Perth Wildcats are hopeful star forward Shawn Redhage can return to his blistering best next season as the club deals with their early exit from this year's NBL finals series.
The Wildcats' 2010-11 campaign came to a shuddering halt on Wednesday night when they were thumped 99-83 in the deciding game of their semi-final series with New Zealand Breakers in Auckland.
Redhage's season-ending hip injury in January robbed the defending champions of their most potent weapon, with his absence keenly felt as the Breakers wrapped up the semi-final series 2-1.
The 30-year-old, who is still in the US after undergoing two rounds of surgery on his hip, plans to return to Perth next month to continue his lengthy rehabilitation.
Although Redhage's playing prospects remain somewhat murky, Perth coach Rob Beveridge said the five-time club MVP remained a major part of his plans to build a successful dynasty at the Wildcats.
"If we had Redhage we would've, could've, should've been in the grand final," Beveridge said.
"So there's no doubt we want Redhage involved.
"He's been an MVP at the club and he's a massive part of the future as well.
"It's the unknown with him (as to when he can play again) but we'd love for him to be involved."
Although import Kevin Lisch is yet to decide on his future and mid-season acquisition Andre Brown is unlikely to be required for next season, Beveridge hopes the rest of the squad will stick together.
"We're about trying to build something very special," Beveridge said.
"I guess if you want to have people talk about the glory days, during those days you had stability in the club with the likes of Ricky Grace, Andrew Vlahov, James Crawford and Scott Fisher.
"They were around for a long period of time and created a lot of success.
"That's exactly what we want to do, keep the majority of the group and get better than what we were this year."
The Wildcats finished the regular season in fourth place, but Beveridge said that was an achievement in itself following the club's injury-plagued campaign.
"Everyone always forgets that we lost Matty Knight for 13 games and Jesse (Wagstaff) for 11 games," Beveridge said.
"So we had to have all the guys play out of position.
"Right now I don't know if there are too many teams in the league, if they had the extensive injuries we had, that could have made the playoffs.
"From that perspective we are really proud of the guys for the way they stuck together. This will just make them better in the future."
The Breakers, who were well led by Gary Wilkinson (20 points), Kirk Penney (18) and CJ Bruton (17) in their thumping win over Perth, will have home court advantage in the best-of-three grand final series, where they will take on the winner of Sunday's clash between Townsville and Cairns.
- AAP
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