The Perth Wildcats became the most successful NBL franchise when they clinched their fifth championship on Friday with coach Rob Beveridge putting the triumph down to the right blend of youth and experience.
Beveridge knows that with a young gun like Larry Sengstock Medal winner Kevin Lisch and four-time championship winner Martin Cattalini, he got the mix spot on.
Cattalini retired following the win to end a glittering career with the Wildcats, Adelaide 36ers, Cairns Taipans and Australian Boomers. Beveridge paid tribute to the 36-year-old who grew up in Fremantle.
"That's it for Martin Cattalini. He addressed the group on Thursday and he's been thinking about it for a while. When we signed him he wanted to come back to Perth, where he started his career, to finish it," he said.
"He's an icon in the NBL, he's now won his fourth championship and for him to do it in front of his family and kids is just fantastic. He is a huge part of our group and we'll miss him immensely."
But the star of the deciding Game 3 was Lisch. The 23-year-old import guard was unstoppable with 29 points on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range including an amazing 13-point run late in the third quarter to secure the 'Cats championship.
Over the course of the season, Beveridge got exactly what he was hoping for from the former St Louis University star.
"A mate of mine rang me up ... he was coaching at St Louis and he said that he has a young guy who is everything that I need," Beveridge said.
"I could have got former NBA players, but I wanted to develop a culture and it wasn’t about winning in the first year. It was about playing hard, training hard and wanting to become better. The conditions were if you want to be in the team that's what you had to do."
Beveridge had the plan to build his West Sydney/Sydney Spirit teams the last two years the same way, but had that taken away from him. He brought the same philosophy to Perth and is now over the moon to be an NBL championship coach.
"That's what I even did in Sydney, I took at the time the worst team in the league and wanted to build it up and that dream was taken away from me. I was given an opportunity to re-do that with a financially secure club, the best fans in the country and the best management," he said.
"The way everything is run has put me in a position to be able to excel and I'm extremely thankful. I was at the bottom of the basketball doldrums, it was really bad and I was out of here, but I was thrown a lifeline here in Perth and to achieve this is unbelievable."
Shawn Redhage was in his first season as captain of the Wildcats after being the club's MVP the last four years. He's had to endure four disappointing playoff exits, but to now be champions makes up for it and he puts the arrival of Beveridge and Lisch to the team getting over the hump.
"Bevo sold me on his plan, but the way that he taught us this year about wanting to be great and about every day trying it improve was different to what we had talked about in this club