Wildcats to “play everyone”

Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie won’t be sitting his starters in tomorrow night’s pre-season clash with an NBL1 West select team, declaring “I’ll play everyone”. 

While Perth’s youngsters will get extended playing time throughout the clash, Rillie has revealed fans can expect the unit of Tai Webster, Bryce Cotton, Kristian Doolittle, Hyrum Harris and Keanu Pinder to start the match.

“I’ll play everyone. Start with the starters and we’ll go from there,” Rillie said.

“Right where I sit today with how we want to treat pre-seasons is to give the young guys as much opportunity as possible so once we get into the season, we have a good understanding of where they’re at … then the veterans to make sure they’re in a good rhythm come September 20th.” 

That aforementioned five-man group was the Wildcats’ starting lineup for majority of NBL24 and Rillie sees no reason to tinker with it due to the efficiency they played with.

“We are very lucky that our starting five that finished the season, all the analytics guys tell me they were the best analytical five on the floor in the NBL last year, so I will roll with that until we need to make adjustments,” Rillie said. 

One of those adjustments could be in the form of Perth’s vacant third import spot, but Rillie put no timeline on that signing happening and added no guarantee it would be a starter.

“We are trying to … I would like to have had someone yesterday, but we also want to make sure we find the right piece,” he said.

“I think the way we handled Doolittle’s spot last year really shows that if you find the right guy at the right time, you can implement someone pretty quickly into your system if they’re about the right things. 

“That’s what we need to find is the right piece with so many returns from last year’s roster.”

Perth faces NBL1 West tomorrow night at 9:00pm AEST and fans can watch the game free via NBL+ on the NBL App.