Post Season Review - Perth

The Season

What a fantastic season this was for the Wildcats, playing far and away better than all but one team and being the best Australian team by a landslide.  This season may be deemed a disappointment because they didn’t win the title and I can see that but that is the main criticism to be raised for the boys out west.  They had a six game winning streak in the middle of the season and only lost nine games for the whole campaign, placing them firmly in second spot after the regular season.  They dispatched the Blaze in three games after a tightly contested second game and went all the way with New Zealand with the largest winning margin in any of the grand final games a measly six points.  They did their fan base proud with this season.

What went right?

A lot.  In many people’s opinions they had the deepest team in the league with an astonishing seven players averaging double digit ER points led by league MVP and All NBL first teamer Kevin Lisch, who was also named to the first team on this blog.  Jesse Wagstaff and Damian Martin were also big winners with Wagstaff coming second in Most Improved votes and Damian Martin once again winning the Best Defensive Player award and both players were named to the All NBL Third Team.  The team had an overflow of talent and had a coach who could contain the egos.

What went wrong?

For one they didn’t win the title and that could be seen as the biggest problem of the whole season.  Other than that Damian Martin was banged up during the season and missed quite a few games at the start and was less than 100% for the final game of the championship.  Shawn Redhage was a disappointment and showed only minor glimpses of his former self.  Hopefully he can bounce back next season because they will need him to fill in for the leaving Luke Nevill.

Most Valuable Player

It’s plainly obvious that Kevin Lisch is the team’s MVP, especially after he won the league MVP so we will exclude him and look at the rest of the team.  Damian Martin was fantastic but missed games while Jesse Wagstaff was phenomenal in his break out season he wasn’t quite my best player.  That would go to Matthew Knight.  Yes he missed games but I have a soft spot for back to the basket big men and he fit the bill beautifully.  Coming off the bench he gave opposition second units fits with his excellent hands and smooth foot movement.  He averaged 12.2 ER for the season and was a godsend for the Wildcats when Luke Nevill was inconsistent or ineffective.

Targets

No-one important it seems.  They already have all but two players from last season under contract for the 2012/13 season as Luke Nevill was squeezed out because of points and Drew Williamson let go because he was pretty inconsistent and a chucker.  Whoever they bring in will most likely be fringe players or development types who will play spot minutes.  As of right now their main rotation is set.

Next Season

Same as last season, gunning for the title.  They should be the favourites because New Zealand may or may not be bringing back their superstar import duo so with such a set team and how well they played last season anything less than a championship will be a failure.

Grade

A