Hoops

Wildcats Are In Trouble

Playing in Europe.

What's Brock Motum doing?

JJ plays better running off the ball for catch and shoot type plays. His dribble entry is crap!

Nick Marvin spotted talking to Matt Neilson after the game without the flog.

Damo is not usually a scoring threat, and Redhage is nolonger a starter or a threat.
The Cats recruiting last season was exceptional, they nailed everything that was needed.
This time around they lost the plot.
Problem is they went in a particular direction, aiming for a quicker up-tempo offense. Unfortunately McKay and particularly JJ have not live p to expectations. They have fallen back into relying on Knight, which rules out up-tempo.

Lets assume we get Knight back, we're still reliant on two guys for most of our offense. The rest are too inconsistent. Too many "role players".

The worst thing is that over the past couple of years, losing Knight was not such a big deal because Jervis was a very handy substitute. I was impressed with Brandt last season, but have yet to see similar output.

At the time JJ was sacked, I thought he still had potential. Now I'm not so sure. He's not a bad player, just not what we need.

Jackson at his best would be ok, ditto with somebody like Gary Ervin or Jamar Wilson. Holt would be perfect if he could play as an Asian. And Yeah, what I wouldn't give to see 2014 Beal back.

I think the coaching/recruiting people of the Wildcats have a bit to answer for. Members and supporters pay a lot of money to watch their team. If you look at those brought in for this season - JJ, McKay, Brandt - by current NBL standard, they're low cost rubbish. The offense has never been great to watch, but with these limited players the stagnation stinks. Only Prather looks like a Wildcat import should. There is not one genuine "good shooter" on the team. And it's about time they arrested the guy in the crowd with the gun who keeps shooting Knight. The drama is getting to be embarrassing, the rapid recoveries are really embarrassing.

Bragg happened. Hussey is not a distant memory

I doubt that the cats had expectations of McKay being much more than what he has shown this season. He's an energy guy who can get up & down the floor quickly and should be able to get himself some easy points if our game is flowing. I haven't seen anything to suggest he was ever an unstoppable force in the paint who would be drawing double teams and freeing up other guys.
I think he would have fitted in well last season alongside Jawai & Knight, and probably would have been more effective this season had a) we been healthy and able to play our usual Wildcats defence, or b) had Brandt not been so underwhelming (that one has hurt a lot IMO)

Meanwhile the Cats clearly had expectations of JJ making our offence more potent than Beal did. They talked him up as an athlete who could attack the rim and also rain down the threes. He hasn't been able to do either of those things so far. The defences he is facing in the NBL are obviously a level above what he was dealing with in the inappropriately-named D League, because no one seems to have any trouble shutting him down. It's not like he isn't trying, either. He's just not that good.

What happened to Hussey as a replacement??

The Jameel McKay experiment has not worked. Perth needed McKay to be an explosive scorer, making opposition teams worry about how they were going to defend such a mobile big guy, opening the paint for their slashers, and thus freeing up outside shooters for easy shots. They were relying on Wagstaff to be the shooter he has been in the past, not the one he is now. I don't know what they were expecting from Hire, because I've never seen anything in him. I doubt they were expecting much from Redhage other than an experienced old hand who could keep everyone calm and fill a roster spot for very little money.

The fact that Knight has been injured so much of the season, while it shouldn't be a surprise, has meant that the 'Cats front line hasn't had the meat and potatoes that McKay was never going to provide, and Brandt hasn't stepped up. I'm not surprised about that, either. He's always appeared to be a stiff, to me.

JJ might not have been as big a bust as he appears if McKay had been the threat they hoped he would be. Having said that, Perth can only afford to drop JJ (not McKay) if they are going to make a player move (unless they offload them both, which I cannot see them doing!) The only reason they would drop JJ is if there was a ball-handling, shooting PG available immediately. Cedric Jackson is not that guy. He would need to be able to play 2 when Martin gets back to make it worthwhile.

I think Perth will slide one stop further down the ladder by the end of the season and finish 6th. It will be a shame, if that happens, but successful franchises almost always suffer a slide, and Perth's run of injuries, combined with poor recruiting, is the perfect storm for a fall from finals grace.

Haha at all these guys making out like the teammates don't like knight. I'd say the opposite they totally love him. Besides damo probably the most respected teammate

It wouldn't suprise if Faker Knight is ok to play next game or two.He does this every game faking an injury that he makes out to be serious.The grub that swings his elbows around and loves to bump little guys after a whistle stops play needs a good one to be put on his chin so his got a reason to stay down.

Wildcats in trouble.How good is this.I've got an idea for coach(dickhead)Gleeson.He said he can pull five guys of the street/pub that could do a better job than some of his players.I'm thinking what better time than New Years Eve at WEC v Hawks.There is a drinking hole called the BREWERY that's on the other side of WEC.He could grab five blokes to take on the Hawks.They won't need water cause being New Years Eve they will have plenty fluids in the tank.They prob be happy with a schooner after each quarter.Now i'l pay to watch that.COME ON GLEESON LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN.Are you a man of your word or a dickhead like i think you are.i'm guessing the latter.

Imports not firing is ok when your locals are going good and going from last season, it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities that Jesse was going to have a good year and Redhage would be a passable back up, but both have gone down hill (that's the impression I've go when I've watched a game at least) and with the injuries to key players on top of that, it just makes it worse, so really, you'd think that JJ is out the door pretty quick smart, being the most underperforming import of the bunch...

McKay can afford to pick up his socks a bit, but it's definitely JJ that should go... Why they said that thing about keeping him when they brought him back was just stupid, but I doubt anyone will get more than a giggle about bringing it up again when they cut him...

Hopefully they spend a bit more cash on the next one though instead of a discount D-Leaguer... You'd think that with the amount of cash the Wildcats would have coming in and no actual cap this season, it would be madness to be keeping to such a strict budget now...

Johnson is a major concern, they just aren't getting the required output from him.
Cats only said it was their "intent to keep him on for the season". I wouldn't be surprised to see him go.

And ffs , Kenny , no one is ever going to fall for your pump fakes when you don't ever put the shot up !! Just shoot the ball for gods sakes.

Granted - I didn't watch the game. But looking at the box score, Redhage played more minutes than Wagstaff. I can see that Wagstaff looked like he had a shocker from the bench. But IMO all those minutes would have been better with Jesse. He may have found some rhythm when not getting spot mins. And with Knight out you've got nothing to lose in playing your next best big, rather than your cooked old boy.

Knight is fine.

Hip flexor. Not a career or season ending injury. With any luck he'll take to the court against Adelaide.

So everyone can just settle down now.

Did anyone notice Redhage and Wagstaff running to the bench with a spring in there step when injury time out was called when Faker Knight went down.Must have been thinking more game time or they dont like the guy either.

Beal is not the answer either, they were really concerned about his defense last season and is also limited and inconsistent offensively.

Would the cats be OK if they had just kept beal?

McKay/Brandt
Wagstaff/Walker/Redhage
Prather/Hire
Johnson/Kernich-Drew
Kenny/Bragg/Wroe

I agree with the above comments, if you replace Johnson with a more consistent import, especially one with more playmaking, then this team can still win games.

Wildcats need a perimeter threat and a low post target with low post game.

Cedric Jackson is not the answer.

Jaron Johnson provides less then what Mason Bragg showed, he needs to be released quickly to address at least 1 of their needs.

Things have obviously not gone the way the Wildcats anticipated it would, so yes they may struggle to make finals and maybe even make an impact if they do somehow get in at the end of the season.

Injuries to key players hurt every team, no difference to Perth, so this is a no brainer.

Changes to the roster means they no longer have a size advantage on other teams, replacing Jawai with Brandt at 6'10" isn't exactly going to solve that loss but lets face it Nate is a rare type.

So, the Wildcats have gone more athletic and their game plan without Knight will now have to adjust even more, they may run out of time this season to get it right who knows!

They are still a pretty handy organisation, so if anyone can get back on track, Perth can...

I would like to see them develop their rookie list if it turns pear shaped though and give some young guys a run, especially their junior big (I think he is only 19-20 years old) with an eye to the future.

He cant score. They need a streak shooter who can light up for 20 on a bad night.

JJ out.
Cedric Jackson in.
Solved?

Wildcats didn't have a great start. They won a few close games which all could have gone the other way... they are lucky to be where they are on the ladder.

lawsy - Import failures happen all the time, it's not necessarily about the money. Money helps, sure, but it won't completely absolve the risk.

For lack of a track record in the NBL, it's a gamble on whether the talent can translate to this league.

36ers have had plenty of failures the last decade or so. Every team has.

Am I the only one concerned here that the Wildcats lost because they'll probably bounce back and beat the 36ers handily?

As presented- this wildcats team is a bottom two team. How are they ever going to score over 70pts? I don't understand how the richest club, with the most corporate dollars and biggest crowds, can have the two shittest, cheapest imports. I'll call it now for everyone and make it simple for the cats fans- no more Ws until 2017

Nobody really knows how much they are getting paid, so is hard to judge all of this stuff. But certainly a major issue is that the Cats have had two import stars in their two recent championships. This season Prather is starring but Johnson and McKay are playing roles without making the kind of impact that Beal made. Johnson had that one huge game vs Cairns but has he had any other performances where he dominated or was the number one match winning player? Yes Beal was inconsistent but he did that regularly enough.

It's hard to hypothesise without knowing knowing all the details.
Have we spent too much on Damo, Knight, etc, and that's why we've got crap imports?
Even when we ere going to replace JJ, it was with some bargain lifer from the D-League. Have we run out of money?

What shits is that nobody could have watched JJ and concluded he was a good option to play as an SG. Nor would you look at McKay and conclude he has what it takes to play centre. I think he's doing ok, and improving, but we just don't have enough offensive options.

I AM surprised they haven't found a replacement for Martin, I guess there's just nobody around. I'm tempted to suggest that they need to do something radical, but do we have the money?

The smell of blood is in the water now and teams will be lining up to give the wildcats some long awaited humbling.
When you are up for so long it is even sweeter for teams to see you crash down.

Adelaide will slaughter Wildcats next game if Matty is out.

Can't see any miracle happening there.

how many games we are already in , if the imports are not firing it probably wont happen.

This thread title makes me smile. Been too long in the making.
Yeah all those year straight making the finals, whilst your team sucks.
Cats are in trouble no depth no go to scorers, Prather is all this team has... and it's just not enough.
Prather is more than most teams have, If Johnson & McKay finally get their shit together everyone will be whinging about the cats again as per usual....

This thread title makes me smile. Been too long in the making. Cats are in trouble no depth no go to scorers, Prather is all this team has... and it's just not enough.

Dazz deserved to start this thread. Turns out he was ahead of his time. Never doubt dazz. Cats in big trouble but things can turn quickly. Melbourne united looked awful a couple of weeks ago and now appear back on track

Ok well my post doesn't make sense anymore :/

I missed the sign :(
You must have been back behind me somewhere because I was checking for it.

Why on Earth did they have that throwaway line about keeping Johnson for the rest of the season? Going to make them look silly now.

Yup, we need a young version of Knight or an athletic center, a 3pt shooter & a decent forward who can also defend.

Why on Earth did they have that throwaway line about keeping Johnson for the rest of the season? Going to make them look silly now.

With that many fans in the stadium and the expectations, they have to take serious action IMO. Cut an import. Replace whichever of Martin or Knight they'll miss most (e.g., factoring in return dates).