Cotton was the best player on the championship team and to me there are more Prather types out there than Cottons.

Problem for the cats is, they didn't sign a Prather type.

They signed a Beal type with Prather tendencies.

Could the Wildcats honestly not afford Prather's asking price?

If that story is true, it seems to be more about principal than money. In saying that, I'm sure no player will play for free

Good on him and good luck to him! United my second team. Prather will be missed but we fortunate to have him back in the nbl.

Will be disappointed if doesn't receive a standing ovation when he comes back to the arena.

I would guess that it being more about the principle than the actual dollar amount is pretty common.
In this case (assuming it is actually true, of course), it wouldn't say to me that money is his #1 motivation at all. But money is basically the main way a club shows value/respect towards a player.

I've preached my thoughts on Prather's value to the Cats for a long time now on here. I guess now we'll get to see just how easy to replace his contributions are. Suffice to say I disagree that there are more Prather types out there than Cottons.

Spot on Luuuc, it's extremely common. I know of instances where clubs thought they could low ball players because they are a home town kids or they're close mates with the other players that he'll never leave etc. This leads to a player feeling devalued and not staying. A sense of worth is one of the most important things in any workplace and sometimes the arrogance of club GM's when it comes to contract negotiating can diminish that.

Was it arrogance on the Cats side? or could they genuinely not afford his asking price once they signed Cotton?

If theirs tiers of imports, I'd say everywhere around the world Cotton's skill set puts him in a bracket above Prathers. Even though Prather is a star in his own right.

They didn't sign a prather type, they signed a Jaron Johnson type. Which makes sense as Johnson was originally signed to replace Prather...

Last season Cotton showed he was clearly the best import in the league with Randle a little bit behind and Prather and the rest a bit behind Randle.

Yes, Cotton types (volume scoring guards) are easier to find than Prather types but the difference in talent between the two is why you pick Cotton over him every time.

I'm not suggesting there was arrogance in play in this instance but more so general commentary around why players don't sign at a particular club that they seem to be fond of. It's often us armchair critics that point to a selfish player wanting more $$ when that isn't always the case

Well according to you it was exactly that in this case. Prather demanded to be paid Cotton money, goodbye Casey.

You're drawing a long bow to say that money is his number 1 motivation - how do you know that for sure? Maybe he genuinely wanted to experience another city..maybe Melbourne can offer other non-financial benefits? Maybe he has friends/family in MEL?

I dislike the inference that you feel Perth should be entitled to keep Prather almost purely because he has only ever played for them in the NBL; and that Prather should accept whatever Perth give him. He is entitled to explore the open market; and considering Perth seem to have shown a preference to Cotton, you can hardly blame him.

Prather isn't the first import to change teams; and won't be the last; and Perth isn't the first team its happened to and won't be the last.

I don't think Cats fans are being Petty.

They have a right to be upset that their team didn't pay a star import who led them to back to back championships what he wanted.

You can't falter Prather for his decisions this season, and to an extent you can support the Wildcats for theirs.

It just came down to circumstance, timing, money and knowledge.

At the time, Prather had a verbal agreement with the cats.

Circumstances change, Webster out, more money to Cotton.

Prather finds out Cotton got more money.

Wildcats can't wait and sign Walker.

Prather off to Melbourne.

Just like Cotton didn't want to wait and saw a good opportunity and took it. The Wildcats took the opportunity with Devondrick.

It's really just salty situation, with Melbourne the benefactors

I will admit my comment that Prather's number 1 motivation is $$$ was a bit harsh, Regardless of what happened I think both parties now have what they want. The cats gave him the option of coming back and in the end Prather wasn't happy with the money given Cotton's salary (would love to know what that is), the cats now have the type of player that they feel is a better fit for the system they want to run, and Prather gets more money. I loved having Casey at the cats but they had 2 options:

1. Webster (or an unproven replacement that could have been a bust) and Prather.

2. Cotton and Walker (a guy who could also end up being a bust but someone that Cotton wants to play with and has on court chemistry with).

Walker is a far better perimeter shooter (the cats openly wanted to improve in this area), passer, he is also a solid defender and is able to get to the rim, but most importantly DURABLE. Prather a better finisher at the rim, defender and better equipped as a rebounder and as a defender when switched onto bigs but their is a big question mark over his durability.

Cotton loves it in Perth really wants to be at the cats and likely to stay on after this season, Prather is so close to making the NBA so is less likely to stay long term, Perth have always tried to minimise personnel changes and in my opinion this was a big factor when making their decision going forward.

Melbourne are a much better team with Prather on the roster but with Goulding being the main man and very ball dominant surely they would be looking to a pass first, playmaking PG rather than Casper Ware. Interested to hear what you guys think...

It's so good we have so many agents and front office staff that know the details of every players contract posting on this site.

It's so good we have so many agents and front office staff that know the details of every players contract posting on this site.

Anon a new thread wasn't started by me, it was written under another post and moved to its own thread. I don't know why anons get so butt hurt by new threads anyway...if you don't like it don't read it.

Prather has fought for the cats for the last few years and carried them to titles (yes back to back). Cotton shows up halfway through the season and puts the icing on the cake which Prather baked. Completely fair Prather asked to be matched

Cotton would've already been agreed to before Webster got released, the Wildcats just did him a favour by allowing him to save face and make it look like he left of his own volition. The Cotton signing was announced the next day after Webster got punted.

In this case you can see both sides had their reasons, probably justifiably too. Clearly wasn't meant to be. Yes cats fans will be gutted he has joined a rival, as they bloody well should he is an elite player, no denying the salt here, be crazy if you weren't salty. Equally excited to see how the team fits together this year, I am in the corner that says Cotton is more elite than prather and his addition requires less of prathers playmaking. Can the season start already

The cake that Prather was allegedly cooking was actually starting to look like a burnt scone prior to Cotton coming along and sewing the season back together.

Couple of mentions about verbal agreement here, though not from the OP. It's possible/likely that the indication was less verbal agreement to a specific contract, but rather an indication that they were in the ballpark at that point.

Until it's signed or there is at least a stronger verbal commitment, it's possible that the game moves to another ballpark if other info comes to hand. Especially if part of the negotiation has involved the club indicating that they are working within a budget or that the roster would take a particular shape.

Prather for mine over Cotton, especially when they already had Webster.

Prather is a much better all-court contributor, whereas Cotton is a streaky volume shooter who is brilliant when on but can hurt the team when he is off, and over his career he's had plenty of off nights.

If Cotton finds consistency then he'll be the best player in the comp, but if Wildcats fans are expecting his last few games to be the norm I think their expectations may be a little too high.

Also worth nothing, that last season Prather signed on quite late.

Ironically, the Wildcats due diligence to sign a quality player early has come back to bite them.

Devondrick.

He's not a terrible player. just not prather

Walker is not as good as Prather.

Good luck to Casey on getting the best deal for himself, why should he be loyal to Perth, clubs at all levels of sport only care about themselves at the end of the day. Loyalty is an over use word, clubs have no issue cutting players surplus to their needs, hell we did it quite a bit last year, until we got what we wanted. Why shouldn't players get the best outcome they possibly can for them selves.

In saying that hope he kills it against all teams other then the Cats :)

Have to laugh at the suggestion the Webster and Cotton signing/release weren't related. Seriously?

It's all well and good to place 2 logically related events together, but do we have any proof that that's how it went down?

I don't think we'll ever know.

Eg. Everyone thought Jaron Johnson got the boot because he is was crap and the Wildcats just wanted to upgrade to save their season. 6 months later we find out differently.

No...perhaps the use of JJ was a poor example. I did not mean to suggest because one example involved substance means the other has too. The two are not related.