Ive struggled to understand gleesons substitutions all year. Last game Brandt was having a dominant first half then saw hardly any court time in the 3rd and 4th. Having McKay in foul trouble tonight meant gleeson had no choice but to leave Brandt on the floor and he showed what he can do against big nate.

Why wouldn't he put Kernich-Drew on the floor for the final play with 2 seconds on the clock needing a score?

oh hoorah another post that should have gone in the existing game thread but Mr 'my thoughts are more special than everyone elses' feels the need to start yet another one.

I'm so sick of this pest Dazz. Go away.

Yeah I thought it would've been more sensible to play Brandt on jawai from the get go. Maybe the plan WA for McKay to be energetic and wear him out early. Wasn't very effective though besides the one transition dunk

Dazz couldn't agree more, it was baffling.

Even if he went with it early, 2 mins in it was clear that wasn't going to fly.

It was a weird choice, I'm not sure what Gleeson was thinking. Surely Brandt shows his inside game and strength during training enough for Gleeson to put 2 and 2 together. Hopefully his performance against Cairns is enough to get starts against bigger opponents in future games.

I personally think that Brandt should start in the rest of Perth's games. No disrespect to McKay at all but he would be a great energy player coming off the bench and still play 20+ minutes.

Well this is going to be the big question again.
Assuming Fearne goes with his usual line-up, If Trev starts McKay on Jawai, not only will I lose my shit. I may start to believe some of the crazier alfoil-hat conspiracies.

With Knight out, Brandt has to start.
Keep McKay on the bench, till Jawai has a rest maybe as that's usually early. Bring McKay on when hopefully he can have an impact quickly, get his confidence flowing, then take it from there.
Obviously they'll match up at some point, but I would rather see it delayed.

Defensively, McKay is clearly better when he can use his leap and speed to block or at least intimidate the shooter. Jawai does most of his work in close, where the only way to stop him is with a big body. Brandt is the best we've got.

You just can't start McKay on Jawai, he doesn't have the strength and he doesn't have the skills down low in the post offensively. I wouldn't mind seeing Brandt get the start.

Also wouldn't mind seeing Redhage start against Worthington for old time sake :P

Well Shit.
I guess Jameel won't be back next year.

Has there been a worse utilized player this season?

Maybe the rumours about him not being Gleeson's choice are true?

I don't think McKay has the most intelligent basketball IQ. Even when he is under the basket and going up for a shot he doesn't protect the ball.

I still think its weird the way McKay is used.

I kinda like that Trev was willing to start Brandt, but I thought tonight was a strange game to do it, and the matchups still weren't quite right.

Maric is one big dude, but they Whittington in the 4, and he was clearly too quick for Knight.
Why not start Brandt or Knight against Maric, and McKay against Whittington?

Still nice to see him get a bit of a run later, and put down some dunks, hopefully it gives him a shot of confidence.

Gleeson did a similar thing against Melbourne, starting Knight against Barlow. Now if it were Knight at his best fair enough, but he's been a long way off that since his injury in Sydney.

yeah, that was also weird. Knights probably stronger, but in several games he has clearly been hampered, and guys like Barlow and White are just too quick.

And here we are again.
How poetic that the season comes down to this.

Trev has secured the streak. Can he now pull his head out far enough to use McKay effectively???

Jawai averages 20 minutes a game, McKay 22.5. They barely need to be on the floor together.

Perth have a significantly superior backcourt. If they can stop the Cairns giants dominating inside, then we're in with a good chance.

Have a look at how McKay ran out the game against MU. That's what we need to see. Let Knight, Brandt, and Hire grind down the Cairns frontcourt for a while.