THE COACH
Trevor Gleeson is now a four-time championship winning coach with the Wildcats including three in the last four seasons. Out of contract, he will now enter negotiations with the club for a new deal. “I’ve always said I want to stay here,” Gleeson said. Gleeson ignored doubters mid-season who demanded the club make roster changes and backed his original decision to only sign two imports. The players responded to his show of faith, found form and are now NBL champions. “We had that knowing feeling in the locker room that we were going to win a championship,” Gleeson said.

THE MVP
Terrico White doesn’t say a lot off the court but his basketball has screamed superstar throughout the entire finals series. White averaged 15.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists throughout the regular season. But his finals series has been at a different level. He scored 19 and 24 points during semifinal wins over Brisbane and followed that with 19, 17, 31 and 20 points during the grand final series. The reigning Korean Basketball League grand final MVP is now the NBL grand final MVP. “When we first had dinner in Vegas, he said I’ll bring you one (championship). He backed it up,” Gleeson said.

THE RETIRING STAR
Greg Hire arrived at the Wildcats as a Development Player unsure if he’d even be good enough to play one game. Yesterday he played the last of 243 games and won his fourth championship. The vice-captain of the club, Hire’s team-first attitude is always evident. He started in the last game of the season, spent 25 minutes on court where he scored six points and had 10 rebounds. He received only 29 minutes on-court throughout the play-offs but didn’t care. He is now one of only 16 men in NBL history have won four titles. “It’s the perfect ending. I couldn’t have scripted it better. It’s unbelievable,” Hire said.

THE CAPTAIN
It seemed hard to believe that Damian Martin could improve his standing in the NBL after such an outstanding career. But even his six Best Defensive Player awards, grand final MVP award and four titles, including three as captain, left enough opportunity to improve upon. Martin’s fifth title elevated him to a group of just six men to have won that many championships. David Stiff, CJ Bruton (six), Larry Sengstock and Mika Vukona (five) all have a handful of rings. Martin and Jesse Wagstaff can now celebrate the same thing.

THE BEST MATES
Nick Kay and Mitch Norton weren’t recruited as a package deal but they may as well have been. Housemates at Illawarra and previous teammates at Townsville, the pair are living together in Perth. They lost the 2016-17 grand final against the Wildcats and get reminded of it every time they see a reference to the championship around the club. Yesterday was their 100th game as teammates and one they will never forget. “We’ve done so much together. The amount of teams we’ve been on, it’s incredible,” Kay said.

THE DECISION
You don’t get much more pressure than an impending deadline to make changes to the roster when a team isn’t performing well. But that was exactly what Perth faced mid-season. The Wildcats lost six of their eight games as the deadline approached and the basketball world demanded change. Gleeson spoke to Martin and the pair had the same faith that they had a team that could win a title. “I was lucky that Trevor asked my opinion and I was adamant we had a group that was good enough. I didn’t want to sound arrogant or stubborn but I genuinely believed that,” Martin said.

The two Wildcats players were overwhelmed after their team beat Melbourne to win the NBL Championship.
The West Australian

THE KID
Rhys Vague grew up in Kardinya and went to Willetton High School. He barracked for the Wildcats, idolised the players and dreamt of playing for the club. An opportunity to be a Development Player meant he was on the right path and that allowed him to experience the success of two championships. But there’s a big difference between being a Development Player and having a full contract. The 23-year-old is now a fully-fledged championship winner. “This is surreal. It has so much more to it than when I was a DP. It’s just incredible,” Vague said.

THE TARGET
Melbourne United went into the play-offs determined not to get beaten by what they already knew. Everyone knew that Bryce Cotton was a superstar and the key to Perth scoring strongly. That meant United wanted to close him down. They didn’t bank on Cotton turning into an assisting freak. Cotton had eight in game one, four in game two and nine in game three. Then yesterday he cut loose and scored 28 points. “Whatever it takes to win, that’s what winners do. You have to find a way to impact the game no matter what,” Cotton said.

THE OPPOSITION
Melbourne United won last year’s title and finished second on the ladder this year. They had a host of stars but couldn’t stop the Wildcats when the series was on the line. Perth altered their tactics to handle United’s aggressive defence and it lifted them to a championship.

“They got good at handling our on-ball coverage and getting some sneaky lay-ups, out-of-bounds plays and putting point-guards at dunkers spots and finishing some plays. Credit to them. They did a good job,” Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said.