NBL26 Report Card: Point guard woes hinder Wildcats

As the Free Agency period tips off, NBL Media is putting the microscope on every club's NBL26 campaign.

Pete Hooley analyses every team, starting with the tenth-placed Bullets, all the way through to the Championship-winning Kings.

What the ladder says

4th place - 21 wins, 12 losses

Four word summary

Snake without its head

Report Card

Grade: B

The Red Army expects championships, and to at the very least be in the championship series, so while the season may have fallen short of expectations, there’s plenty to be positive about.

One of the biggest positives would have to be that this team found a strong defensive identity and leant on that to put them in a position to be successful, while some injuries and decisions around their point guard spot had them stumbling.

That point guard position was the headline all season long for the Wildcats, who had an incredibly talented group that lacked that floor general piecing it altogether.

It’s no surprise then that when Jaron Rillie stepped into that role, everything started to look positive for the Wildcats, until he was sidelined with a hamstring injury.

In the end, Perth was swept by the Sydney Kings in the Playoffs, which was a disappointing way to end.

It’s hard not to think about what could have been when Kristian Doolittle rose up for a jump shot to try and steal Game 1, and it came off the front of the rim.

With their core locked into returning, this Wildcats team is one or two pieces away from making their mark in NBL27.

Season highlight

Whatever the Wildcats did on New Year's Eve worked wonders, as this team put together a very impressive January, which had them right in the mix for a top two spot.

Perth won seven of eight games in that month, with the one loss coming by one to Melbourne United.

That game looked to be more of an anomaly at that point in time, as they only scored 73 points as a team, compared to averaging over 100 in their other seven games.

That stretch involved four away wins and two wins over a Phoenix team that had put its hat in the ring as a genuine title contender.

Season lowlight

I refuse to take the easy way out and just put the point guard dilemma here as the lowlight of their season, because their inability to find a way to win close games was more concerning.

The Wildcats lost five games by 1 point, and some of those hurt more than others, especially in Round 11 when they held a 20-point lead over Adelaide in the fourth quarter and lost on their home floor.

These results can be put down to a combination of missed opportunities and some poor execution, but in the end, they all end up as a tough loss.

Stats don’t lie

As mentioned above, the Perth Wildcats seemed to find an identity on the defensive end this season, and it was a major factor for their success.

The Wildcats had the third-best defensive rating (110.3), just narrowly trailing Melbourne (109.5) and Sydney (108.2), which was the first time they had been a top-three defensive team since the NBL21 season.

Furthermore, John Rillie’s team gave up the fewest number of points of any team in the competition at just 87.1 per game, which included sending teams to the free-throw line the fewest at just 17.8 per game.

MVP

The Wildcats had many different contributors who played a key role in their success, but none were more important than Kristian Doolittle, who has arguably made himself the best two-way player in the entire league.

The 28-year-old put it all together in his third NBL season, averaging over 17 points, six rebounds and three assists per game.

While his offensive game continues to evolve, it hasn’t stopped the Wildcats' star from taking on the biggest defensive assignments each game.

Whether it’s limiting a guard or switching onto a taller center, Doolittle might just be the most well-rounded player in the competition.

Surprise packet

While those who knew Jaron Rillie knew how talented the young guard was from his college days, I’m not sure many expected him to see the court much in his first season as a development player, let alone look as comfortable as he did out there.

When his father and head coach desperately needed an answer in an early-season away trip to New Zealand, he turned to Jaron, who took the opportunity and never looked bac

After helping lead them to a big win, Rillie would continue that over the course of the next few weeks, highlighted by his astonishing +/- of +46 in just 20 minutes across two games.m.

What's next?

As it stands, Kristian Doolittle, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr., Dylan Windler, Ben Henshall, Jaron Rillie, Cameron Huefner and Noa Kouakou-Heugue are all under contract for John Rillie's side.

Reports also suggest that both Elijah Pepper and Jesse Wagstaff have signed new deals and will be back in Perth for the Hungry Jack's NBL27 season.