Nice

Title favs now

Great news.
Hoping for Jervis now.

If you assume that they will try to keep Cotton & Tokyto, or players very similar, that leaves the Cats with 1 Local and 1 import spot to fill.

If I could take a further guess, they will again chase an athletic 4 with their 3rd import slot, someone who can not only protect the rim, but get on the end of some fast-breaks and dunks.

That will leave them looking for a local guard or maybe SF...

How will this work for Perth?

Martin 20 / Norton 20
Import 30 / DKD 10

or will Norton start?

Gleeson speaks of Norton and Martin playing together, ummm...Norton averages 8 ppg and Martin less than 5. Martin is 27% from deep, Nortin is 35%. Not sure this duo is going to strike any fear offensively.

It is almost certain that Martin will be down for some of the season, so there should be a contingency (Naar?).

I was otherwise occupied when the Kay/Norton news started to solidify so didn't comment at the time, but together these two should set up the next Wildcats dynasty. They won't do it alone, but they're a solid shot at being the next Martin/Knight head-tail building blocks - no-fuss, team-oriented, two-way contributors.

In the absence of a points cap, you can't blame Perth for grabbing them. They're not going to have Cotton/Goulding/Lisch-level pricetags, and snatching quality local players removes them from your opposition's limited recruiting pool.

And you can't blame the players for making the move. If a strong club offered me a three year deal while my past club was experiencing some level of uncertainty, and I didn't have family ties in that place, I'd be seriously inclined to shift.

But I think that if this doesn't shake Illawarra in 2018/19, it's not going to help beyond that. It's a seismic hit to talent and prospects and a lowly finish after a season of iffy crowds in 2017/18 may be damaging, especially in a small market. Who are you building around from the 2017/18 team? Who's left to grab? Unless Glover is a prodigy or Cooks comes home, it's going to be tough.

Excellent signing.

Norton goes HARD to the hoop and challenges defences on the reg to match his physicality. Gleeson will mould him into an absolute stud, i predict multiple championships.

Great signing. Norton and martin will be a very hard backcourt to score on when playing together, stops can mean easy transition baskets.

Tokoto surely will not be invited back. His lack of range was debilitating for the cats offence.

I'd like to see devondrick walker, he can shoot 40% from 3, has length Nd athleticism.

Kay and Norton is an Aussie core to work with over the next few years.

Cats remain very well placed despite their poor finish to 2018.

Rob Beveridge must be hating life right now.

DKD is not returning, for those putting him in their projected line-ups.

Source:

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/perth-wildcats/perth-wildcats-lure-australian-boomers-point-guard-mitch-norton-west-ng-b88813318z

Brandt/Jervis
Kay/Wagstaff/Vague
Import (Devondrick Walker)/Steindl
Import (Cotton)/Import (Ramone Moore type)
Martin/Norton

Couldn't be happier, I'm a big believer that you don't tell Norton that he's a starter or coming off the bench and you get him to pre-season training and you get Damo and him going at it every day.

Should become a great NBL player as he's still young and played a heap of games and Illawarra will be just as upset about losing Norton as they will be about losing Kay

Anon 870

Spot on.

But this would tend to indicate that the NBL needs 1 of 2 things from here:
Equalisation measures such as the salary cap; or
Significant transfer fees, at least for players approaching their peak.

I know that the 2nd option would also be an equalisation measure.

The league needs the smaller franchises to survive. Any less than 8 teams and the viability of the league would be seriously questionable, especially to potential investors and sponsors.

How many franchises are up for sale and who owns them??? So, LK needs to help support Cairns and Illawarra.