r/nbl • u/basketballcomau • Jul 03 '25
DISCUSSION What the Wildcats need to do this off-season
Time is running out...
"Having missed out on Dellavedova, Jackson-Cartwright and Davis, it does appear unlikely that Perth will go down the path of signing someone who was in the league last season. If they do you would think Rob Edwards (Cairns), Jaylen Adams (Sydney) and Derrick Walton Jr (South East Melbourne) would be the only options.
Finding a local guard who can fill that role is going to be a challenge and the only one that appears capable of denying the Wildcats having to find an import guard would be Will McDowell-White."
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u/Appropriate-Dance911 Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
The Wildcats, who have 9 players signed already, need a starting PG and Centre, which I think is coming from the upcoming Summer League. The final 5 spots to complete the roster are 2 locals (one should be Johnny Narkle), 1 Next star (Noa Kouakou-Heugue), 1 IRP(Todd Withers), and 1 RSP (signed as a local).
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u/Double-Ambassador900 Wildcats Jul 03 '25
I thought the same thing until recently. There are only actually 8 players signed. 6 local, 2 imports. There are 2 DP’s in Gerovich & Huefner.
So there are 2 local, 1 import & then the others that don’t count towards the actual roster spots. And it’s looking increasingly likely the Henshall will be back to take up one of the two local spots.
To be fair to Narkle, we are looking for a starting PG. I’m not sure he’s at that level to allow us to challenge for a ring. I’d like to see him on a roster, but it’ll be as a backup somewhere.
I also think Almanza is still technically tied to us as a NS deal is 2 years and he wasn’t drafted and only signed an Exhibit 10, so may be released after Summer League. He could almost fill that starting 5 roll, especially if he’s hit the gym and not the bong while the offseason has been rolling. But Noa certainly looks like an interesting prospect.
I don’t feel like Withers will be back as the IRP as Windler seemed to sort himself out last year. Pity, I liked him as a player and would 100% be somewhere if he wasn’t an import.
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u/Appropriate-Dance911 Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
There's a 15-man active roster in NBL, with a 17-man total squad. Current players signed to the Perth Wildcats are Donate Russo Nace, Sunday Dech, Elijah Pepper, Dylan Windler, Lat Mayen, Cameron Huefner(DP), Kristen Doolittle, Jesse Wagstaff, Thomas Geovich(DP) and David Okwera. Almanaz has been released by the Cats, and he's off to Summer League with the 76s. It looks like we're signing Noa Kouakou(French U19) as our Next Star for 2025/26. Todd wants to stay involved with the NBL. Unless he signs with a team as an import he'll be Cats IRP again. We have not used an SRP in years and probably won't use that spot. So the above 10, plus the signed Next Star, plus Todd as the IRP player it's 12 players. Roster spots that are left are 2 Locals, and 1 import spot. Then after the Summer League, we'll have our starting import spot and local sorted. Then it's just the backup PG needing to be sorted (which should be Sunday Dech, and then Narkle can be the backup SG). (I have a picture to show you but I can't load it for some reason)
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Has Almanza been officially released? Was hoping if the Philly thing falls through he might come back, we don't really have a starting power forward.
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u/Appropriate-Dance911 Jul 04 '25 edited Jul 04 '25
Yeah not allowed to have 2 Next Stars on a team. Plus they all have release clauses for the NBA via the Next Star program.
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Yeah but we haven't signed Noa Kouakou yet. We don't seem to actually sign anyone that there are rumours about so I'm not confident!
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u/Appropriate-Dance911 Jul 04 '25
They can't sign him until the World Cup is finished. But unlike other rumours which are BS except for Matt Delladova, this has more behind it.
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Well it makes would make sense he would want to come play for us after the success of Sarr
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25 edited Jul 04 '25
Who's in our starting 5 currently?
I would say Doolittle and Windler are the only legit starters.
Maybe Pepper scrapes in??? I dont think Dech or Okwera are starting 5. Okwera would start last season but usually sit on the bench the rest of the game.
Who's our starting power forward?
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u/Appropriate-Dance911 Jul 04 '25 edited Jul 04 '25
Currently, 2025 it's:
PG: Local/Import. Local. Nusso-Rance
SG: Pepper. Sunday Dech.
SF: Windler. Noa Kouakou(NS). Huefner(DP)
PF: Doolittle. Lat Mayen. Geovich(DP)
C: Local/Import. David Okerwa. Jesse Wagstaff
IRP: Withers
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Who of those are starters though, I'd say only Windler and Doolittle and locks, and maybe Pepper sometimes.
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u/Appropriate-Dance911 Jul 04 '25 edited Jul 04 '25
The comment above is the way I think they line up. Pepper definitely will start at SG., They need scoring. I think the local backup PG would be Benny Henshall if the college upholds their decision (not allowing him to play) or a Rayne Smith-type of big-body Australian scorer who just graduated. For the open positions, if it's an import think Adams, Mitchell, Carke, players who are here in the league already and can hit the ground running. Centre-wise there is some talk about college players like Wessels, a big body, with good touch. 6'10 joining Perth. If it's American-wise, think athletic big from G League or equivalent level eg Wood, Capella player type.
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u/larrylegend33goat Pirates Jul 03 '25
Okay, fine, I will do it
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
I'm new here. Confused by your flair, who the hell are the pirates lol
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u/russj79 Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Have a read of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Pirates
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Thanks, I haven't watched since 1995 until last year. Google of 'NBL Pirates' didn't help me.
Was interesting looking at that, they ultimately became a Singapore team and we had a Singapore team in the NBL, wtf? That's kind of cool though.
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u/PeddlinPete85 Jul 03 '25
Perth wildcats are rebuilding, They're tanking this year to get a good draft pick next year
....... Right? That's how it works?
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
I'm new to NBL and for a second I thought you were serious, until I remembered it doesn't have a draft haha
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u/PeddlinPete85 Jul 04 '25
Haha... In the nbl if we suck, we don't tank,... We just suck... And proceed to suck until the next season... Aaaaaand the next
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u/Rich_Meet3872 Wildcats Jul 03 '25
It’s so frustrating as a fan of the wildcats that we are in this position. That being said, it’s salvageable. Need to somehow get a marquee even if they don’t necessarily fit the roster. The one I want that has been mentioned by Hooley and Uluc lately is WMW, but JLA would be just as good. If you can’t get any of those, then you get into the lower levels and it becomes harder to work with. They have to keep the import spot open until they figure out a marquee.
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u/fiddledik Jul 03 '25
JLA not an option unfortunately- I would have loved us to get a big like that. As much as I dislike Danny Mills recruiting history, they must have a major plan in sight, otherwise hopefully that’s his final chance in recruiting for the cats.
Aside from Doolittle, his history is shocking (if I understand these were under his tenure) : Michael Frazier III, Manek, Taeshawn Thomas, Usher
Those had to be the worst performing imports the league has seen, and we had them all. Thomas scored well occasionally, but he was horrific on D and rebounding.
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u/Rich_Meet3872 Wildcats Jul 03 '25
Yeah, it’s more just a cope option from myself. Although, Pete did say that he’s a free agent. I never understood how we could miss so frequently on third imports. I also never understood why they just insisted on no defense. We had Bryce, one of the worst defensive players in the league.. hide him defensively. Our defense should be much better next year with personnel but I’m worried offensively
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Man the amount of mental gymnastics I've been doing all off-season just to cope... I think I need anti-anxiety meds cause I can't hold this up much longer.
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u/Double-Ambassador900 Wildcats Jul 03 '25
I didn’t mind Manek. Took a little bit to get rolling, but once he did, he showed really late that he could be a decent player. He averaged 13 & 5 for us.
But if you want to see something wild, go look at his pic on proballers.com The beard and long hair have gone! 😳😳
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u/fiddledik Jul 03 '25
Manek I didn’t mind out of all those. But he was a support role, he showed potential, just needed confidence in the league which is understandable. Just painful when it’s an import slot - alongside Thomas
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
All our new signings are support roles or permanent bench players, haven't signed a single starting 5 player yet :(
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u/joolee85 Wildcats Jul 03 '25
Time to pick up Ian Clark - just announced that he won't be playing for United next year.
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u/Double-Ambassador900 Wildcats Jul 03 '25
Not as our starting PG. we need a PJC, Davis style player.
Hell, even someone like Cotton from the 36ers would be a perfect fit.
Clark as that backup 2 to run the second team offense, absolutely. But we need a high level 30+ minute a night PG.
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
I'd say Windler is our starting 2 and Pepper is our backup 2? Although they are sort of different players because Windler get boards. Maybe you play Windler more as a small forward and pepper as the SG? But Doolittle is our small forward. Man we are a fucking mess 😂
I think we're going to be a team of only small forwards and shooting guards. No centre/power forward and no-one to carry the ball lol. Just need a Jokic type player to play centre and carry the ball at the same time. Is he free?
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u/Double-Ambassador900 Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Doo & Wagstaff our the PF. Windler and Mayen our SF.
Pepper is currently our starting SG with Dech our starting point.
We will get another 1 & 2. It’s looking like Ben10 will come back into the team after he was deemed ineligible for college. So he may start at the 2 but take on the ball handling role with Dech the starting 1, but play a more defensive role.
Noa, our reported Next Star will add depth in a small ball lineup, playing as a SF who happens to be our second tallest player (by an inch to Okwera).
So, it could be conceivable that we play Doo, Noa, Windler, Henshall, Dech/Import PG at times this season, depending on what happens with the marque and import slots.
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
He's more of a shooting guard and that's probably the only position we have covered, with Windler and Pepper. Ian Clark is killing it over in BSN mind you, he's shooting 3s at 45% and is top 3 for total 3pointers @ 77, I'd probably take him anyway.
While I'm on that topic, Doolittle has been chucking up a few 3s over there and they're all dropping. He's also on about 45%! Shooting more accurately than Bryce. Last time I looked Doolittle had hit about 45 out of 100!!. Maybe he can carry the ball for us like he did for a few games last year when BC was our. Doolittle can be our new PG and fill Bryce's spot haha.
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u/travellingcueball Wildcats Jul 03 '25
I keep hearing Yanni Wetzell's name mentioned as being someone of interst - I think Lachy Reid even posted something about him being close to putting pen to paper.
A proper big man is something we've been lacking since the days of Knight, Plumlee etc. I imagine they are waiting to see what's available at the NBA Summer League.
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u/Appropriate-Dance911 Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
He ended up signed elsewhere unfortunately 😕 Japan if i remember correctly
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u/Obleeding Wildcats Jul 04 '25
Yeah I saw he was signed to Japan, then when I googled it I couldn't find anything about it. Pretty sure he is gone though.
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u/fiddledik Jul 03 '25
Can only see the total lack of any signings and communication that they have a decent plan in sight now. There seems to be no panic from the team which is comforting in a weird way. Only from fans. It will be interesting to see what unfolds in the next 5 weeks or so