Hoops

Wildcats re-sign Hire

"I just hate how deep Gleeson goes with the bench sometimes lol."

I just hate Gleeson.

I agree its a little weird having only two imports, but its not necessarily arrogant.
Without knowing all the exact numbers, and how it actually works in practice, there are Marquee provisions, the salary super tax, and the 5-man cap.
Plus there is also the requirement in Perth to balance the budget.
They have spent big to sign Cotton for three years. (How big I don't know, but you don't get an MVP on a 3yr deal without being generous.)
Securing the future in Kay & Norton would not have been cheap, and Martin, Wagstaff, and Brandt would all be on reasonable money. Even Jervis, who was on good coin at Brisbane, would not be on the minimum.

They're necessarily saying "see we're so good we don't need a 3rd import," as much as they are saying "any 3rd import we'd sign at this point would be a Derek Cooke wanabe, and unlikely to give us much value.

Keep in mind that a lot still hinges on the 2nd Import.

Childress durability score is -10

No it doesn’t

Why is it arrogant? Why do players need to be imports? Perhaps they used what might've been an import on securing Kay longterm? Do you seriously rate Cooke above Kay, for example?

In that case, he's less likely to run off overseas, and you remove one of the premium local players from the talent pool each NBL team draws from.

As listed further up, their rotation changes were all solid. Upgrades in each case. And then there's an import spot left.

They've had an excellent off-season IMO. In one passage, they created a succession plan for both Knight and Martin, the spine of a dynasty. And gutted a competing team in the process.

I think particularly arrogant to think they can compete with only two imports from game 1. I expect them to fall in a bit of a hole and needing the third import to just to try to keep the finals streak alive. The league is just too strong now to not have 2 or 3 top shelf scorers/players.

Jervis & Steindl - 120k each
Wagstaff - 100k
Hire & Vague - 70k each

ok Dazz

No, you don't sign somebody with the intention of sacking him part-way through the season.

It seems that the Cats are at least trying to comply with the 5-man cap. Which means that Wagstaff, Jervis, Steindl, Vague, and Hire must be on collectively less than ~$480k.
Wagstaff would actually be on reasonable money, although he did take a pay cut with his last contract. Jervis wouldn't be on the minimum. Maybe Steindl. Vague yes, but not much left for the 5th spot.
So they probably offered Hire close to the minimum.

The imports you can get for the same money aren't much chop.

With a Strong Aussie core, keeping an import slot as insurance could be a smart move. If they lose Damo, Norton, Brandt, Kay, or even Wagstaff to an LTI, being able to bring in a hired gun would help.
In all honesty, that was probably the mistake they made last year.

I had previously advocated that they keep Hire as a TP, but again, that was their mistake last season. They kept Steindl around, used their 3rd slot on Crooke, and when Knight went down they were stuck with elevating Steindl.

I agree that this roster is top heavy, especially the bench, but that's how the Cats roll. They won a championship with Hire as the backup SG, so this is actually an improvement.

I guess if he wasn't VC they wouldn't of side him

they should have committed to releasing Cooke when Knight retired, but they didn't. It was then too late and they couldn't do anything about it, hence the keeping of the 3rd import available

They didn't do anything last season. Kept Cooke.

I reckon they've probably re-signed Hire with the intention that if a good player shakes free from NBA training camps who likely would've missed out on the high paying gigs in Europe then they'll remove Hire from the playing roster whilst still keeping him around the team and sign a third import.

LOL @Wildcats what a waste of a roster spot

Can't see where the points are going to come from...Will be a very low scoring team. Looks like coach will focus on half court offence, might be a very ugly season for the fans, they might start to stay away...

Why would they sign Hire, they already have a backup SF and his name is Clint Steindl !

That lineup as exciting as it is, is just too top heavy and we need our 4th import to be a shooting guard.

Wildcats really need to be proactive with their DPs as Damo and Norto can both miss games and we look very thin in the backcourt and very slow overall, especially with Adelaide getting faster, Cairns going to play more upbeat

Can we replace Hire in pre-season?

the correct term is side chick

Maybe you are both correct and he has two women.

Ummmm no ^^^ prather's partner is from Florida.

Prather's misso is from Perth, so all the more reason to return

I don't think they would plan on "replacing" him or anyone else. But yes, having an import slot up their sleeve is good insurance if an LTI occurs.

Initially I was a little disappointed with this signing. I would have preferred they went the opposite way. But I can see it makes some sense.
If the 5-man cap means you're limited to minimum salary, then Hire is good value, and a known quantity rather than speculating on 3rd-string imports.
With so many new faces, and potentially a new SF, it makes sence to jeep more stability.

This means they'l be looking for a swingman with a good outside repertoire to counter their lack of outside shooters. I just hope Walker is as good as they think.

They are just relying on him to do his calf then push him out the door to make way for import later

With only two imports the cats won't be able to score enough to make the top 4. Expect things to change mid season

exactly.

Either injury insurance for Damo (as he is our only older vital player), or save the money and if only $100k left in the bank for a player, better to wait half a season and get a $200k / year player for what's left of the season rather than have a Cooke Jnr for whole season

"keep that 3rd import spot up their sleeve, can let Hire go mid-season if need be"

agreed, should be a good strategy considering the situation with Cooke last season

it'll either be injury insurance or see what the team needs to adjust to match league leaders later in the season then get import to suit.

Good strategy and with the locals they have signed it is one they have the luxury to run with to start the season.

If Steindl reverts back to what he is capable of then I like having Hire's energy on the boards on team. Hire can also shoot when he has his feet set quite efficiently.

Fingers crossed for a quality import 3 man.

Wait for him to get injured then replace him with an import

Martin / Norton
*Cotton / Steindl
*Prather(?) / Hire
Kay / Wagstaff / Vague
Brandt / Jervis

What an unramarqable signing.

Delusional dreams of grandeur. Was a little disappointed.

Timerball from LebRon to Hire. LOL.

You'd hope so.

2 import strategy for Wildcats. I like it, solid Aussie group with import flexibility if an injury occurs.

keep that 3rd import spot up their sleeve, can let Hire go mid-season if need be

WTF why would you re-sign him.

10 down, only Prather to go

http://espn.go.com/nba/allstar2012/story/_/id/7602601/joe-johnson-atlanta-hawks-miss-all-star-game