Yes

He doesn't like playing D, he’s a scorer, not certain he is a real team oriented type player.

Perth needs another scorer . Outside of Cotton and Corey Webster they really don't have a scorer . Tai if he is a scorer would a major boost as a sixth man

Nice

We need a top 8 at this rate. Should solidify them in the top 6.

Tas and Melb outside of top 6 at the moment, do neither make it?

He doesn't help their biggest weakness, rebounding. Will however increase their technical count.

He's a good passer too and can also rebound which can only help the Cats. He hasn't rediscovered his best form since leaving NZ though after a number of quality years in Europe and the NBL, hopefully he can slot into a role with the Cats for the rest of the year.

Black hole offensively, poor defender, not a great shooter and FT shooter from memory.

Any port in a storm.

Good FT shooter across his career, had a poor FT year with the Breakers though. Averaged 17, 5 and 5 with the Breakers shooting 38% on 3s, so if he can get anywhere near that form, even in small doses, will be a plus for Perth.

Good signing purely based on who is running the club nowadays.

You can't expect much from SEG so even though all they did was hit up a current player's released and out-of-form brother at least it's something.

Do Perth even have a roster spot available? Or he is an injury replacement for Zunic?

Can't possibly have both Webster's and Cotton on court at the same time, even 2 is pushing it.

My memory of the Webster brothers in NZ is that they both shot the piss out of the ball, to the detriment of the team. Good luck Perf.

While it's not looking that good a signing, if he can play 10 minutes and do ok, it might be able to get Cotton less playing time and keep him fresh for money time. Cotton is one of the best I’ve seen but he’s looking a bit ragged by his standards of late.

My thoughts exactly, Dunkman.

It doesn't address our most pressing need, but if it means Cotton gets more than 17 seconds of rest per game and is still able to walk by the time the playoffs arrive then it will have added some value.

Whether we're even playoff participants is another matter of course. Making our patchy defence even worse might not be the best way to cling onto 6th spot.

Tai shot 41% from the field with the Breakers and shot just 32% from the field last season in the Euroleague. He's also only been shooting 54% from the FT line this season in Turkey.

Nice work cherry picking. For those interested in a slightly more complete picture:

Tai Webster career FT%

17/18 - 81%
18/19 - 75%
19/20 - 77%
20/21 - 58% (NZ)
21/22 - 72%
22/23 - 54%

Tai Webster career FG%

17/18 - 48%
18/19 - 43%
19/20 - 45%
20/21 - 41% (NZ)
21/22 - 43%
22/23 - 44%

Tai Webster career 3P%

17/18 - 40%
18/19 - 32%
19/20 - 34%
20/21 - 38% (NZ)
21/22 - 30%
22/23 - 37%

This was you:

Good FT shooter across his career, had a poor FT year with the Breakers though.

He's also only been shooting 54% from the FT line this season in Turkey.

Haha this is so funny, good luck Perth.

Is Webster primarily a PG or SG?

PG better play maker than Corey and arguably a better defender. A bit younger as well could end up being Nortons replacement going forward

Thanks...that raises the question of who gets cut. I guess logically it would most likely be Zunic or shervill given the minimal minutes they play. Could also be Norton although they would likely have to buy him out of his contract which I think has another year to run.

This year would have to be Zunic or Shervill and assume this is would be a trial to see how he goes. If they get as much out of him as they have from Corey then would be a good get. Interesting that both Corey and Tai were handed the ball with Breakers to do it all but IMHP they failed under that system. Corey seems to be playing some of the best he has for a years with the Wildcats. If they get the same results from Tai, then making finals becomes a possibility

Wildcats answer to being poor defensively and on the boards this season:

Play even smaller.

Oh, and on offence add another chucker.

He wants to join a league where defense is not allowed to be played.

He wants to join a league where the owner of the league has prostituted the rules of the sport.

Its not a sport anymore, it is just glorified entertainment to try and generate more interest for his pockets.

The NBL is the easiest league in the world to score in.

He will have a lot of joy here.

All he needs to do is drive to the basket and he will get rewarded.

The referees have a quota that a certain amount of points must be scored in a game.

I don't mind this signing if it happens but only if replacing Manek.

Whats John Brown III doing these days?

Does the signing of Tai signal that Manek is staying on until end of season?

Has been released by his club in Turkey. With Travis going down be interesting to see how quickly it becomes official

The Crossover is saying the Breakers still own his rights, therefore would have to agree to release him.

Manek was much better today, cats can't let him go.

Tai Webster is a local so it's not going to effect the import core of Perth

If Manek can produce close to that consistently against the better teams i'd be happy to be proven wrong. To date he's been streaky and provides little on defense.

Manek was being defended by Deng Deng a lot today. Tainted sample.

Rillie's first gig as a pro-league coach and now he has "me,me,me" Webster.

Good luck John

Rillie is doing a pretty good job getting the best out of Corey.

NZB still have the rights to Webster.

They are not going to help another possible contender.

This will be the second year in a row that Perth fans bitch about lack of clearance.

Tai Webster to Perth has been confirmed. Buyout negotiated.

Signing confirmed by Olgun. Interesting part is who do the Wildcats waive? Will obviously be Shervill or Zunic.. Probably Zunic given the positions? But Rillie has shown zero faith in Shervill so possibly him?

Shervill ain't been getting court time so don’t think there any one else on the chopping block.

Looking at the contracts Shervill is out of contract at the end of this season, so he might either be released or all of a sudden have a season ending injury.

It will probably be Shervill or Zunic but in my opinion should be Norton. Webster's signing will mean even fewer minutes for Norton and they surely can’t be contemplating continuing with him next season. They might as well deal with it and the contractual ramifications now rather than having him continue and play a handful of minutes. It is a pity as he seems a terrific guy but this addition to the roster is being made because more is needed at PG.

Always been a big fan of Corey, never really understood why coaches are tryna make him a bench player, dudes a flat out baller...

Wasn't much of a fan of Tai when he was here, low basketball IQ iirc, never understood the hype, decent midseason pick up tho…

Game changing signing? Don’t think so…

Officially done. Will play against the breakers on Wednesday

Feel a bit sorry for Shervill. Never really got an opportunity this year and then gets cut to cover underperformance in a different position to the one he plays. Hope he gets an opportunity elsewhere.

Will be interesting to see where Tai Webster gets his minutes from.

Good luck wildcats with this, going to take the ball away from Cotton because he dribbles the dots off it & he doesn't play a lick off defense which the wildcats need more off at the moment

I think as long as he buys into the team concept its a great signing,

One of the things everyone was concerned about the last year or 2 was over use and reliance on Cotton to score and him fatiguing at times.

This should help with that, as long as they dont take the ball away from Cotton too much.

The pre season talk was Cotton was hoping to be naturalized then they would add his mate Devondrick Walker, I'd say this is a better signing than Walker and the best they could do without making a import change given Cotton isnt a citizen.

Good upgrade. Ppl shat on C Webster getting signed which has aged well, poo-pooing this signing will be the same scenario. Welcome to the cats. Shervill will now go do a Sunday Dech or Swaka Lo Buluk and prov himself elsewhere and good on him.

They're quite different players Corey is a pure SG coming off screens who is cold blooded when it comes off it's great but when his shot isn't dropping he's a liability out there. Tai on the other hand is a shoot-first PG and needs the ball in his hands to be effective constantly driving to the hoop and can get the yips at FT line. It will be interesting to see how he fits knowing he won't be the man on the team.

Hence the savvy move by the Breakers signing the release quick enough

Agree with other comments above about Shervill. Very unfortunate he wasn't given much of an opportunity since coming back from injury. Maybe hasn't rediscovered his best yet and Harris has deservedly overtaken him in the rotation. Possibly a victim of Norton's poor form and having to shore up the PG position. I'd be very surprised if Norton is at the cats next season the way he is playing especially being on big dollars apparently.

Norton's still got another year left on his contract so he will likely be back at the Cats next season.

https://twitter.com/nicktan77/status/160972962036203929

Pro basketball is hard, Cory Shervill was looking the goods under previous coach.

No court time and then out the door.

Two year deal so it means he will be here probably as a starter next season with Cotton going back to his natural SG position. This season I think Corey will continue but he will probably go back to a super sub role next season

Cotton and Corey starting together is working pretty well at the moment.

The Wildcats seem to be going the way of the 20-21 Breakers. That team wanted three ball-dominant players to co-exist with two Webster's and Lamar Patterson (lol). Corey doesn't want to go to the bench after this hot streak, but neither does Tai. No way they can play the three of them together.

Thomas and Travers are going to turn into off-ball role players. This is going to get ugly.

I think people are over thinking Tai's performance off the one season he was here in the NBL. The last year Tai played in NZ, the whole team was pretty ordinary and I don't think well coached. (and playing on the road)

Tai has Euro level talent, ultimately the job of the coach to find out how to best use him.

Norton has been struggling, Corey Webster cant really be expected to long term play starting minutes at his age.

The upside of this is cats potentially getting stronger Australian contingent that has been ageing, retiring in recent years. Someone of Tai's calibre in this league you dont see very often.

So on balance I think its a good challenge to try and work Tai into our system and to work alongside with Cotton and co. If he can be an efficient shooter, similar to how Corey has shown to be in recent games we will be hard to beat.

"Thomas and Travers are going to turn into off-ball role players. This is going to get ugly."

Watch Perth's offence, those two guys are a key part of it and the sets aren't going to change. I'm not sure why people think Rillie is going to significantly change things for someone who will be playing a role off the bench.

Apparently Tai Webster is going to be running the whole show now, so Rillie's sets become irrelevant.

Tai Webster is a baller. There is a reason the Breakers re-signed him to a multi-year deal. Too many have memories only of that poor COVID season, which is not representative of his career or skills (or any of the Breakers for that matter). He should be able to provide a solid 10-15 / 3-5 / 3-5 off the bench for the Wildcats.

Having said that...

- Like Corey, he can be ball dominant. As mentioned above, this feels like Shamir's "3 creators" all over again. Can Cotton and Rillie keep the Webster egos in check?
- He's never been a great 3-point shooter and athletic wing defenders can take away his slashing game because of this. The top teams have good wing defenders.
- The Wildcats need help on the inside, especially with their rebounding, and Tai doesn't help with that.

Hopefully this puts an end to all the "NBL contracts become null and void if a player signs overseas in the offseason" nonsense.