Why.

The wildacts need the next Wagstaff and not this Wagstaff.

Last year they had many players at the ends of their careers - Hodgson , White, Wagstaff instead of more youthful players that you try and lock in for many years at the club. Stiendls loss was probably the most felt as they lacked consistent shooting from the bench all season.

It would have been best for the club had Wagstaff retired, but I guess if management offer you another contract you take the money and run. He could have still found his passion playing in state leagues like Hire did.

Basketball is a business and the cats depth was woefully exposed last season, and it was a culmination of having an ageing roster and not really hanging onto the next gen which have been poached by other clubs. (Dech, Swani etc..)

Adelaide seems to have gone down the approach of being competitive using imports which has been the cats strategy for decades and probably gives more success than Aussie player heavy strategies. So I am hoping that the Wildcats sign absolute super star US imports to support Cotton who is somewhat past his prime of 2020.

The fact that the cats promoted Zunich from DP despite really ordinary shooting display and limited game impact compared to some other DP's around the league and now by keeping Wagstaff - signals there is not a lot of new bench depth on the way , especially in the 4 spot.

Love to be proven wrong but we could be heading for a few years of mediocre teams and results. Could end up as the West Coast eagles with too many ageing players in the team.

Not certain this is a forward thinking signing, had some reasonable games last season, not consistent enough any more though. I'm looking forward to who cats imports are. Surely the government change can quicken up Cottons naturalisation. It should have been done months ago.

Good move. Plenty of spots for younger players on the roster he can hit big shots when required, the experience is invaluable.

Just not massive game winning shots from a foot out

I dont think Steindl was that consistent when he was here but Cory Shervill is a good young talent coming through and was out injured most of last season. I'm happy for Wagstaff to play on its always important to have that experience and leadership in the team. My problem is the cats always sign their imports and finalise the roster very late. Which was fine in years gone by when they had a solid core of re-signed local players and the only needing to top up with imports. But since retirements and the loss of other players they haven't done anything to build that core again. Last off season they were slow and any decent Australian talent were signed with other clubs very early in the off season. Playing with Hodgson as their first team center didn't cut it and a decent back up guard that can shoot should be on the radar or an Aussie big if they decide to use an import spot for another guard. Meaning they'll be light on in the 4 or 5 position again.

Correct me if wrong but is this what the Cats currently have lined up?

G - Norton / Shervill
G - Cotton / Zunich
F - Travers / Blanchfield
F - Wagstaff
C - Majok

If this is the current roster they have 3 slots to fill, that is a pretty weak bench (Shervill, Zunich, Wagstaff, Majok and either Blanchfiield or Travers).

No offence to Shervill and Zunich but having both of them take up roster spots is mind boggling to me.

Perth at present underwhelming, Brisbane worse.

Correct. Note that Vic Law's wiki says "most recently played for the Perth Wildcats" whereas Frazier's says "plays for the Perth Wildcats". Also Frazier still in Perth according to MVP ball pics from the other day. Rumours of Devondrick Walker if not him so a mobile big and another decent forward that will be it I guess...

Cats are crazy if they are looking at Frazier still and Devondrik not much better. They need 4s and 5s and if they are going for a 3 spot import needs to be athletic and defensive like Cleveland after you get a decent 4 and 5. Neither Devondrik or Frazier fit that description.

Looking so far to be a weak squad and maybe a reflection the new management doesn't spend money.

maybe there looking at signing Maker and Reath at the 4 5

And possibly a Next Star which is not included in the roster cap.

Saint can you imagine. The Deb Downers would be handing them the cup before the season kicks off

The Wildcats just re-signed Cotton & Blanchfield to 3 year deals. I'm sure Cotton gave them a bit of a discount on the $700K a year he was on on his last contract but still would've cost a lot and TB could get paid anywhere too.

I know it doesn't exactly 'improve' the roster on last season's team but people need to adjust their expectations realistically they did well to even add a talent like Vic Law last season. The bench has to be cheap role players hence why Wagstaff gets another year despite seemingly being done a couple of years ago plus he gets another chance to break the tie with CJ and Martin to be the first to get to 7 titles.

Talking about a 7th championship is a bit early until we see how the roster pans out and what the other big teams in the NBL do. Early Adelaide look to be in a pole position.

Cats main issues last year, lack of consistent bench scoring, height and defensive capabilities.

Not changing any of the core bench pieces up till now - none of the three key missing ingredients has changed. We know the cats did try with some of the Aussies that were on offer but haven't been able to offer the killer deal to get them to come here. (maybe a hangover of paying Cotton too much)

To have a virtually untouched bench from a finals missing team would be a worry. This was the year to arguably do a more significant rebuild for the future. (in getting new players on long term contracts) and not 1 year contracts as was seen last year.

I wasn't implying the Wildcats will be title contenders just by Wagstaff playing on next season he's by definition a chance to win his 7th unlike the other two.

On their bench Zunic is a better option than Kev White, Shervill maybe the replacement for Purchase who gave you nothing last season anyway.

Zodiac, whilst yes Zunich trumps White, it isn't by much and definitely not enough to really improve the bench which was weak last season.

I think you might be right Re: Shervill. Maybe will be the 11th man and not see the court.

Going to be interesting who the Cats fill the remaining spots with.

The Wildcats are miles away at the moment IMO.

They will need to pull out some big stops to get that title contender tag back. Cannot see them making the playoffs if they are seriously going to use an import spot on Devondrick Walker... unless they have already signed Maker and also have a stud PG/SG import on the line it makes no sense to waste an import spot on Walker now.

Gotta be honest.
Love Jesse, and love what he brings, but in the scheme of things, I think was time to move on.

The problem is that with their other signings, they're left very very small.

Even if, as suspected, they now sign (decent) import 4 and 5, that leaves them with Wagstaff and Jook as their bench bigs.
Which means that we'll end up playing Travers and Shervill at the 4, at times.