FOUL PLAY (Part One): The Dream Team

The Nightly
The Perth Wildcats burst onto WA’s basketball scene in the 1980s, joining the NBL and under coach Cal Bruton created their first dream team, with exciting imports Tiny Pinder and James Crawford.

The birth of basketball in Western Australia came two decades after the sport first sprung to life in the United States. But it also became home to NBL’s most successful team.

With the help of a couple of imports — including former Globe Trotter Kendal ‘Tiny’ Pinder — and a shot of entertainment flare, the Wildcats shot to star status by 1990.

The player that became key to the dream team’s success, would eventually become a stain on their legacy.

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Part one of Foul Play: The Tiny Pinder Story, lays out the building blocks of that dream team and the first sign of the “predator” that was among them.

Watch the FOUL PLAY series:

Originally published on The Nightly

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