Is an average of 10 points in the D-League any good?

Something doesn't quite add up. He's this great 3 point shooter, shot 49%, but averaged only 10 points?

Also unusual to spend 10 years in the D league without a call up or an OS gig isnt it?

8 Pro years , never played out of the D-League. Is that a good or bad thing.

"Sounds like a high character guy. Tutors physics and calculus to students while on the road with the d league to earn his living. Hasn't played over seas before because of his wife and two kids".

With Waxy going soon and this guy coming in the Cats IQ level just got a turbo boost.

The D league is not a better league than the NBL. It may have better individual players but teamwork and team D are way bellow the NBL level.

Does scoring in No D league count for anything?

Hopefully someone picks up Johnson and he ends up destroying Perth each time they meet. If this was a complete gun signing, then I would support Perth. However, this is not a cream of the crop signing and it would be good to see Perth finally dropped from the playoffs (highly unlikely though).

oh man the mock is NERVOUS about this cat. I am hoping he can fill it up from downtown because he has a LONG record of draining the 3 at a good clip but I am not finding much intel on him. THE MIGHTY CATS front office know what they are doing though...

maybe he can use his physics knowledge to drop DIMES on mad angles on the reg and

that's a humourous comment fistsos! waxy is dumb as a bag of hair

My spies say Pelicans are keeping a VERY close eye on Prather

Cheap shooter

Straight up: we should of retained Beal. The Cats wanted more athleticism but by doing so, severely hurt their three-point game. With Wagstaff, our only three-point threat, struggling to shoot over the 3 over the first two rounds, something needed to be done.

D League better than NBL? The defense in D League is utterly appalling, let alone the team work.

Another insightful post from Benno /s

lol @ anonymous troll - d-league better than NBL? Not even close. There's some real talented guys in the d-league, but also a lot of guys would struggle to make the cut as locals in the NBL, let alone imports. And that's not even taking into consideration how awful the product on the court is......

Weird, Weird, Weird signing.

They let Beal go to get somebody better, and got JJ.
They let JJ go to get somebody better, and this is it?
If you're shooting 49% from the arc, and averaging 10. points, that means you're putting up 7 shots a game. In the D-League. WTF???

As for nongs saying "D-League is better than NBL," only reason guys go back to the D-League is because they have a shot at the NBA.

Yes, sure, people like me have been whinging for years that Perth needed to improve their 3-point shooting, and this guy sounds like a specialist,
BUT part of the problem with JJ is that he wasn't strong enough in other areas. Well if this guys can shoot 49% and can't make it out of the D-League, WTF does that tell you?

He sounds like someone who would be a good signing for a team looking for a CHEAP import to supplement an already strong offensive lineup.
Well, the Cats have Prather...

Let's give him ONE GAME before we start writing obits for the man. cats wanted a three point GUN they got one. He doesn't need to have other skills. Marto runs the show takes the best opposition wing. This cat comes in to be Kyle Korver lite.

It sounds like he chose to play in the D-League due to his family. Maybe now his kids are old enough for him to leave the country and make better money?

Lets give him a go before we start crucifying the guy. If he can blaze away behind the arc at over 40% and is able to get a shots off behind some screens then he will suit the team fine.

It's a weird signing, simple as that.

Obviously, my fervent hope, is that it works out.
At the very least I want the Cats to stay competitive, win most of their home games, and make the finals.

Doesn't make this signing any less strange.

He gets a free pass from me this weekend. Arriving down under, playing on the Friday, then heading back over to Melbourne for a game on the Sunday ... that's a tough initiation.
But yeah, as out there as it seems, I think I'll reserve judgement until I've actually seen him in action in the NBL. I'm hoping he can handle the ball a bit and his defence is up to Cats standard. If he hits a few shots this round it'll be a bonus.

epic fail

Is this purely a money saving move?

The signing is about team balance, rather than overall talent. It's true that Johnson's D league stats are much better than Ingram, but it's also true that a career clip of 45% from 3, at a high volume is incredibly good in a professional basketball league. He must not have such a great all round game, because most of his points come from threes. Has low assist numbers and barely ever gets to the free throw line, suggesting he's a spot up shooter but won't help with playmaking, creativity or penetration off he dribble.

It's certainly an interesting move as a departure from what's worked over the past 7 years.

Martin has always had a combo guard next to him. Lisch and Beal can handle the ball, are creative, decent passers and can shoot the three or take it to the rack. They're versatile players with wide skill sets at the guard spot. Something a specialist 3 point shooter like Ingram presumably is not.

This looks a bit of a funny signing by the Wildcats.

You can argue whether Johnson was the right fit as he seemed like he was a bit too similar to Prather but to replace him with a guy who only averages 10 points a game in the d-league as an undersized shooting guard who by the looks of things doesn't do anything in a game other than make 2 or 3 three pointers a game?

The guy is 31 too and never played in a real pro league before (d-league is basically jungle ball). He's also spent a few periods of months at a time and in one case a whole season out of the d-league.

I understand he's got other things going on but all this doesn't strike me as someone who is that devoted to being a pro or interested in getting the best out of himself, more like a bit of a hobby something on the side. He might decide he doesn't like Perth or Australia, being his first real pro gig at 31 and just up and leave and go back home after a handful of games.

Johnson IMO didn't deserve to be cut so quickly but if so you do it if you've got some knock it out of the park star already lined up not a guy who might even struggle as a SEABL level import.

And why is Johnson the victim of this? I don't have the numbers but his three point numbers so far wouldn't be too shabby.

Yep, General Consensus = Underwhelming

Was hoping for a flashy 6'4 / 6'5 gun combo with mad crossover moves, eurostep and an awesome nickname and some dunks.. and of course a pretty looking jumper..

Dolla had a sweet looking jumper..

Andre Ingram press conference:
https://audioboom.com/posts/5180874-andre-ingram-press-conference-19-october-2016


"I'd actually been waiting for the call for a while ..."

Sounds like he was approached during the NBA summer by the cats. And told of their situation.

Him waiting for the call could mean numerous things.

Could mean he was waiting for THE call... by any club.

Could mean he was waiting for the Wildcats to call after talks during the summer

Could mean he signed paper work a few weeks back and was waiting on the call for confirmation.

Ingram is also very articulate and well spoken. Johnson was not.

Ingram interview (long!) from ~ 2 months ago on the Locked on Lakers podcast.

https://audioboom.com/posts/4967587-locked-on-lakers-8-24-16-andre-ingram-talks-about-his-time-with-the-d-fenders-and-life-in-the-d-league

Any idea what Ingram would have been paid during his D-league run??

If you read his backstory, he sounds like a decent bloke. No problem with that.

It makes sense that they would go for somebody they had previously scouted. But it makes it clear that the Cats had previously spoken to him, and it didn't come off. So its not like this has been in the pipeline. In fact he says that it was very sudden when the call did come.
This just sounds more and more like something happened with JJ, and they had to scramble to find someone quick.

I'm hoping that he could do as discussed and really stretch the offense. Perth hasn't had such a threat before. Beal put up a lot of 3's but only made about 33%.

The Cats clearly did more than just scout him

Props to the Cats organisation that whatever did clearly happen with JJ behind the scenes has stayed secret. Rumours of that stuff usually leaks out pretty quickly.

This sounds very promising...

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/32959878/hawks-get-info-on-new-perth-nbl-import/#page1

"Michael Holyfield actually played with him last season in the D-League with Los Angeles D-Fenders," Hawks' coach Rob Beveridge told AAP.

"He gave us a bit of a brief scouting report on Wednesday morning.

"He says he's the best shooter he's ever played with.

"They called him 99, as in 99 per cent of the time it's going in, if he's open."

Considering he's played more games than had training sessions (and flying to Melbourne isn't a short trip either!), you'd probably say 5/10 from 3PT is a success...

I'm liking him so far. Once Perth start to run more plays to get him open he should be more productive.

In four days Ingram has flown from the USA to Aus, played a game, flown all the away across the country to play another game and has hit 5/10 from deep. Now that's a shooter!

The Cats clearly did more than just scout him

Once the Wildcats bigs start setting down screens for him to curl to the top of the key off the baseline cuts hence giving him much better looks this guy will connect on more shots then not. He has a interesting shooting form, but even his misses are looking good. There was two rim outs in the game against the Hawks. He easily could be 7-10 so far from the land of the plenty.


You can clearly see he is trying to figure out where to be on the offensive sets. I think by mid-season this guy will be very handy.