The Perth Wildcats have completed their roster for the 2010/11 NBL season signing Joel Wagner, Greg Hire and Jarrod Balcombe as the club's three development players.
Wagner returns for his second straight season as a development player with the 'Cats after an outstanding State Basketball League season with the Perth Redbacks, with power forward Hire earning his spot after a strong season at Wanneroo and swingman Balcombe joining them as an exciting prospect who has played well with the East Perth Eagles.
Wagner clearly benefitted from his year with the NBL champions last season and put in a tremendous SBL season with the Redbacks that saw him average 13.5 points a game and 10.5 assists.
Beveridge has been impressed with his improvement and will have no trouble throwing him in for the 'Cats if required.
"We watched him through the SBL season and he was probably the No. 1 Australian point guard there. He was averaging well over 10 assists a game and physically he is so much bigger and stronger now. He's just done a terrific job," Beveridge said.
"I'm trying to get people in to fill positions so that if a Brad Robbins or Damian Martin goes down that we do have a back up plan. I'm very comfortable that Joel could come in to do that and that he's really come on, and grown as a player and person."
Hire has returned after graduating from Augusta State and put in a strong SBL season at Wanneroo, where he is also a board member, by averaging 15.1 points, 12.8 boards and 4.4 assists a game.
Beveridge is looking forward to his continued improvement on court, but can't speak highly enough of how highly he rates him as a character.
"Greg Hire is one of the hardest working players that I've come across in a long, long time. He's only 22 years of age but is one of the most mature guys I've met," Beveridge said.
"He has just graduated from college, has come in and is a board member of Wanneroo basketball at 22 and is helping to set up their development programs, and does all this extra work in the community.
"As a character and person he is first-class and he is just a workhorse. He's a 6'5 or 6'6 power forward and will need to do develop his perimeter skills, but from an attitude and work ethic point of view he can definitely be an NBL player."
Balcombe is the youngest player with the Wildcats for the upcoming season at 20 and joins the team on the back of a solid SBL season with East Perth where he averaged 11.8 points and 4.2 rebounds a game that came after he was the Eagles' MVP in 2008.
He has also played high school basketball in New York in 2007, and been part of the State teams in 2005 and 07 and the ITC program in 2004, 05 and 06. Beveridge feels that he has enormous potential.
"Jarrod is a diamond in the rough. He's our youngest guy at 20 and he's a super athletic kid. He has untapped potential and does things that you can't really teach," he said.
"He's a 6'6, long and athletic player and will be going against Stevie Weigh, Cameron Tovey and Jesse Wagstaff day in and day out. Right now he could be something special."
Beveridge will also keep the other players who attended the development player trials involved and is excited by the talent levels in Western Australia.
"I didn’t want to put a number on how many we brought in when we did the trials, but these three I really believe can be NBL players and compete right now. That's why they are here," Beveridge said.
"As for all the other guys that we haven’t selected, we are going to continue with their development by running fortnightly training sessions and there were a number of kids there that I like and want to keep them involved in the program for the future. It's just exciting to have these WA guys involved."
