“Honest, not brutal.” That’s how Kristian Doolittle summed up the mood inside Perth Wildcats’ film session after their season-opening loss to South East Melbourne.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats fell by 21 points at RAC Arena despite a strong individual outing from Doolittle, who finished with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds.<\/p>\n
His night was ultimately overshadowed by a headline-stealing debut from South East Melbourne’s Dash Daniels, with Perth still feeling the effects of a point-guard gap the club hopes Brandon Knight’s arrival will soon fill.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t say it was brutal, it was just honest,” Doolittle said of the Wildcats’ post-game review.<\/p>\n
“You can take honesty however you want to take it, but I feel like I’d rather be told straight up and be honest with than lied to and told that we were great, which we weren’t.<\/p>\n
“We highlighted things that, as our principles and our rules as a team, just can’t happen. We got that out of the way and we’ve had a good practice preparing for Adelaide, and hopefully we have another good one tomorrow leading into the game.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Doolittle was quick to push back on the idea that the Wildcats hadn’t done the work heading into Round 1.<\/p>\n
“I feel like anyone who would say we’re underprepared, they didn’t watch us practice all week, they didn’t watch our practices leading into the game,” he said.<\/p>\n
“In hindsight, it’s easy to say we lost by 21, but I feel like the game was in the balance for the majority of it, understanding that South East is a team that thrives off of runs, they’re a quick hitting team.<\/p>\n
“A lot of the stuff that we failed to do was just scout based, and that’s not on the coaches, that’s on us as players to be able to do what we do in practice and take it to the game, and we weren’t able to do that.”<\/p>\n
While much of the Wildcats’ hopes rest on Doolittle, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and incoming star Brandon Knight, the 28-year-old was adamant the roster runs far deeper than that.<\/p>\n
“I feel like we’re extremely talented,” Doolittle said.<\/p>\n
“I feel like talent can only take you so far. It’s on us as players to be able to play to our full potential, which I feel like we didn’t do.<\/p>\n
“We had a lot of turnover, a lot of new guys on the team, and a lot of guys trying to get acclimated with a new system and new rules and everything.<\/p>\n
“With everything, it’s going to get better as time goes along, especially with younger guys as they get up to speed and get their feet with playing professional basketball. I feel like, as with every team, they get better as the year goes on, and I feel like we will too.”<\/p>\n
While Knight’s arrival will no doubt be key to the Wildcats turning things around, Doolittle made clear the group can’t afford to wait on him to start getting results.<\/p>\n
“Everything that we have is to try to make the most out of the team that we have right now, which I fully believe is capable of winning every game that we suit up to play,” he added.<\/p>\n
“It’s just a matter of our execution and our determination to get the job done.”<\/p>\n
The Wildcats take on Adelaide on Thursday night at RAC Arena from 9:30pm AEST, live on ESPN.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n