Cats to win by double digits. Roth to spit the dummy in post grame presser when asked if in hindsight not researching the opposition was a factor.

Anyone get the impression Roth trolls the media, a bit like Poppovich used to

Anyone get the impression Roth trolls the media, a bit like Poppovich used to

Ironically, despite losing Cotton Perth has a lot of continuity compared to most teams, with 3 starters carrying over from last season plus a couple off the bench.

Actually I don't think any other team has 3 starters carrying over from last seasons team.

Illawarra is the only other one I believe

Hickey Harvey Lo Boluk, although Hickey wasn't starting last year, he will be this year.

Bris: Harrison, Prather and Norton (now bench).

Roth and Rillie having a long social chat before the game.

JJs just can't get a roll, cats are good.

There is literally no justifiable reason Henshall should be playing over Pepper.

Perth don't look like they have a point guard. Can score in bunches but can they set up a good shot when needed in the crunch?

Perth don't look like they have a point guard. Can score in bunches but can they set up a good shot when needed in the crunch?

Magnay, JJs so organised, liking Campbell, Windler for cats cats. Cats probably got a little bit too much depth.

Feels like Magnay shoots about 3% on anything that's not a dunk.

Pretty messy and unstructured from Perth, not really doing a great job of running anything for Jones... Commentators saying he needs to be more aggressive, didn't really have a lot of chances to be.

Tyger Campbell looking better controlling things this game than opening night for Tassie too.

Hopefully Jones just needs time to settle into the team.

Low scoring but enjoyable game imo. JJs just play so solid D. Cats a little all over the place, certainly can still win it though.

I can't work out whether Jones isn't playing defence because he's unfit or incapable but either way it's hurting the cats

Jones is just struggling to fit, problem with bringing him in late


Henshalls D has been a pleasant surprise

Rillie teams need a good point guard as they dont seem to have decent set plays

Better coached team won.

Travel, fatigued, no excuses.

I like Masons fire

Rillie catches a lot of flack.

But he truly is a horrendous coach.

That last shot was a great Rillie offensive set.

"Expensive American shoot ball, everyone else watch"

72 points from this Perth roster is criminal.

Bryce Hamilton a hell of a find for Tassie

Jones will get better as he settles, talent alone will ensure Perth win enough games to keep Rillie employed

Bryce Hamilton looks so legit

Cracking game, hard tough, skilful at both ends and well reffed. JLA had better stats but imo Magnay won the battle. Bannon already much better at JJs than Brisbane. Roth just doesn't panic, still think JJs not as strong on bench as some other teams. Cats got lot talent but just seem not what to do, all over the place, can be good and shit in the same game, will still get finals through on just talent.

Both Hamilton and Campbell play in the German bbl last season, you play D and team there, very solid league.

Bench of the JJs has upside - Roth has mentioned Marshall specifically as one who can and should develop.

Deng, Ayre, Drmic and Marshall give an impressive lineup along with Hamilton, Magnay, Bannon and Johnson.

If Williamson gets minutes and develops - happy days

Lots of over reactions about cats. At the game it seemed they looked Jones off countless times, clearly not integrated and they clearly dont know his spots. There is time for the offence to look better, and there were some great signs. Can't remember the last time Perth kept a team sub 80, showed some flashes of outstanding defence. I suspect playing together more was a bigger advantage then travel fatigue a disadvantage in game 2 of the season.

Lots of over reactions about cats. At the game it seemed they looked Jones off countless times, clearly not integrated and they clearly dont know his spots. There is time for the offence to look better, and there were some great signs. Can't remember the last time Perth kept a team sub 80, showed some flashes of outstanding defence. I suspect playing together more was a bigger advantage then travel fatigue a disadvantage in game 2 of the season.

Bryce dominates in RAC Arena. Same as the last decade. He might win MVP too.

Perth threw up some truly bad shots here and there. Didn't do enough to get Mason Jones into the game until he took things into his own hands late. Rillie one of the worst coaches for mine.

Magnay beaten for the 2nd game in a row.

Why didn't Perth next star see time?

Hey, Jr didnt wait for the cats to be doen 19 before calling a time out. Give him some credit

Hey, Jr didnt wait for the cats to be doen 19 before calling a time out. Give him some credit

There is literally no justifiable reason Henshall should be playing over Pepper.

Cats got lot talent but just seem not what to do, all over the place

Just finished watching the game (Sun am) after a game-time nap. Returned to what seemed a different game. Fell asleep in 2nd q with scores at around 34/25 , Perth were up and in control.

Resumed the game and watched a completely rejuvenated JJ's, stormed over Perth, in the remainder of that 2nd q, and eventually went on to win a great game, 75/72.

For Perth, JLA was outstanding with 15pts and 14bds. Doolittle, his partner, at the 4 spot, was also in the thick of things with 12 and 6 but Mason Jones, quiet for most of the game, came to life late and finished with a team-high 16 pts.

Coincidentally, my opening on JJ's game also praises the front court pairing, this time of Magnay and Bannon who contributed 10 and 9 pts resp, and 4 and 10 rebounds for the JJ's.

However, the stand-outs in this one were JJ's import trio of Bryce Hamilton (26 pts), David Johnson (12) and Tyger Campbell (only - 3 pts), who between them, seemed to control most aspects of this game. The bench was useful but the starters won this tight game for the JJ's.

Lack of adjustments by Rillie when things are not working doesnt help. There also seemed to be zero plays or offensive sets being run most of the game, so the turnover count was high from too many last minute

Henshall has not had his 3 shot working pretty much the whole preseason and this game as well. I would of brought on Pepper who moves well without the ball to find open spots for pass/shot, something that would benefit Jones as well.

Its clear that without Cotton there is a lack of a goto scorer/ Many of the turnovers were from players passing up the shot at the last minute and throwing the ball to someone else.

Adjustments, I would bring on Pepper in place of Henshall in the 5tarting five. He is a volume scorer and benefits from being on the court for longer stints. Henshall may be suited for short stints where he can come in and push himself hard for a few minutes. Jones also needs to improve his scoring if he wants to get into the NBA

Rillie should understand his players and how to get the best from them.

Not going to take much from game one it's as insignificant as it gets in the scheme of things, we lost by a whopping 3 points. Maybe reading into it too much - Jones looked knackered/frustrated/indecisive at times so easing into the system will clearly take time. He did sit away from the huddle at the end of the bench during timeouts except for one time from memory? Prob means nothing but it jumped out at me. Certainly did not have the same game day demeanour as the game against Ryuku and once or twice he looked visibly agitated at Henshall who wouldn't set a ball screen for and him. Teething problems of course and once this squad gels and decides on a leader we'll be good.

I thought the team was clearly to busy thinking about what they should do on offence rather then just doing, led to some shocking turnovers. Also easily fixed. Jones scored like 10pts in the last 3.5mims. He will be fine, we will use him better. Pepper over Henshall.... nope, pepper was on Hamilton and got dragged

If Henshall is not scoring 15 per game then why is he starting ? At Least Pepper can can get 15-20 if played . The cats needed to keep up with the scoring during the last half

Looking at the stats - henshall was -9 versus +5 for Pepper. If you watched the preseason games, Pepper was a far better player for the two games than Henshall. He created many open shots for himself, cutting to the basket for the backdoor shot or putting himself in an open 3 point position. Henshall tends to be very static on offense.

One is still a teenager vs another who is come out of College and dominated the NBL1 but needs the minutes to develop in the NBL.

Has Rille ever had a team ready to go in Round 1? He already had the excuses ready in the presser...we are an evolving team. The reason they are evolving is that they cut their best player months ago and then didn't replace him till a week for the season started…self inflicted wound

Ballman, Pepper maybe able to score the ball although it's significantly easier at NBL1 level when you’re taking 35 shots per game. NBL is about both sides of the ball and Pepper cannot guard his own shadow. That’s why Henshall plays ahead of him and rightly so.

I completely forgot Perth had a Next Star. Not sure the commentary team even mentioned him once, unless Iissed it.

There's only been a couple of next stars who haven't been regular rotation pieces, so I always wondered if it was a part of the arrangement.

Rillie's offence has always been clunky. Has just had Bryce to bail them out.

Roth's comment the other day said it all, implying Rillie isn't a threat.

https://x.com/NicThomasNBA/status/1969376974616609106

I was at the Perth Wildcats vs Tasmania JackJumpers (NBL) game live tonight. Here are my prospect takeaways:

Ben Henshall has potentially missed his NBA window. He doesn't push himself to create anything at all, despite having the potential to. Off the ball, he remains idle, spending up to three quarters of every shot clock standing in the corner.

Defensively, I love his screen navigation, but he’s far too weak and gambles too often for steals, oftentimes costing the Wildcats point.

No minutes for Noa Kouakou-Hegue tonight, as expected. Far too raw to be playing in an important, close game like this.