No-brainer for Magnay to step out of comfort zone

Knowing he would be playing finals and the chance to help Perth Wildcats win a championship were factors in Will Magnay deciding to make his NBL return in the West, with the goal of getting to the Olympics and back into the NBA.

It's been quite the ride for the 22-year-old centre from Brisbane since he played in the NBL last season when he led the league in blocks in his breakout campaign trying to help the Bullets into the playoffs.

His last game was the remarkable 36-point win over the Cairns Taipans on February 15 last year when the Bullets gave themselves an outside playoff chance still, but as he prepares to return to the NBL with the Perth Wildcats this Sunday, he's been through quite a lot the last 15 months.

Chasing his dream of playing in the NBA, he signed a two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans back at the end of November and after 10 games in the G-League at the Erie BayHawks where he put up 14.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.4 blocks a game, the Pelicans called him up.

He might have only hit the NBA floor once before being waived last month but it was still the taste of the big time he was craving and now he wants to do everything he can to get more of it as early as the 2021/22 season.

So when weighing up his immediate future, Magnay had a few things to weigh up.

Named as part of the Australian Boomers initial Tokyo Olympics squad, he wanted to put himself in a position to be game ready and make himself attractive for selection there by coach Brian Goorjian.

He wanted to play somewhere that'd highlight his talents so he could impress sufficiently to earn another contract, and he also wanted to challenge himself to not take the easy option of returning to the comforts of home.

So despite having nothing but rough memories of playing against the Perth Wildcats during his 43-game NBL career to date, that's where he decided he wanted to make his return for the rest of #NBL21.

He needed to be released from his Bullets contract first and his hometown club granted his wish with Magnay feeling it would be more of a challenge for him to not return to Brisbane while also acknowledging knowing Perth would play finals and therefore guaranteed of more matches contributed to his decision.

It became a no-brainer for Magnay to sign with the Wildcats who are hunting a championship three-peat, and currently sit in second spot on the NBL table.

"Everyone I've spoken to has just said that playing games can't hurt your stock for the Olympics so I guess when push comes to shove, it's sort of going to come down to who is match fit and ready to play, and I'm going to put my best foot forward and hopefully that gets me there," Magnay said.

"I guess after getting waived I saw an opportunity to come back and continue to develop my game at a really high level, and I feel like Perth was the best spot for me to do that. 

"Obviously I want to come in and help them win as well and get a championship so they are probably the two main reasons, but there's also wanting to get into game shape and build a lot of confidence going towards next year. Hopefully I'll be back in the NBA and before that in the Tokyo squad as well."

While there was an obvious pull for Magnay to return home to Brisbane and play with the Bullets, the fact that he saw a better role for himself at the Wildcats, the fact they weren’t guaranteed of playing finals and to just push himself to not pick the easy option all meant that's not the way he went.

Playing against them, though, in Brisbane on both May 15 and 19 is going to be interesting experience.

"It was a difficult decision and it's hard to fight your instincts of wanting to go home, and pick the easy route and being comfortable of living back home with your parents and all that. It was a hard decision but I fully believe I've made the right one and hopefully can push on from there," Magnay said.

"For sure it's going to be a bit different playing the Bullets. It will be weird for sure having grown up in Brisbane my whole life and I never really planned to play basketball anywhere else. 

"But it will be good and fun at the same time, and I'll have a lot of family and friends in the stands when we play in Brisbane. I'm excited to play in front of all of them again."

Having seen how well big men with his skill set seem to thrive in the Wildcats system under five-time championship winning coach Trevor Gleeson, Magnay felt his role staritng up front alongside the impressive rookie John Mooney would help his cause too.

"Perth have that winning culture and ever since I've been in the league they've always been in the finals or one of the top teams the whole season," he said.

"It's exciting to be around this sort of culture now and Bryce sort of broke my heart a few times when I was playing for Brisbane so it'll be nice to be on his team for a while now, and hopefully break a few other hearts together.

"I guess I saw a role here for myself in Perth and Trev seems to have a pretty good system built, and I feel like I fit that system well just from talking to other coaches and people around the league with the close friends that I have. 

"It was the best decision I could have made coming to Perth and hopefully it pans out for me, and winning does seem to take you to the next level as well. So if I can come in and help the team win then that's pretty influential into getting back into the NBA."

Mooney has been a revelation this season with the Wildcats putting up 17.8 points and 12.0 rebounds a game while shooting at 56 per cent from the field and 57 per cent from beyond the arc.

He has been largely holding down the fort down low on his own for the 'Cats, but Magnay can't wait to now team up alongside him.

"He is a beast just from watching from afar and the game he had against Melbourne was pretty incredible," Magnay said.

"It's exciting to be able to come in and go against someone like that every day, and hopefully we can push each other to be better and build that sort of relationship and hold each other to a pretty high standard on the court while building a relationship off the court. I'm excited to get to know him, but not only him and the rest of the boys as well."

Still yet to turn 23 and now having had a taste of the NBA, Magnay is focused on working on what he needs to in order to get back there as early as next season. 

While his focus in Perth will be to be a defensive presence and to let his offence come naturally, as long as it looks as though his shot is improving he'll be happy that he's progressing they way he hopes.

"The areas they want to see me develop back in the NBA primarily is my shooting and especially how my three-point shot is going," Magnay said. 

"I've been putting a lot of work into that so it will be good if I can show that it's growing and just speaking to Trev, we agree that my offensive game doesn’t really matter too much and we want my defensive game to standout. 

"He seems to see a role for me there defensively to really help the team and I don’t want to come in and disrupt what Bryce and John have going. 

"They are putting up good numbers and maybe I can alleviate some of the pressure off them, but really I'm there to help out defensively and shoot my open shots, and pick my moments here and there, and find my role."

It's going to be an immediate baptism of fire for Magnay too. He will complete his two weeks of hotel quarantine in Sydney on Saturday morning having flown back from the United States.

From there, he'll jump on a plane to land in Perth on Saturday afternoon and then be ready to suit up and play against the New Zealand Breakers at RAC Arena on Sunday afternoon.

"Coming out of the NBA you do kind of get used to situations like this where you just have players rock up one day and they are your teammates all of a sudden, and then one day they are gone and it can be a bit random," Magnay said. 

"But I'm not going to come in and try to disrupt anything, I'll just come in and be the bloke I am and try to be the best teammate that I can. Hopefully I can fit in well pretty quickly."