question: Whats with all the 'Wildcats' based Topics lately? Never got anything like this last year or the year before.

Think we could possibly see different starting 5's depending who they are playing. Jervis and Jawai may get the start against the likes of Khazzou or Ibekwe. Knight to start against smaller mobile centres.

There's a compressed schedule this year with teams playing 2 games most weeks so having too many big guys is not going to be an issue.

I think Jervis is being seriously under-rated in this discussion. Personally I think for team balance Perth would be best starting him, and going with:
1: Martin
2: Beal
3: Prather
4: Knight
5: Jervis
As Jawai's fitness improves perhaps shift him to start, but I think you'll get best bang for buck having Redhage, Jawai and Wagstaff off the bench.

Wait, what? Wagstaff guarding Cadee??

I think we have the ability to inject Jawai and Jervis isn't games and say "play hard" and not be too concerned if they pick up a couple of quick fouls. Wildcats seem to get away with being more physical and if a 5 minute injection of either or both these players pays off with intimidation then it looks like good coaching but if it doesn't work then we have able replacements waiting on the bench but saying that...

PG Damo
SG Prather
SF Wagstaff
PF Knight
C Jawai

In case of say the Kings I'd have man on man with Prather guarding Childress, Damo on me dreadlocks and Wagstaff on Cadee... It might be a risk but it's what makes sport great is seeing how things will turn out and seeing both how things can go right and how they can go wrong

"I disagree, I think we have the abilty to go outside:
Damo
Beal
Redhage
Wagstaff
Knight"

30.7%
33.5%
36.8%
32.3%
25.0%

I don't think that "Outside" lineup would strike fear at the perimeter into many opponents, and Redhage as a 3 hasn't worked out well in the past even during his prime.

Besides, I think the best looks we are going to get from outside will come when Nate is dominating his man inside. Inside-out is the way to go, and I'm counting on Prather to keep defences busy whether or not his range extends out to the arc.

Most people seem to be far more optimistic than I am, and hopefully they're right and I'm wrong.
The other important factor in play is our head coach. Personally I've never rated him. This season he will be tested. Let's see what he's made of.

Martin 1
Prather 2
Redhage 3
Knights 4
Jawai 5

Beal - sixth man to replace any of the starters. Bring some offense off the bench.

Ask any Cats fan whether depth has been as important as quality over the last half a dozen years. We've started a lot of seasons with a nice pair of starters. In the 60 minute scenario above, those other 20 minutes need to be accounted for and 20 minutes is a long time in basketball.

Seeing now that Kenny is the other man, I'm glad that at least we've got someone with some experience. From that selection, clearly the plan is to rotate some bigger guys through the wing positions and back the mismatches to work in our favour more often than in the opponents'. I hope it's successful because there is no Plan B with this roster.

"Dunkin dan you must have rocks in your head to call our backcourt ' weak as hell'. Damo and dolla are two of the better players in the league and complement each other well i feel."

I agree that they're both excellent players. I love Damo, and Beal can be very effective with the right support. More than happy to have them as my starting 1 & 2.
But one of them is currently injured and historically injury-prone. My idea of a quality backcourt is one that will stand up for 40 minutes per game for a whole season, rather than one that starts looking shaky the moment a sub is required for a breather, foul trouble, or an injury.

I'd be surprised if we get away with it. If we have a lucky run with injuries and our 10th roster spot is a good selection then maybe we will, but we've taken a very risky route IMO.

it's going to be real "interesting" so see how Gleeson copes with the front court logjam. Hopefully not as "interesting" as when he had a similar issue with the Tigers with that ridiculously top-heavy roster

Whether or not Nate starts, I'm guessing his minutes will be limited for a fair while (whether due to fitness or foul trouble). I'm sure he'll be starting sooner or later though. Our backcourt is weak as hell, so having a weapon like him on the court is something we will need to take maximum advantage of IMO.

Redhage & Wagstaff at the 3 have both gone badly in the past, and Hire also seems to play better as an undersized 4 than as a slow 3, so it's going to be real "interesting" so see how Gleeson copes with the front court logjam. Hopefully not as "interesting" as when he had a similar issue with the Tigers with that ridiculously top-heavy roster :-/

Suffice to say that my expectations for this season are not high.
On the positive side, we've never been better placed to be able to deal with the inevitable Matty Knight injuries ;)

Iverson returned to Philly today, and was beaten by Billups the man that swapped places with him in Denver last year.

Billups had 31 points to Iverson's 11 on 4/11 shooting.

Iverson started and played 38 minutes.

I thought the most interesting stat of the game was the bench scoring by Philly. 2 points - that's right - 2 points total.

This has to be some sort of record?