Hoops

More to the Prather story

hopefully he turns out to be the next Andre Ingram. i.e. even though he is mediocre he eventually gets replaced by someone good.

Anon #644074 it happens each and every time. Fans who over react by watching a few seconds of film and come up with grand conclusions. Forgetting about all the other variables that hinder or promote performance. Just another day on Hoops.

I love how people have written Walker off before he has even played, i bet not one of you have watched any d league games and are basing your assumptions on a highlight reel.

Have to laugh at the suggestion we will never know. Duh.

No...perhaps the use of JJ was a poor example. I did not mean to suggest because one example involved substance means the other has too. The two are not related.

Are you saying Webster "lapsed"? ;)

It's all well and good to place 2 logically related events together, but do we have any proof that that's how it went down?

I don't think we'll ever know.

Eg. Everyone thought Jaron Johnson got the boot because he is was crap and the Wildcats just wanted to upgrade to save their season. 6 months later we find out differently.

Good luck to Casey on getting the best deal for himself, why should he be loyal to Perth, clubs at all levels of sport only care about themselves at the end of the day. Loyalty is an over use word, clubs have no issue cutting players surplus to their needs, hell we did it quite a bit last year, until we got what we wanted. Why shouldn't players get the best outcome they possibly can for them selves.

In saying that hope he kills it against all teams other then the Cats :)

Zodiac, you're way off with your Webster timeline mate. Firstly, booting a player who just signed a two year deal would have definitely cost them a pay out.

Secondly, and what really happened, was Webster truely wanted to play in Europe for a long time, and after getting a taste of some Summer League options, he negotiated the terms of his release with Perth. Perth professionally came to the party and left emotions aside, meeting Webster and his agent.

*Cotton was always wanted, however, the price was slightly off. So by signing D.Walker, they saved a lot on Prather, and could use that money plus the money that was on Webster's contract to bump their initial contract offer to Cotton. He accepted.

No conspiracy, just timing.

Walker is not as good as Prather.

Devondrick.

He's not a terrible player. just not prather

Also worth nothing, that last season Prather signed on quite late.

Ironically, the Wildcats due diligence to sign a quality player early has come back to bite them.

Couple of mentions about verbal agreement here, though not from the OP. It's possible/likely that the indication was less verbal agreement to a specific contract, but rather an indication that they were in the ballpark at that point.

Until it's signed or there is at least a stronger verbal commitment, it's possible that the game moves to another ballpark if other info comes to hand. Especially if part of the negotiation has involved the club indicating that they are working within a budget or that the roster would take a particular shape.

The cake that Prather was allegedly cooking was actually starting to look like a burnt scone prior to Cotton coming along and sewing the season back together.

I think Prather is a fan favourite but Walker will be a more than adequate replacement.

Perth are too good for the NBA and Prather ;)

Yeah you seem rational.

Man if if a club says they have x amount of $ to spend, you perhaps reluctantly agree.... find out they offered an equal, in Prathers eyes perhaps, more id be pissed too. And id demand my value. Pretty sure Perth wouldve played poor in negotiations if any of this is true to start with. Anyways hope Prather absolutely torches Perth every game they play, enjoy that.

Cotton would've already been agreed to before Webster got released, the Wildcats just did him a favour by allowing him to save face and make it look like he left of his own volition. The Cotton signing was announced the next day after Webster got punted.

Prather has fought for the cats for the last few years and carried them to titles (yes back to back). Cotton shows up halfway through the season and puts the icing on the cake which Prather baked. Completely fair Prather asked to be matched

their=his

Hahaha Prather carried the cats to their first title but they were on the bottom of the ladder when cotton arrived. Cotton carried the cats last season...

Prather has fought for the cats for the last few years and carried them to titles (yes back to back). Cotton shows up halfway through the season and puts the icing on the cake which Prather baked. Completely fair Prather asked to be matched.

Anon a new thread wasn't started by me, it was written under another post and moved to its own thread. I don't know why anons get so butt hurt by new threads anyway...if you don't like it don't read it.

Nah im bro different poster. I shouldnt have used the term pointless, no thread is completely pointless, but it has one look for Cats fans even remotely deflecting any negativity onto Prather, and thats SALT.

Is the "pointless thread" guy that same one who posted "no one cares" in a similar thread last week (after posting 30 times himself)?

Made in America? Or China?

It's so good we have so many agents and front office staff that know the details of every players contract posting on this site.

Incredibly pointless thread to start. He has left, deal with it. This just looks sodium overload, regardless of its intention. Cats fans best to leave this thread alone...

cats fans get salty
get owned for it
"huhuhu other fans say dumb shit huhu"

How do you know higher offers were declined. It's business. Move on.

says dumb shit
gets owned for it
"huhuhu cats fans so salty huhu"

Lowballing a star.

Who cares about semantics. More interested in the final $ amounts. The question is even though Prather didn't get the same salary from Melb Utd as Cotton did, what is the difference? I assume he got more than Cats offered, so he wins. and it may be not that much lower than Cotton's? Anyone know?

Cats arrogance cost them Prather. It's done now. Let's move on. :)

I don't think Cats fans are being Petty.

They have a right to be upset that their team didn't pay a star import who led them to back to back championships what he wanted.

You can't falter Prather for his decisions this season, and to an extent you can support the Wildcats for theirs.

It just came down to circumstance, timing, money and knowledge.

At the time, Prather had a verbal agreement with the cats.

Circumstances change, Webster out, more money to Cotton.

Prather finds out Cotton got more money.

Wildcats can't wait and sign Walker.

Prather off to Melbourne.

Just like Cotton didn't want to wait and saw a good opportunity and took it. The Wildcats took the opportunity with Devondrick.

It's really just salty situation, with Melbourne the benefactors

Ive been waiting for this salt. ABC thanks for starting the petty party!

You're drawing a long bow to say that money is his number 1 motivation - how do you know that for sure? Maybe he genuinely wanted to experience another city..maybe Melbourne can offer other non-financial benefits? Maybe he has friends/family in MEL?

I dislike the inference that you feel Perth should be entitled to keep Prather almost purely because he has only ever played for them in the NBL; and that Prather should accept whatever Perth give him. He is entitled to explore the open market; and considering Perth seem to have shown a preference to Cotton, you can hardly blame him.

Prather isn't the first import to change teams; and won't be the last; and Perth isn't the first team its happened to and won't be the last.

Well according to you it was exactly that in this case. Prather demanded to be paid Cotton money, goodbye Casey.

I'm not suggesting there was arrogance in play in this instance but more so general commentary around why players don't sign at a particular club that they seem to be fond of. It's often us armchair critics that point to a selfish player wanting more $$ when that isn't always the case

Last season Cotton showed he was clearly the best import in the league with Randle a little bit behind and Prather and the rest a bit behind Randle.

Yes, Cotton types (volume scoring guards) are easier to find than Prather types but the difference in talent between the two is why you pick Cotton over him every time.

They didn't sign a prather type, they signed a Jaron Johnson type. Which makes sense as Johnson was originally signed to replace Prather...

Was it arrogance on the Cats side? or could they genuinely not afford his asking price once they signed Cotton?

If theirs tiers of imports, I'd say everywhere around the world Cotton's skill set puts him in a bracket above Prathers. Even though Prather is a star in his own right.

Spot on Luuuc, it's extremely common. I know of instances where clubs thought they could low ball players because they are a home town kids or they're close mates with the other players that he'll never leave etc. This leads to a player feeling devalued and not staying. A sense of worth is one of the most important things in any workplace and sometimes the arrogance of club GM's when it comes to contract negotiating can diminish that.

I would guess that it being more about the principle than the actual dollar amount is pretty common.
In this case (assuming it is actually true, of course), it wouldn't say to me that money is his #1 motivation at all. But money is basically the main way a club shows value/respect towards a player.

I've preached my thoughts on Prather's value to the Cats for a long time now on here. I guess now we'll get to see just how easy to replace his contributions are. Suffice to say I disagree that there are more Prather types out there than Cottons.

Good on him and good luck to him! United my second team. Prather will be missed but we fortunate to have him back in the nbl.

Will be disappointed if doesn't receive a standing ovation when he comes back to the arena.

If that story is true, it seems to be more about principal than money. In saying that, I'm sure no player will play for free

Problem for the cats is, they didn't sign a Prather type.

They signed a Beal type with Prather tendencies.

Could the Wildcats honestly not afford Prather's asking price?

Cotton was the best player on the championship team and to me there are more Prather types out there than Cottons.