Manek Praised for "Blow Up" Performance

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Brady Manek’s struggles to adapt to the professional game have been a hallmark of Perth’s season so far, but with five straight losses and a huge amount of pressure on the American import, Manek produced one of the great shooting performances of the season

Brady Manek’s struggles to adapt to the professional game have been a hallmark of Perth’s season so far, but with five straight losses and a huge amount of pressure on the American import Manek produced one of the great shooting performances of the season to bring home a Wildcats win against Adelaide.

Manek earned Foot Locker Player of the Game honours for his 25-point game against the 36ers, in which he hit eight of his 10 field goal attempts - including six of eight threes.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brady Manek put on a show last night at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. ?<br><br>Relive all his best bits from the win! <a href="https://t.co/N460Y9ua71">pic.twitter.com/N460Y9ua71</a></p>— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1589124008808587266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

NBL analyst Liam Santamaria says he hopes Manek can use the performance as a springboard for the rest of the season.

“This was a really impressive response from Manek,” Santamaria said on NBL Overtime. Finally just starting to do what he did at UNC and what the Wildcats need him to do.

“He blew up. 25 points, a whole bunch of threes, and was really the key factor in them winning the game. Now the challenge is can he do it on a consistent basis.

“David Wear hit a big shot that saved his season [in 2018-19]. Manek hit a whole bunch of big shots that game – we know he can do it consistently, the question is does he get it done.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Last night was insane!<br><br>It ended in a <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> win over the <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a>, thanks to this game-winner from David Wear. <a href="https://t.co/ZH8RC69SoZ">pic.twitter.com/ZH8RC69SoZ</a></p>— FOX Basketball (@FoxBasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxBasketball/status/1073686297145798656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Corey Williams knows all about the pressures of being a high-profile import during his time in the NBL, having won an MVP award during his tenure in the league.

He believes Manek wasn’t far from following Devondrick Walker and Craig Randall II out of the league before he caught fire against the 36ers.

“It was impressive, it was important,” Williams said of Manek’s performance. “This ain’t the league, you don’t have 82 games to turn it around. You’ve got to turn it around quick.

“I believe if he doesn’t come out with that game that’s his job. You can’t go six straight L’s and you underperform six straight games and keep a job.

“The writing was on the wall, he would know, he would feel it. He’s a competitor and he’d know ‘look, I’m severely underperforming, for me this is performance-based. If I don’t show up tonight then I could be on a flight’.

“He showed up, he performed and, again, he’s going to have to be consistent with it and hopefully that game was the game to build his confidence and let him know he’s a player and he belongs in this league.”