Hoops

The West Article: Wildcat latest news

That's US$50K, which is about AUS$65K, but the point is pretty much the same.

Last I heard, $50k was average US household income. Household!

$60k for part of a year and to keep the "play for a living" dream alive. There are definite takers.

There are plenty of imports that have played for that, or even less, in the NBL, especially a couple of years back when the $ was around parity.

The reality is there are far more talented American players than there are import spots around the world, and the second tier leagues in North America pay poorly. Supply and demand.

For many players looking to establish themselves internationally a $60K, 7-month gig in a quality league is a brilliant opportunity, especially when you consider that's just below average household yearly income in the US.

Wow what one legged import is playing for US$60K?
The store manager at Walmart is getting more than that.

Please god no Ellis at the wildcats

As a Wildcats member id love to see us chase after Markell Gladness if we do lose Jawai and Knight.

A team similar to

Gladness/Jervis
Wagstaff/Cody Ellis
Ennis/Hire
Prather/returning college player
Martin/Kenny

I'd get rid of Beal, Redhage and try and go a little younger.

I love what Gladness brings as a shot blocker and Jervis provides immaculate backup and I'd even be happy to play twin towers at times if both are out of foul trouble.

Think the PF could go to either and could be a true chance to grow their game.

Ennis will play most minutes so Hire is there more as a great club man

Prather will be better this year when he learns to defend without fouling

Couldn't be happier with Damo and Harris as play makers

Rmqs initial hunch was correct. Nothing wrong with asking a clarifying question. Always nice to have some information from conversations with guys who actually call the shots.

I didn't find it cryptic, I just wanted a better explanation and context.

Thickness would be believing anonymous internet strangers and not doing any research to understand something fully.

No ones perfect, yo.

Why would anyone want Jawai and pay a high price for him.

I clarified with the jounralist on twitter.

His explanation was "Comparable locals. Particularly with the new marquee rules. Guys like Lisch can ask much more than a 1st year pro".

And vot is vrong vith playing in Latvia pleeze?

Yeah, it's pretty obvious I would think re: pricing for imports. Obviously your Randle/Childress/Warricks are not going to be cheap, but D-League salaries are woeful and so finding an athlete who can make an impact out of undrafted or D-League players is easier than finding a quality Aussie who would make a similar impact at the same price. Other leagues may pay better, but there are non-financial reasons why guys would prefer Australia over, say, Poland or Latvia.

Maybe it's Sydney with their new deep pocketed owners making a play for knight?

I'm not sure why people find the import-price comment so cryptic.

There'd be x NBL-level local players. And there'd be 10+x NBL-level import players. You can obviously make the argument that it's easier to scout/test local players and that they would be more prepared for the style of game here, but the talent pool outside of Australia (even just US alone) is so much bigger.

So, for $80k, you have a better chance of getting a good import than a good Australian player. There will be examples for and against either way.

And you can't really compare with guys you have settled in town already, such as Hire. Like for like is paying the premium to get guys to move across the country. Melbourne had to pay up to get Blanchfield from Townsville, for example. For what they probably spent on him, they could've got a top-tier import.

Someone like Jervis is generally proven, but if you've got someone like Hodgson, Davidson, Brandt and so on, you'd probably want to roll the dice and try to get Hudson (cheap when he arrived in the NBL), Hurdle, etc.

You'd think Brisbane would only want one of Jawai or Knight

Ross is a much better player than Hire

Knight isn't going anywhere, on for another 2 years.

DeAndre Daniels is/was/still is rubbish.

i would also still take Hire or Carter over Ross or U'u.

The Wildcats are always very cryptic about what they say. Generally i think if any of that group leaves its because Perth have made them unhappy, not because they wanted to leave.

Knight is fast approaching the end of days & i don't think Jawai did enough to warrant a recall.
Time to upgrade their big stocks & find a nice complimentary piece to pair with Jervis.

I think he might mean the quality level of import that might not be quite good enough to get big Euro bucks but might have to make do with D-League money, would be of a better price for the level of quality than Aussie players? D-League pays pretty bad, doesn't it? Even with the exchange rate, it would be a better pay cheque coming over here for most of them, wouldn't it?

Could DeAndre Daniels be a fit for the club with three imports?

He wasn't the james ennis type we needed, but now that we have prather, Daniels role could change and he would be more comfortable not being "the man".

I wonder what is meant by imports being cheaper?

Is it you can get a player of the caliber of a Earnest Ross or Drake U'u for cheaper than say a Greg Hire or Rhys Carter?

Interesting decisions to be made for the Cats on a few players. With the league having huge potential to upgrade rosters with extra marquee and import spots, will we see guys like Hire become less important? His elite specific skill set may become less valuable as roster spots improve. I love the way he plays but if 3 imports are brought in you would expect some aussie taleent to struggle for spots.

Losing Knight will hurt but i'm sure they can get a import who will be an instant upgrade. Hell I think with the money that will be left over over both Knight and Jawai leaving Perth should go after a stud Aussie big.

AUGUSTINA Zygaite is ``loving it' in Australia and cannot wait to run out onto Brett Maher Court as the newest member of the Adelaide Lightning.

Zygaite, a 191cm Lithuanian centre who spent four years at the University of Richmond and is coming off a pro season in France, was holidaying in Australia when her agent told her Adelaide was looking for a ``big' for its 2010-11 WNBL campaign.