Hindsight probably needed Jawai to play! Crocs have won this and Conlkin hasn't even been effective.

Surely Beal has a virus or something, he has been a ghost.

Every non-Perth fan in this thread:

Isaac that is the best most on point thing I've ever seen on this forum! They have disappeared, non of the usual suspects have commented on anything!

I've got a warm and fuzzy glow and this time it's not the beer.

Swap for Ebi if your keen! ;)

Surely Beal has a virus or something, he has been a ghost

Hindsight probably needed Jawai to play!

Agree that Beal is definitely right up there as being as important to his team as just about any other individual in the competition.

Poor second import = no Cats

No one to pick up the slack should (God forbid) Beal have a quiet one.

I'd love to know why they chose Prather, his agent probably sent a 10 minute highlight reel of him doing nothing but dunking.

But getting back to the original question. I've seen a bit of the Cats this season. The problem isn't that they don't have enough good basketball players. It's that they don't have enough guys who can do certain things. It's an unbalanced line up.

Although they aren't as bad as United last season who had a similar issue in a different area of the game.

Apart from a good grand final series was Beal actually ever a good import.

I have always seen him as average at best. Apart from his insipid offence tonight in which the Crocs just took away his right hand his defence was abysmal as well.

Beal has always destroyed the 36ers with big shots, hell he was the catalyst a few weeks back with big shots when the game was tight. To say he is average is pretty lame, id kill for an import to cheer for like him every game!

I have watched a lot of Cats games on TV and have paid a lot of attention to Beal (probably because he has been a cheap option in NBL DT for me) and have posted plenty well before tonight questioning his ability.

No knee jerk reaction at all. he has had the benefit of playing on a great team but since (probably early part of last season) he has been asked to become the man he is not even close to being up to it most nights.

Easy to try make that point after his worst NBL game ever, but again, I've seen him crush my hopes in Adelaide numerous times. Usually a very cool customer under pressure.

Yes he has made some big shots but his general game certainly lacks much variety. Saying he is a very good import because of his making great shots is like saying Robert Horry was a top level NBA star.

Kobe 24 there are many occasions before tonight I have made this point.

Bu the way tonight was not his worst ever NBL either. Think that was last season against the Breakers(?). Very poor ball handler with no left hand and low assist and rebound stats as well.

Great imports win rings, enough said. Id take him in a heart beat.

Hawks won a ring with Matt Garrison. Great import?

Not a great player? You're kidding right?
If I had cartooning skills, I would draw you one, and it would be Beal carrying 9 other players on his shoulders.

Yeah he was pretty solid won one with the 36ers too, but he was no where near the level of big game talent as Beal. Great player in a very boring team to watch.

I'm with you, fstos: I like Beal and appreciate that he's a pivotal player for the 'Cats, but he's only ever been solid, not great, throughout his first 2 regular seasons.

By NBL standards he's a very good shooter, an above average scorer, but doesn't provide a whole lot else that others can't.

He had a fantastic finals series in 2014 and most forgot that he was very much a role player with Ennis, Martin etc leading the team for the majority of the season.

Perth's roster is unbalanced if Martin, Kenny etc don't hit a reasonable percentage of their jump shots and nobody else can routinely create scoring opportunities (other than 1v1 post ups).

I can't comment on tonight's game, but Perth definitely rely on Beal too much: once you take away his space and force his drive laterally he's noticably less effective.

He seemed to be having a good season to me. 7th in the league in scoring before tonight, but percentages have been down.

Would've described him as an above average import, as is anyone able to keep their job.

By NBL standards he's a very good shooter, an above average scorer, but doesn't provide a whole lot else that others can't.

He's got the best nickname in the league. He's a keeper.

Threads get silly in a hurry don't they. I don't recall too many people claiming Beal was league MVP material or the ultimate unstoppable go-to guy.
He's a more than solid player, who unfortunately shoulders way too much load for the Cats atm due to our other personnel deficiencies.

A wrote a little about Beal and the stagnant offense

http://wildcatsviews.com/2015/11/04/perth-wildcats-vs-crocs-it-happened-again/

Thanks for the video wildcats views, I can see how wildcats fans are going to blame Conklin and his flailing arms for the Damo incident.

But hire and wagstaff are aggressively double teaming him trying to force a turnover, just as Conklin is aggressively trying to maintain possession for his team. He gets fouled by hire and Damo does what he has made a career out of sneaking in as the third man trying to get the steal. Very unfortunate incident but hardly intentional by Conklin.

Hope Damo is ok, he was their spark in the third quarter when both teams lifted the intensity on d, which was a great passage of play to watch, along with Henry forcing three turnovers in three plays for the crocs.

And how about a little credit for the crocs, they played great basketball in the second half, you don't outwork and out rebound the best rebounding team in the comp by accident.

Since when was Beal a "role player" in 2014? I would have categorised him as a "star" on a championship winning team.

He did finish equal 8th in the league in scoring that year. Not bad for a role player.

Has definitely been an above average import in the NBL. Whether that continues with this season's crop of imports remains to be seen but his efforts in Hawks 1 suggest he is.

Unfortunately, the "Dolla" last night was a counterfeit.

Every import has a nightmare game every now and then so no harm. Can remember some of Jackson's horror shooting nights (which can be often) - but he is saved because of his assist and rebounding numbers.

Isaac, I wasn't criticizing Beal or making a case against his ability to play in the NBL: 3 years in the league and counting speaks for itself. He's just best suited as a role-player, IMO.

LV, you're making my point for me...

I think MACDUB's comparison is interesting. Jackson is a below average shooter but he makes the team much better with his play-making, defence and rebounding. Beal is a shooter and he needs to shoot well to open up the game for his team mates. If he doesn't shoot well, Perth's overall performance suffers accordingly. To me, he doesn't really have a strong second string to go to, whereas Jackson has several.

That said, Beal's been a consistent outside threat for the past one and a half seasons. In 2014, he was under a little pressure early in the season, from Perth fans, but his second half to the season and his GF performances won them over. Last season, he was pretty consistent and won a few games with his good shooting in end games. Rather than call him a role player, I'd call him a specialist shooter.

Isaac, when are you putting like buttons on posts? MJ was a classic

Was it my imagination or did Trevor Gleeson look uninterested for parts of the game?

If the 36'ers were to show Townsvilles grit and determination that would make them a much tougher proposition.

Beal is an inconsistent player, Perth have won consistently in his time here, so I'm not sure the premise of this thread holds much water.

Beal came up huge in the 2014 grand final, so maybe some people's opinions are a bit biased by that. Prior to that, there had been debate all season about his quality. He has never consistently been a guy who can go solo and take over a game. Every now & then he'll get loose on a team, but it has never been the norm for him. But he was very efficient as a role player alongside Ennis, hitting 3s at 43%

Last season his minutes were up very high, he had to put up more shots, and his percentages went down. That pattern has continued into this season, not surprisingly.
The guy is a workhorse though. He gets very little rest in close games and I'm always amazed that he has anything left in the tank down the stretch. Our lack of guard depth takes further toll on his efficiency. And when things stagnate, as they often do for the cats, it's often Beal left with the ball and forced to try to make a play on his own (especially this season, with Damo having missed so much basketball)

But in a nutshell, people should assess Beal over the whole of his work, and not just get carried away right after one of his worst games in a long time. Say what you want about how good he is compared to other NBL imports - that is certainly up for debate - but his importance to the Wildcats is definitely large. The original "No Beal = No Cats" premise of this thread has some truth IMO. But that shouldn't reflect badly on Beal, that's more due to the composition of the team and the style of basketball we play. A guy with his skill set should not be forced to carry so much of the scoring load, and ideally no one on the team should have his playing time load.
He plays the most minutes per game in the league. (*other than Childress, who played just the 1 game)

The Wildcats have won numerous games the past three seasons with Beal struggling, but I think what they often rely on is that spurt from Beal where he hits three or four shots in a row, it really clicks their game into gear.

They know he's probably going to shoot a bad percentage the rest of the game, but that burst has a big impact and often forces teams to change the way they're defending.

With Beal having a down game we really needed Jawai in.

Bump....for Dazz :P

And people used to pay me out for saying he was a very overrated chucker who got lucky in a few big games.

Nice to read over my old posts and know I was somewhat vindicated...maybe more than somewhat.

WTF?

Beal won two rings with us, and we wouldn't have done it without him.
Not sure what went wrong for him at Brissy.

Is Cotton better?
Overall, I'll give it a couple more games just to sure he's overcome his early inconsistency.

Beal was way over rated. Sure he was there and got lucky on some big nights but his game to the eye test was very limited.

I've said it for a long time. Chucker who got lucky.

So your waiting to see if Cotton overcomes inconsistency to see if he is better than Beal who is close to the most inconsistent player I have ever seen.

LOLOLOL..fanboi Beal glasses on

I think so.

ucking tupid wat n teroids?

Cotton has played 12 games, and for a few of those he was clearly adjusting. Plus he's played exactly 1 finals game.So why wouldn't anyone with an ounce of sense simply wait till he finishes the season before making pronouncements on his omnipotence?

Beal won two rings for us. That remains an impressive record.

Other than physical strength, I can't think of a single aspect of Beal's game that would be better than Cotton's...

Would still be a very handy player in this league if he naturalised though.

Beal didn't win 2 rings for us he won them with us.