DJ 2.0? Wildcats recruit Pepper compared to 36ers sharpshooter

Of all the local players returning from college to the NBL over the past few seasons, Pepper has a build and a skillset that isn’t quite the same as any player we’ve seen.

Of those to have had the biggest impact in the NBL, most returning collegiate talents have played the role of floor-stretching bigs. You think of Sam Waardenburg, Sam Mennenga, Josh Bannan, Lachlan Olbrich and Kyle Bowen as some of the competition’s best young contributors across NBL23 and NBL24, but as a score-first, ball-handling guard, Pepper looks set to add a different dimension to the up-and-coming class of local stars.

At 6’4”, Pepper will likely spend time in the shooting guard position in a deep Wildcats guard rotation, where he’ll fight for minutes alongside Bryce Cotton with the likes of Tai Webster and Ben Henshall, but Airtime Scouting’s Michael Houben believes there’s a direct player comparison for Pepper already lighting it up in the NBL.

“If you watch the tape he’s clearly not an elite athlete and he’s a little undersized as a shooting guard, and that’s going to be the biggest question mark, is that jumping athleticism,” Houben said on The Marketplace.

“We’ve seen a guy in a similar mould with a similar skillset to Pepper do extremely well here and that’s DJ Vasiljevic. Can he score 15-20 a game like DJ did this season? I hesitate to gauge that highly but there are some similarities.

“They’re both incredible shooters, quick release with deep range, and super crafty coming off screens, very comfortable ball handlers, there are a lot of parallels to be made between the two.

“It’s going to be a very deep guard rotation for Perth, they have a lot of scoring power and potentially not a lot of defence in the backcourt, so the question is who is going to complement and work really well together between Cotton, Webster, Pepper, and Ben Henshall.”

Pepper has become a Wildcat off the back of one of the most award-laden college careers of any local eligible player in recent NBL history.

He’s finished his five seasons at UC Davis as the all-time school leader in both points and steals, and was named Big West Player of the Year in his final season at the school.

“This is a fantastic pickup for Perth, and if I were to bet probably the most impactful college returner we’ll see this off-season. His college resume at UC Davis is staggering, and I wouldn’t even want to try to begin rattling off all of the accolades,” Houben said.

“He’s also the second all-time leading scorer in Big West history which puts him above some similar names to NBL fans including Casper Ware, Orlando Johnson and Alan Williams, so he’s in some good company there.

“You bring those names up for comparison and I don’t think he’s going to come in as a high-level import producer, but he’s a proven bucket getter, It’ll be a shock if he doesn’t come in and have some kind of impact immediately.”