Wildcats setting the stage for marquee names

In recent weeks, there have been several reports linking five-time Olympian Patty Mills to the Perth Wildcats.

Firstly, CODE Sports revealed the Wildcats will attempt to sign Mills as the club’s marquee man, before Wildcats GM Danny Mills went on The West Sports Show and said: “He [Mills] is still playing (in Spain), so there isn’t really a discussion. But when that time comes, obviously, we want to put ourselves in the best position to attract the best talent back to Perth.

“We’ve got to be looking at absolutely every opportunity to add to our roster.

“And if there are players in the likes of former NBA guys or Boomers that want to come back to Australia, then 100 per cent we’ll get in those conversations. But as of right now, it’s very new for someone like Patty.

While 2014 NBA champion Mills continues to play in Spain, the Wildcats are making moves to, as GM Mills says, “put them in the best position to attract top talent”.

The Wildcats recently appointed Junior Viranatuleo as their team manager.

Due to the connection between NBA star Mills and Viranatuleo, built on their time together with the Australian Boomers, ESPN’s Olgun Uluc addressed the hiring on the latest episode of The Marketplace, presented by Paywise.

“It's funny because the Wildcats made an announcement, I don't know how many times we see an announcement for a team manager,” Uluc said on The Marketplace, presented by Paywise.

“For those who don't know Junior Viranatuleo, he's the Boomers' team manager. He has been that for a long time.

“He's been among a bunch of NBL teams. He's really high-level. He's really well-liked among Australian basketball. He's one of the best.

“Now that's in a vacuum that should be appreciated on its own. You're getting a really high-quality person, a high-quality professional in the building.

“[But] he's close with Patty Mills. He works with Patty Mills' Foundation. When Patty Mills went to Tenerife, Junior went with him to help set up. There is a connection there.

“It's almost weird if we didn't acknowledge that, because I wanted to make sure that Junior got his flowers in his own right.

“But it’s now easy for the Wildcats to say, ‘hey, we've got someone who's an ally of yours over here, would you like to come and join us?’

“It is obviously a part of, even if it's one per cent, a recruiting pitch [to Mills].”

Fellow panellist Pete Hooley agreed with Uluc that it is a big move by the Wildcats.

“It [the hiring] is a big get for the Wildcats,” Hooley said.

“But to be fair, even without the Patty stuff, you probably still would say he’s that highly regarded in his own right, so the move can't hurt.”