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Sliding Doors moment that led Doolittle to Perth

Sliding Doors moment that led Doolittle to Perth

Thursday, January 30, 2025

"The standard is championship. And so, everything we’re doing from now until our last game is geared to winning a championship."

Kristian Doolittle was not supposed to be a Perth Wildcat. That wasn’t the plan.

In August 2023 Doolittle signed with Limoges CSP in France’s Pro-A league, one of the top leagues in Europe. Coming off some strong seasons in Puerto Rico, a solid season in Israel’s Premier League and a championship in Japan, Doolittle was looking to take the next step in his career and challenge himself at a higher level.

But it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t the right situation for him and he decided to part ways with Limoges on the eve of that season. Within a week, he’d returned to the United States, gotten married and then signed with the Wildcats who hadn’t as yet signed a third import for NBL24.

It all happened very quickly but has turned out to be one of the best decisions Doolittle has made in his career.

“It was definitely spur of the moment,” Doolittle told NBL Media.

“Coming to Australia wasn’t necessarily the plan. I wasn’t expecting to have the success I’m having in Australia, I was expecting to have it in France.”

The reasons for Doolittle’s split with Limoges were widely speculated at the time. There were some concerns raised in the media about him being at fault, that he was a bad apple and that the Wildcats may have a problem on their hands.

Doolittle was quick to quash those concerns by the way he conducted himself, but that noise wasn’t something he was expecting to have to deal with as he touched down in a new country for the first time.

“I heard it as well,” he acknowledged.

“There’s one thing for it to be put out in the media, but it’s another thing to know what actually transpired. So, I just had to deal with it.

“Me understanding who I am as a person and as a player. When something is not true, you can put validation on it if you speak on it, so I preferred to just leave it as a rumour and let my actions speak louder than my words.

“And when I got here, they figured out fairly quickly that what was said about me isn’t true. I have a great relationship with the coaching staff and management, so everything has been good.”

It’s been so good that Doolittle not only signed on for a second season, but he’s become possibly their second most important player behind Bryce Cotton. Doolittle was solid in NBL24 with averages of 9.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal, starting 26 of 29 games.

He would regularly draw the toughest defensive matchups and that was where he really helped Perth, who finished second on the NBL24 ladder before a playoffs loss to eventual champions Tasmania.

But fast forward to this season and Doolittle has improved his numbers in nearly all aspects. He’s averaging 13.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, while his shooting percentage has increased by nearly six, his free-throw percentage by 2.5 and he’s turning it over one less time per game.

All that and his minutes are actually slightly down on last season. He’s thriving and it’s obvious that Doolittle is happy that he ended up in Perth back in 2023.

“I’m very happy. Like I said, it’s worked out great,” he said.

“Especially with the year we had last year with me getting here late and then being able to incorporate myself into what the team does and try to help them win a championship.

“They reached out to me early last year to want to get a contract done and we were able to come to an agreement on that. So, we’re just building off of last year. The goal is to win a championship and I’m just glad that we’re both committed to doing the same thing.”

This season hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Doolittle or Perth though. There have been numerous challenges along the way. From the team’s slow start, to being without Cotton for basically six games, Tai Webster missing a lot of time and still out, Dylan Windler being in and out of the lineup, and then Doolittle’s own groin injury, which caused him to miss five games recently.

However, this team has managed to fight through all of those obstacles, stay competitive, keep improving and put themselves in a position to finish top two and contend for the championship. And Doolittle has been a big part of that.

“This year is definitely different to last year, because we’ve had to deal with a lot of injuries,” Doolittle said.

“We’ve had a multitude of key players for us miss stretches of games throughout the season, but I feel like it’s a testament of our team’s strength to still be in a position to get a first round bye, securing the second seed given all we’ve had to deal with.

“But, with people being out it’s called on the entire team to be able to step up and fill the shoes or fill the role that somebody left, you know pick up the slack, and I feel like there’s been a multitude of players who’ve had a game to where they’ve impacted it to help us win.

“And I feel like that’s only going to benefit us as we go into the playoffs, because most teams cut their bench because most players aren’t ready for playoffs. We have a lot of players who were able to gain experience through the absence of others, so that’s given them a lot of confidence to be able to play in big moments.”

Ben Henshall, Elijah Pepper, Hyrum Harris, David Okwera and Next Star Izan Almansa have all had to step up at various times this season, but so has Doolittle.

Last season, he was their fifth leading scorer, playing mostly a supporting role offensively, while drawing the toughest defensive matchups in most games.

This season, Doolittle has grown a lot more confident on the offensive end. He seems to understand when it’s time to be more assertive or aggressive and has had success as their third leading scorer and often their second option offensively.

This was evident as he was forced into a bigger offensive role when Cotton was out. Doolittle averaged nearly 15 points in those six games. That period certainly gave him a lot of reps in understanding how he can be more impactful on that end of the floor as an elite scorer at times, but that’s not what he credits with why he’s made a jump offensively.

“I wouldn’t say it was due to Bryce’s absence,” he explained.

“I feel like it was through watching film with my coaches and they’ve highlighted opportunities for me to be more aggressive. I feel like it was a case of talking about it and then going out there and doing it. I realised that some teams were guarding me straight up one on one and living with the result, and so [I’m] just using that against them.

“But every team is going to load up to try to stop Bryce, so to be able to get some pressure off him, we need people to be able to step up. And I just took it upon myself to be one of the leaders going forward, understanding whatever the game plan is and trying to maximise having a focus on somebody other than him, and then that creates open shots for everybody.

“So, I’ve just been more aggressive, but it’s been within the flow of everything we’re doing.”

Doolittle also credits his time on the sidelines with giving him a different perspective on the game. Watching those five games he missed from the bench, including travelling with the team on road trips, allowed him to gain some new insights into how his team was playing, better understanding where his teammates would be on the floor and then seeing how he could help, on both ends, when he returned.

The defensive side of the floor is an area where he continues to leave his mark. He’s not one of the leading shot blockers or steal getters in the league, and he doesn’t even lead his team in defensive rating, but Doolittle is regularly asked by coach John Rillie and his coaching staff to take on the toughest assignments, often guarding the opponent’s best scorer.

And Doolittle really enjoys being set those challenges.

“I’ve always been somebody who’s guarded the other team’s best player,” he explained.

“Just because [of] my will to win, that comes from playing little league all the way to being a professional. At some point you’ve got to be able to get a stop and a lot of people might look to see who’s going to be the one to get the stop.

“And I raise my hand every time to where I’ll take on the challenge, understanding that I’m not going to foul and I’m going to play solid, good defence and I’m living with the result. Whether they make it or not, as long as I can make it a tough shot, then I’m good with it.”

Right now though, Doolittle is the one making it tough for opponents. He’s in career-best form of late, setting a new NBL career-high against Adelaide in Round 17 with 27 points off the bench, in a game he was supposed to still have a minutes restriction in.

Not content with that, he backed it up in the very next game with another NBL career-high with 33 points last Wednesday against Melbourne United. Yes, Dylan Windler was out, but Doolittle as he explained, is seeing the game in a different way since his time out through injury.

Averaging 24.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists over his last three games since his minutes restriction was lifted, he’s now proving that he can be an elite scorer rather than just a more consistent one as he was showing before his injury.

But Doolittle also credits understanding where the Wildcats are, this deep into the season, for his recent purple patch.

“I feel like it’s just the gravity of the moment,” he said of his back-to-back career-high games.

“Understanding that we have only a handful of games left in the regular season and we’re jockeying for that second seed, so every game is increased in magnitude.

“In my short career, I’ve dealt with a lot of high-pressure situations whether it be regular season or playoffs. So, when you get in those moments you understand what’s at stake, [and] you want to be out there playing your best when the moments matter the most. I’m someone who – I love the high-intensity moments.

“This is why I play because I love big games. And, as we’re getting ready for the playoffs, I’m getting myself ready physically and mentally again, coming back from my injury.

“We expect Bryce to get 40 every game, but there’s going to be times like what United does, where they’re solely committed to top blocking and denying every pass to him, to where somebody else has got to step up, and I’ve been winning my one-on-ones. And when you watch it, I’m not going to do anything flashy, but I know what spot I want to get to and I don’t shoot a shot that I don’t work on.

“I don’t know how many shots I get up a day, but I put the time in on what I do, so everything is going to look natural.”

The Wildcats have improved since last season. Before these last two losses, they had won nine of their past 11 games and looked a much more cohesive unit than in NBL24.

Offensively, they are averaging six points per game more this season, 2.1 more assists and they’re shooting much better from deep (37 per cent vs 31), while also being slightly up in both field goal and free-throw percentage. Their offensive rating is more than six points better per 100 possessions this season.

Defensively, they are still holding their own with some much better showings during that recent streak, with improvements on the boards, their rim protection and net rating up on last year, even if their defensive rating is not quite as good.

And Doolittle was quick to identify why this team has grown since last season.

“I feel like we’ve done better in doing the little things,” he explained.

“While it only shows up in how many more points we score and seeing that we’re rebounding better, it goes into the work that we put in every day in practice that leads into the game, buying into what our coaches are telling us.

“Giving extra effort, I feel like we’re way better at giving effort this year than we were last year. Dealing with adversity, I feel like we’ve had our ups and downs, but we’ve always come out on top. So, I feel like we’re a tougher group than we were last year as well and that gives us a better opportunity to win in the playoffs.”

And despite the tough loss to Melbourne last Wednesday and disappointing result versus Cairns in double overtime on Saturday, this team has still won seven of their last 10 and nine of their last 13 games.

They have two of their final three games at RAC Arena where they’ve won eight of 13, so the belief within the group hasn’t wavered.

“The standard is championship. And so, everything we’re doing from now until our last game is geared to winning a championship,” Doolittle said.

“You can only say that you’re getting ready for a championship by going out there and playing championship-level basketball. And so I feel like everybody’s holding, not only themselves accountable, but others accountable to playing our style of basketball.

“We lost a close game the other night, but the focus doesn’t change.”

Doolittle has certainly made the most of his opportunity in Perth and has grown immensely in his self-belief and value to his team from last season to this season.

Considering he very nearly never came to Perth, that sliding doors moment in September 2023 clearly happened for a reason and he can’t imagine being anywhere else.

“No, I can’t,” he admitted.

“It’s definitely worked out for the best, getting out of that situation I was in in France and just stumbling onto a great opportunity. And it’s still been great to me and my family. This organisation, even with the ownership change, it’s been really good.”

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