Here's why Danny Mills thinks Tai Webster boosts Perth's finals hopes
Webster's addition to the Perth Wildcats is going to spice up the race to the NBL finals.
It’s been an inconsistent year from the Perth Wildcats. After winning their opening three games of the season, the Wildcats went on a five game slide across October and early November, finding themselves with a sub .500 record. Question marks regarding the quality of import play not named Bryce Cotton, and regressions from key local pieces like Mitch Norton and Todd Blanchfield were rightful concerns. Wildcat cynics have been quick to highlight any perceived missteps from an organisation often close to perfection over recent decades, and the possibility of disappointment on back to back seasons was growing.
However, things have slowly turned around. Led by significant upticks in performance from TaShawn Thomas and Corey Webster, the Wildcats have found their form - they’re now 7-4 over their last 11 games, 5-2 over their last seven. With the NBL finals race as tight as ever, momentum appears on their side, but only one game separates Perth’s fifth place position and the eighth, and an extra edge could prove to be the difference down the stretch. Enter Tai Webster.
“Any time you add talent, especially an elite talent like Tai, you have to think it’s going to move the needle.” Perth Wildcats General Manager Danny Mills expressed to The Pick and Roll earlier this week.
“The league is super competitive right now amongst those teams competing for finals spots. A win’s kind of like a double, and a loss sets you back a game, so for us to add a piece like Tai [Webster] with 10 games left to make a strong run home and finish high on the ladder as we head in to the finals was something we’d been targeting.
“I think for us, adding Tai is giving us extra depth. It’s giving us an extra scorer/playmaker that we can play next to Bryce and Corey, and complements Mitch Norton in that four guard rotation. I think it’s a depth thing in how it affects us, because it gives us so many more options on the perimeter.”
On paper, Perth’s backcourt made sense going in to the season.
