Inside the Perth Wildcats’ NBL off-season revamp and how they lured top talent Ben Henshall

It’s why they tried to convince the Perth native to join the club as a development player before the start of last season, when he was just 17.

But the boom Aussie guard, at the time fresh off leading WA Metro to U18 National Championships gold and in the midst of a scholarship at the elite Centre of Excellence, decided to bet on himself.

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He believed another year of rapid development under the tutelage of Robbie McKinlay and the CoE team in Canberra would help him convince an NBL club to give him a full contract and a guaranteed roster spot.

Good bet.

Henshall, now 19, was named tournament MVP following WA’s dominant gold medal run at January’s U20 National Championships. Wildcats general manager Danny Mills and coach John Rillie had seen all they needed to make him a fully-fledged Wildcat.

In February, Henshall spent time as a train-on player with the national men’s team and two months later, put pen to paper on a two-year deal with his hometown club.

“I was thinking about leaving the CoE a year early and starting last year as a DP, but I had a chat with my coaches and family and came to the decision to stay at the CoE, and I’m glad I did,” Henshall, who never really considered taking the US college route, tells CODE Sports.

“If I didn’t, I don’t think I would have been MVP at the U20s or been able to have that experience with the Boomers.

“It all came about after the 20s. My agent came through with the full contract, which I’m super thankful for.

“There were a couple of other teams who contacted me, but Perth was where I wanted to end up and getting a full contract was super important.

“If you’d asked me when I first got to the CoE if that was going to be a possibility for me, I’d probably have just laughed and thought you were crazy.”

Henshall averaged 19.4 points, 6.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals at the nationals, is currently fourth in NBL1 East for assists at 5.22 per game, leading his CoE team to a 19-1 record, and was the most-dominant player at the NBA Academy Games, where he powered the CoE to the championship in Atlanta, earlier this month.

The Wildcats have themselves a serious talent — and Mills knows it.

“I think everyone’s starting to see what we’ve seen all along,” Mills tells CODE.

“He’s potentially a guy who’s going to crack the rotation earlier than what everyone’s predicting.

“He’s one of, if not the, best junior in his age group. He’s got so much upside and we were completely convinced the right way to go was to get him into a Wildcats uniform and lock him up.”

From hoops hate to an easy choice

Henshall is now singularly focused on his basketball goals. But it hasn’t always been that way.

Growing up in the small suburb of Lynwood, about 12km as the crow flies southeast of Perth, Aussie rules was his first love.

In fact, as a student at Willetton Senior High School — a WA basketball factory — Henshall initially had no love for the round ball.

“I played footy. I was a train-on for the state team in U12s and I was part of the Perth Demons academy,” he says.

“I remember we had a clinic at Willetton. It was my first time picking up a basketball and I hated it.

“Mum didn’t think I was going to stick to it and then, somehow, she convinced me to keep going and join a domestic team and it just kind of took off.”

Footy and hoops began to clash and at about 14, he bet on basketball.

It was another savvy decision, even if he did miss out on the U14 state team as a bottom-ager. It just poured more fuel on the fire.

“I still remember it because the teams came out when we were at school and I thought I would maybe be in the running but I didn’t even make the squad, even as an emergency,” he says.

“All my mates made it and it wasn’t a good feeling. But I developed heaps that year and made it the next year as a top-ager.

“I didn’t want to miss it again.”

Inspiration, improvement and the lure of Cotton

Mum Joanne — a hooper herself — was the initial inspiration for Henshall to take up the sport.

He credits she and dad Mark as major influences, along with Cockburn Cougars coach Andrew Cooper. ‘Coops’ coached both those winning WA nationals teams and has been a guiding force for Henshall.

The 195cm guard has blossomed at the CoE and the NBA dream becomes more within reach with every dribble.

“I feel like basketball has always come pretty naturally for me,” he says.

“I’ve got more athletic over the years, for sure, but I feel like being at the CoE and playing against the best players in Australia and from all over the world every day, it definitely gets you better and prepares you for the next steps.

“It’s every kid who plays basketball’s dream to make it to the NBA and that’s the long-term goal, but we will really push for a championship in these two years and then see how it’s tracking.”

The chance to begin his pro career in his home state was a big draw but there was also the lure of playing alongside a three-time NBL MVP who has won a trio of titles; one of the most dominant guards ever to take the floor in Australia.

In a recent visit home, Henshall got an up-close look at Bryce Cotton’s remarkable abilities.

“We had an open run and I was in the team with Bryce and he’s just unbelievable,” Henshall says.

“It was like, give him the ball whenever we needed a bucket and he just went and got one.

“I’m excited to get the pre-season underway so I can start picking his brain about everything and I’m excited to play alongside him.”

Huge poten-shall and figuring it all out

So, what can Wildcats fans expect from Henshall?

Well, plenty.

The kid can play both guard spots; at 6’5”, he’ll be too big for most NBL point guards. He continues to develop as a ball-handler and facilitator, and is adept off the ball.

He’ll be learning his craft from the likes of Cotton and talented Kiwi backcourt brothers Tai and Corey Webster.

“I don’t think we’ve pigeonholed Ben into any sort of position yet, he’s played the point this season at the CoE but there’s a lot to his game,” Mills says.

“He’s a really good cutter, has a good feel for the game, his ability to be a playmaker for others is underrated and has really developed over the past 18 months.

“His size and his length is an advantage on both ends and he’s a two-way player who has a real competitive edge about him.

“He’s a guy who has the athleticism to stick with smaller, quicker guards and then he’s got the size and the length to guard bigger wings.”

Mills acknowledges that it won’t all be roses. At 19, Henshall is still figuring out life off the court, let alone what it takes to be a high-level pro baller.

“Coming in at such a young age, there’s going to be good days, there’s going to be bad days,” Mills says.

“It’s going to be a competitive environment where he’s going to have to fight for everything but that’s how guys grow. Nothing’s going to be given to him, he’s going to have to earn it.

“It’s a great platform for him to come out and show where he’s at individually and where he can get to, and we truly think he’s going to be a contributor very quickly.”

A revamp geared towards a resurgence

Henshall’s arrival is part of a mini rejuvenation of a club that just snuck into the expanded top-six play-in finals format, beating South East Melbourne before then being eliminated by Cairns.

The Wildcats’ potent attack was historically-good, producing the fourth-best offensive rating (117.1 points per 100 possessions) since the league changed to 40-minute games in 2009-10.

But it was the polar opposite at the other end. Perth’s defensive rating was the sixth-worst in the same period, conceding 116.8 points per 100 possessions.

Put simply, in NBL23 the Wildcats’ offence was the best in the league, yet their defence the worst.

Four months on, Mills pauses when asked to assess the season.

“Yeah, umm, it’s a good question … I feel like it was probably asked a lot right after the season finished but to now really reflect on it when we’ve been looking forward for so long, I would say we were inconsistent,” he says.

“When you’re a historically-good offensive rating as a team and then we’re right at the bottom as a defensive unit, it just created inconsistencies.

“There were games when we were unstoppable offensively and even if we didn’t defend at a high level, we were just going to win because of the firepower we had.

“Defensively, there were too many times when we just weren’t rebounding at a high enough level, we probably lacked some rim protection and then, as a whole, we just weren’t good enough.”

He points out that the Wildcats were 2-1 against champion Sydney and beaten grand finalist New Zealand.

“Take from that what you will. It was disappointing for sure because with the talent we had, we could have given any team a run,” he said.

“But we couldn’t get it done when it mattered the most.

“There were really good building blocks and I think we saw with JR as a head coach in the NBL, he has the potential to really carve out (a reputation) as an elite head coach in the professional basketball world.”

How Wildcats wooed Next Sarr

The NBL didn’t speak to Henshall about becoming a Next Star — a program for young, NBA draft-eligible talent — but Mills and the Wildcats were of the belief that he could have been one.

The fact he’s on the main roster meant that Perth could add a Next Star for the first time in club history. Players in the program are eligible, but don’t take up one of the 11 main roster spots.

They wooed giant 18-year-old Frenchman Alex Sarr — a projected top-20 pick in the 2024 NBA draft — who will move from Toulouse to Perth with his mother and father as support.

“A lot of things aligned with Alex. We were able to get on a presentation call with him, his agent and his parents, and it wasn’t long after that they shut everything down and decided, ‘Perth’s where we want to go’,” Mills says.

“Some of that was due to John and I having connections externally with some of the people who knew him, and I think they felt very comfortable with our situation and it being the best environment for Alex to spend his final year before he gets drafted.”

Mills believes Sarr’s physical gifts and basketball ability will give him a chance to carve out a role early on.

“He’s going to come in and have a chance to fight for rotation minutes from day one in camp and there’ll be an adjustment for him, like there is for any 18-year-old coming into a professional league,” he says.

“But there’s just not many bigs in our league who are 7’1” with a 7’5” wingspan. With the way he moves on the perimeter and how he can play both ends, we think that will allow him to have advantages that we haven’t had on our roster. He’s unique and brings a new dimension to our team.”

Changing times in the west

Over the past two years, the winds of change have blown through the Wildcats organisation.

Craig Hutchison’s SEN Group purchased the club from Perth basketball doyen, the late Jack Bendat, who presided over six titles in a 14-year reign.

Five-time champion coach Trevor Gleeson left for the Toronto Raptors and he was replaced by Scott Morrison (not the former Australian Prime Minister).

The Wildcats missed the NBL finals for the first time in a remarkable 35 years and Morrison was moved on, replaced by Rillie.

“It’s been two years, we’ve had new ownership, two new coaches, there’s been a lot of change at the organisation both on the business side and on the basketball side, on and off the court,” Mills says.

About to embark on their first full off-season together, Mills, Rillie and the Wildcats were dealt an early blow when young local Luke Travers, after four years developing in Perth, packed his bags for United.

They acted quickly though, securing the prized signature of back-to-back NBL Most Improved Player Keanu Pinder — another homegrown talent — from Cairns.

With Cotton already locked away, Pinder adds an athletic pick and roll dimension to the Wildcats, who re-signed the Webster brothers, hit back at United by snaring rangy big man David Okwera and poached tough forward Hyrum Harris from Adelaide.

They’ve done deals to get the contracts of ageing veterans Mitch Norton and Todd Blanchfield off their books; they’ll still pay some of their wages at Brisbane and Illawarra, respectively.

“John and I have worked closely together over a full off-season, as opposed to last year going through another coaching change, and that’s been really fun and I think we’ll reap the benefits of that,” Mills says.

“It’s a long season, it’s professional sport. There’s ups and downs, there’s going to be losses but I think this team has a chance to be really successful and not just now, but in the future with the young players we have brought in.”

What about the imports?

Mills is clearly excited, but work isn’t quite done on compiling a roster that he hopes can add an 11th title to the record of the most successful franchise in NBL history.

The Wildcats need to fill two crucial positions, likely to be a pair of imports.

Mills is notoriously guarded about the Wildcats’ recruiting wish list, but it doesn’t take a genius to look at the roster construction and deduce that they require a two-way wing to support Cotton and Tai Webster, and a power forward who can play D, rebound and space the floor for Pinder to do his best work inside.

“There’s got to be versatility and we have to continue down the line of our defensive profile,” he says.

“Keanu’s improved our defence. We think David Okwera, Hyrum Harris, Alex Sarr, Ben Henshall, these guys have helped our defence.

“I wouldn’t say any signing’s imminent but I would say we’re in really good discussions with multiple players at both positions that we need.”

Igniting in Vegas

Mills watched Henshall play at the Academy Games in Atlanta before heading to Las Vegas for last week’s NBA Summer League. During that time, it was announced that the Wildcats would head to Sin City to take on G League Ignite in a pair of pre-season exhibition games.

The former Philadelphia 76ers lead recruiter developed a large network in the US and it was ties to Ignite GM Anthony McClish that helped seal the games, slated for September 6 and 8.

“The G League had contacted the NBL about a potential team coming over and Anthony and I had actually discussed it earlier in the year, so when we found out, it was a no-brainer,” Mills says.

“The timing of this is halfway through our pre-season and then we come back for the (NBL) Blitz, so it’s perfect timing.

“Having a Next Star, and with the exposure the league’s getting right now and the talk around the talent that’s coming into the league, for us to be the club that’s going over to represent the NBL and Australian basketball on a global stage, it’s a fantastic opportunity to put our players on that stage and a recruiting tool for the club.”

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Mills hopes the Vegas trip will be the beginning of a long-term relationship.

“Who knows, right? We’re open and we’re very aggressive in chasing opportunities that can improve our program and get exposure for the Wildcats, whether it’s abroad or in Perth,” he says.

“We hope this is something that’s potentially reciprocal down the line.”