Sydney Kings star Dejan Vasiljevic has thrown petrol on the hearth that all the time threatens to blow up every time his group faces the Perth Wildcats, mentioning Tai Webster’s horrible free throw report earlier than he’s even stepped on courtroom for the membership.
Webster sat on the bench throughout Wednesday’s loss to New Zealand. The Wildcats didn’t danger placing him on courtroom simply sooner or later after assembly his teammates following his launch from enjoying in Turkey. That will change towards the Kings on on Saturday.
A potent scorer throughout his time on the Breakers, Webster wasn’t as comfy when heading to the free throw line. He’s made solely 58 per cent of his free throws within the NBL.
Vasiljevic was fast to level that out after scoring 42 factors towards South East Melbourne, referencing an NBL promotion the place sponsor Hungry Jacks provides away free cheeseburgers if a participant misses each of his free throws throughout a visit to the stripe.
“He’s a great guy to come back into the league. We’ll see who gets the most cheeseburgers – him or X (Kings teammate Xavier Cooks),” Vasiljevic stated.
Kings captain Cooks has saved followers fed whereas taking pictures at solely 50 per cent from the road this season.
When Kings coach Chase Buford identified Cooks’ report, Vasiljevic doubled down on his feedback about Webster.
“Trust me, Tai Webster is there for sure,” he stated.
Those feedback comply with Kings proprietor Paul Smith mocking the Wildcats for lacking the finals final season throughout a NBL documentary. The tense relationship additionally noticed Wildcats centre Matt Hodgson suspended for 2 video games for hanging Vasiljevic final yr, and Smith declare the Wildcats didn’t deserve the 2020 championship given the grand ultimate collection was cancelled prematurely amid COVID-19.
Saturday would be the first time the golf equipment have performed this season.
Adding Webster ought to make the high-scoring Wildcats much more potent offensively. The group has averaged 97 factors from the final seven video games since making main adjustments to their beginning 5.
But coach John Rillie has dismissed any ideas of turning NBL matches into excessive scoring shootouts for the rest of the season.
“It’s certainly not going to be the mentality,” he stated.
“The mentality is not going to change. We’ve got to get stops. Our defence has to improve. We scored enough points (against New Zealand). We certainly had some moments.
“It’s easy to reflect on the second quarter. The way the opposition has to work for a period and the buckets, they’re too high percentage of shots consistently.”
