He will be the most overpaid and overhyped player in NBL history...How desperate are these Wildcats, to sign a player who is only playing for the money.
A good player, not great who is now a Marquee…wow

Desperate times means desperate measures…

He will be the most overpaid and overhyped player in NBL history...How desperate are these Wildcats, to sign a player who is only playing for the money.
A good player, not great who is now a Marquee…wow

Desperate times means desperate measures…

@A, exactly as my sentiments were in Perth Wildcats thread. Good luck to him though.

He's an above average big no doubt but not worth throwing a large amount at and barely going to move the dial for the cats chances

I agree with all 3 of you - I've never been taken in by his hype

Very good signing for the Cats but I highly doubt he's on more than Xavier Cooks' $1.2m per season.

Highest paid local player in the Nbl.

At his best he was an MVP candidate in 2022, but his last NBL season in 2024 wasn't at that level.

Probably not worth that salary but still, as a local will be marquee and doesn't have the same cap hit as say, Cotton or Kendric Davis.

Look forward to watching him in the NBL again.

Yes exactly. He was poor in his last finals series against the JJs but at his best he's an all NBL starting 5 big man. Overpaid yes. But still hes what the cats needed to be able to go all out on a quality PG. Its a very good front court and they're all locked in for multi year contracts.

to be fair, Xavier Cooks raised the benchmark for pay for decent Aussie bigs. Although his standard dropped significantly when getting paid, not to mention his end of season issues. So JLA sounds like he is on par with Cooks money wise.
Perth had no choice given they wanted / needed a new import PG so had to get a marquee level big if they wanted to compete this year.

securing JLA was their best play when Wetzell side stepped to Japan

JLA offers what Perth didnt have last year. a genuine big with length and athleticism. He is replacing Pinder who at his best was a beast, sadly that was only a fraction of the season and had many sub standard games.
if JLA can be consistent with 10-15 points and 8-10 rebounds a game with some rim protection then the cats are in a better spot than last year

will allow Doolittle to play the 4 and dominate the smaller players rather than sliding to defend the 5.

looks to be heading for a more balanced team and not relying on cotton for offence every time down the floor

the team showed they play well without cotton when he was out for a month. so optimistic this new team will be better overall.

if a PG to the level of Jahmir Young then looking like a solid unit.

yeah JLA brings the balance on the frontcourt that was missing in the last 2 seasons with Pinder. I dont think Pinder is a true 5 man.

Not even a Perth fan, but it doesn't matter whatever way you choose to see it, that was his asking price for his services and Perth chose to except it. Will it be successful? We all don’t know. So maybe we can review this decision later on in the season. Good on JLA and his team for getting the deal done. Good on the Wildcats too, for not being scared to throw that kind of money around. Whether we like it or not, there aren’t too many quality local bigs, so the reality is having to pay overs for them, or lose them to Europe/Asia etc. Pick your poison.

I see that cats got preseason comp against two b1 sides and SEM in late September, should be a good workout.

Its SE vs Japan and Perth vs Japan so no Perth vs SE but awesome value - tickets were $50 for entry to all 4 games

The return of Vic Law!

Could have been a nice touch if they invited Gleeson's side.

Could have been a nice touch if they invited Gleeson's side.