Wildcats Set for Roster Refresh?

The Perth Wildcats loom as one of the most interesting teams to watch in the upcoming NBL Free Agency, as the historic powerhouse of the competition looks set to once again re-jig its lineup around Bryce Cotton to return to the top of the competition.

John Rillie drastically shortened his rotation during the Wildcats’ run-in towards the end of the season, and ESPN Insider Olgun Uluc has reported a trio of domestic contracted players could be on the move.

“I’m under the impression there will be a new look bench for the Wildcats this season,” Uluc said on The Marketplace.

“Other teams are working with the impression that (Kyle) Zunic, (Mitch) Norton, (Todd) Blanchfield – they’re all available at this point.

“There’s a sense that they’ve been told they can look elsewhere and gauge their interest with other teams, and other teams are thinking about that interest and the logistics of how you buy them out of their respective contracts.”

Norton has won two NBL titles with the Wildcats following stints in Townsville and Illawarra, but averaged just 4.8 points per game in NBL23 – his lowest mark since the 2012-13 campaign. He also posted his lowest ever three-point percentage across a single season and connected on just 20 per cent of his attempts from range.

After falling out of the rotation towards the back end of the season, he shot back into the limelight courtesy of a pair of immense defensive performances against South East Melbourne and Cairns in the Play-In Tournament.

Blanchfield, like Norton, saw his minutes cut towards the end of the season and, as a result, saw his output plummet. He averaged just 4.6 points per game in NBL23 – his lowest mark since the 2010-11 season – before starring with the Boomers in FIBA World Cup qualifiers against Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The green and gold delivered a dominant performance, securing a remarkable 45-point win against Kazakhstan ?<br><br>Todd Blanchfield was in top form, putting on an outstanding display with 31 points and 4 assists in just 21 minutes of play ?? <a href="https://t.co/nsNgDsUqje">pic.twitter.com/nsNgDsUqje</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1629721256529653761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Kyle Zunic earned a full roster spot in NBL23 after playing through NBL22 as a development player – but he earned more court-time in his debut campaign than in this past season.

The 24-year-old average under four minutes per game in 13 appearances across NBL23.

NBL Free Agency officially opens on March 30, with all player, team and mutual options needing to be confirmed by March 27.