Preview: Perth v Brisbane

When: 4pm (AEDT), Sunday 2 October 2022
Where: RAC Arena, Perth
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; 10 Peach; 10 Play; Sky Sports NZ
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Who won last time?

Perth 95 (Law 24, Cotton 22, Blanchfield 13) d Brisbane 83 (Franks 21, Patterson 16, Deng 12), Round 15, NBL22 at Nissan Arena, Brisbane

Bryce Cotton and Mitch Norton combined for 22 second-half points and the Wildcats held Brisbane to just eight in the third quarter as the visitors turned a five-point half-time deficit into a comfortable win, despite the best efforts of Robert Franks. Perth scored 77 points from ‘ones and twos’ as Brisbane had no answers for their penetration.

What’s new?

Perth not making the playoffs is certainly new. It’s a somewhat new-look Wildcats team looking for redemption, however, starting with rookie coach and NBL legend John Rillie, and featuring import big man TaShawn Thomas, who has been a high-class two-way player in quality European leagues and should fill the hole left by Nick Kay and John Mooney.

The plan is for Thomas’ toughness to be complemented by former North Carolina stretch big Brady Manek, who should be a cult figure in the Jungle after rocking Chapel Hill last year. Both import bigs will benefit from the playmaking of Corey Webster, who shapes as an enormous x-factor off the bench if he can rekindle his Breakers and Tall Blacks form.

It’s definitely a new-look Bullets outfit as, after many years of trying to overachieve with under-budget rosters, they have opened the purse strings and launched into the championship race. That started with the prized signature of Aron Baynes and followed by his former NBA running mate Tyler Johnson, who with Nathan Sobey make arguably the NBL’s best trio.

There are some question marks about the durability of all three however, meaning the supporting cast will need to provide more punch than last season, with coach James Duncan bringing in former Bullet Harry Froling, sharp-shooting rookie Kody Stattmann, NBL1 West MVP and Grand Final MVP Devondrick Walker and son of a Bullets gun, DJ Mitchell.

What’s working?

Paint attacks – Coach Rillie loved nothing more than dropping long bombs and pull-ups in his playing days, but early indications are he wants his Wildcats getting to the rim. Perth’s shotcharts at the Blitz almost exclusively featured triples and shots at the cup, and notably the 'Cats shot 62 per cent from two-point range in their four pre-season wins, compared to 48 per cent in their Blitz loss to Melbourne.

Interior passing – Aron Baynes didn’t waste any time building chemistry with fellow giants Harry Froling and Gorjok Gak, the trio's ability to link up on high-low plays a feature as they dished a combined 21 dimes in three Blitz games. Going big can be fraught with danger in the high-speed, high-pressure NBL, but if that level of interior passing continues the Bullets will force opposition coaches to adjust.

What needs stopping?

Bryce Cotton – It was just one pre-season game, but the NBL’s scoring genius reminded the league what he is capable of, torching Cairns for 36 points at 57 per cent, including 7/12 from long range. He’s averaged 23.1ppg against Brisbane over the past four seasons, and will be salivating at the thought of the Bullets’ bigs sagging off screens to protect the paint.

Aron Baynes – The Wildcats have decided to go smaller the past two seasons, and that’s bad timing with Banga entering the league. While early season is possibly a good time to play Brisbane, as their star centre finds his feet, you can bet they’ll be feeding Baynes sealing around the hoop early and often to see if Thomas and Majok Majok can deal with it.

Who’s matching up?

Brady Manek v Harry Froling – If Manek can drag ball-screen defenders away from Cotton and Webster then Perth become hard to defend. Yet while he was 40 per cent from deep at UNC, he went 3/23 across pre-season. Froling has that same potential for Johnson and Sobey, but his focus at the Blitz was inside, taking just three triples but going 11/19 from the foul line.

Mitch Norton v Tyler Johnson – One thing that stood out about Johnson in the Blitz was his composure, and tellingly, Brisbane were +27 in 67 minutes with him on court and -27 in the other 53 minutes. Of course, Norton is as good at any NBL defender at taking away space and being disruptive, but after an interrupted pre-season how many minutes can he do that for?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tyler Johnson with the ?????, DJ Mitchell with the ???? for the <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrisbaneBullets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> <a href="https://t.co/vvh8WA9ZU2">pic.twitter.com/vvh8WA9ZU2</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1572172789821636608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

Let’s get this straight, this is all about Baynes.

Sure, the NBL is usually a guard’s paradise, and this Perth v Brisbane battle features some superstars in Bryce Cotton, Corey Webster, Tyler Johnson and Nathan Sobey, but this is all about Baynes.

It’s some 431 days since the fall in a Tokyo changeroom that threatened his basketball career, and here he is back on a professional basketball court hoping to help the Bullets tame the Jungle.

It seems like a short timespan to have overcome such a serious injury, but when you hear testimonies to his professionalism, it’s no real surprise.

“The way he looks after his body is as good as I’ve seen from anybody,” former Boomers and Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis said.

“I know he had a lot of challenges to overcome in order to get back to the basketball court but, given his commitment to being the best that he can be, I’m not actually surprised that he’s been able to overcome those.”

Not only has he overcome those, he’s already had a huge impact on creating a hard-working, winner’s culture in Brisbane, which again has come as no surprise to those who know him.

“I was impressed with how hard he worked,” Spanish superstar and former Phoenix teammate Ricky Rubio said.

“He brought good vibes to the locker room every single day with his positive attitude and always sharing his knowledge to help others become better.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get ready for ???? ?????????? in the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBL</a> ?? <br><br>Before Boomers&#39; big man Aron Baynes injured his neck at the Tokyo Olympics he put down some bruising dunks in the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBA</a> with the <a href="https://twitter.com/Raptors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Raptors</a>. <br><br>Check out the <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrisbaneBullets</a><br>biggest recruit here: <a href="https://t.co/YWnNrBycfv">pic.twitter.com/YWnNrBycfv</a></p>&mdash; ESPN Australia &amp; NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ/status/1552911513710575616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Blitz showed Baynes and the Bullets have already clicked, going +30 on points in the paint across three games, and that’s a problem for opposition coaches to deal with.

“Aron Baynes, his presence, his physicality, is certainly something that every team doesn't have available so it's about us having a good game to negate that,” Perth boss John Rillie said.

That good game starts with highly-credentialed but undersized import big TaShawn Thomas, who has recovered from injury in time for the season-opener.

“My ankle’s fine,” he confirmed.

“When you get the chance to play against a guy who everybody knows or who has been in the NBA and been successful, you always get excited to line up and see what makes him who he is.

“I’m excited to play him, we’re looking forward to the challenge and we’re going to see if we can get that W on Sunday.”

The thick-bodied Majok Majok is the next in line to bang with Banger, but don’t be surprised if Rillie tries to stretch Brisbane’s superstar to the perimeter by using Brady Manek in short spurts in the middle.

“What I talked to him about is water finds its level, and you look at Brady Manek over his basketball career, he has been an exceptional shooter," Rillie said.

“He will be an exceptional shooter for the Perth Wildcats. I'm not worried about that.”

Of course, the danger for Perth is being too Baynes-conscious, something Tyler Johnson will be more than happy to take advantage of as he looks to make a statement in the NBL.

“Tyler’s one of those guys that’s not here for the paycheck,” Baynes said.

“He’s out here to compete and he wants to ultimately go back to the NBA. He knows that’s through building a team, making a team competitive and showing what he can to within that to make everyone better.

“He’s out here for the right reasons and that’s something we’re so excited about because you can see what he does … and the amount of presence he has.

“He draws everyone to him, and it just opens everyone else up around him. It’s fun playing with him.”

Of course, the danger for Brisbane is to be too Cotton-conscious, as the Wildcats’ MVP believes his team is better-equipped to deal with that this season.

“I definitely think we have weapons for basically every style of play we need,” Cotton told SEN.

“We have a couple of guys who can score, put the ball on the floor, play-make, we’ve got good defenders, and then we have really great energy guys.

“I think overall the roster is a lot more well-rounded (than in NBL22), but it’s a really small sample size. So far, so good - it is exciting to see so far.”

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