The under the radar Best Defensive candidate?

Should Kristian Doolittle be in the mix for the NBL's Best Defensive Player? If you ask Wildcats head coach John Rillie, the answer is a resounding yes. 

Doolittle starred in Perth’s victory over Cairns on Boxing Day, and along with 17 points on the offensive end, he came up with a game-high 16 rebounds, a block and two steals in the three-point win.

The Wildcats never looked truly troubled by the Taipans until the final minutes of the contest. Cairns was never out of proceedings, but managed to trim the gap to just one point late in the final quarter.

Doolittle pulled in a massive rebound off a suspect Patrick Miller mid-range shot with just over 40 seconds to go, which resulted in a Keanu Pinder bucket at the other end to stretch the lead back to three points.

“That bamboozles me to some degree, where we talk about all these other players around the league as Defensive Player of the Year candidates and this guy just quietly goes about his business every night,” Rillie said post-game.

“I’m not an analytics guy, but we’re moving in the right direction and he’s part of it, so it would be nice if people watched a little closer so they realise how much impact he has at that end of the floor.

“He doesn’t worry about that. I’m trying to pump his tyres up so he understands his coach appreciates what he brings to this team.”

The victory over the Taipans has marked the completion of the second game in Perth’s hectic three-game Christmas road trip.

First was the overtime defeat to Melbourne on the 23^rd, then the win over Cairns on Boxing Day. The Wildcats will next play Adelaide on December 28^th.

They will then play away to New Zealand on January 7, before returning home.

Doolittle says despite the road trip he’s still enjoyed time with family over the festive period.

“Our partners were able to come and my wife was fortunate enough to be able to spend this trip with me. She’s here in Cairns and she’ll be making the full road trip with us,” he said.

“For me, it’s special. Regardless of where I’ve played, it’s the first one I’ve been able to spend with family and friends so it’s something I definitely cherish.”

Rillie added the Wildcats have come to expect these long away trips at this time of the season.

“At this time of the year we’re always going to travel because they have a tennis tournament in Perth, kind of like Melbourne later on in the month of January, where they get removed from their facilities,” Rillie said.

“The same thing happened in Perth with the lead-up tournament to the Australian Open.

“This is normal, now the amount of games we have in a concise space, I don’t know about that, but we’re always on the road at this time of year.”

Inside the larger war between Perth and Adelaide, there will be a head coaching battle between Rillie and 36ers interim boss Scott Ninnis. The pair were both part of the 36ers 1998 NBL championship triumph, but the Wildcats' coach says he hasn’t given any thought to coming up against his former teammate.

“When you’re a part of a championship team together there’s a unique and special bond that goes along with that, but that will be pushed to the side when the ball gets thrown up in a couple of days time.”

Perth’s clash with Adelaide tips off on December 28 at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.