Alex Sarr gets Chet Holmgren comparisons from Perth Wildcats head coach: "He plugs gaps and blocks shots" (Exclusive)

Despite spending the past year becoming enamored with Alex Sarr’s offensive and defensive versatility, Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie considered it unfair to compare the French prospect to any other player.

After seeing Sarr develop steadily last season in the National Basketball League in Australia, however, Rillie envisioned Sarr would offer a similar role that another certain NBA prospect fulfilled during his rookie season.

“Because of his length and athleticism, he has the instincts to block shots and plug gaps the way Chet Holmgren does for OKC,” Rillie told Sportskeeda.

John Rillie on coaching Alexandre Sarr (Exclusive)

Rillie spoke to Sportskeeda about several topics about Sarr, whose mock draft lists project at either No. 1 (Atlanta Hawks) or No. 2 (Washington Wizards). Those topics included Rillie’s analysis of Sarr’s game, how he handled an in-season hip injury, and how he managed the increased attention among scouts and fans who attended the Wildcats’ games.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversations have been edited and condensed.

What were your major takeaways from coaching Alexandre Sarr and seeing his development up close?

Rillie: “Major takeaways are pretty much stating the obvious – where he can get to as a player. His situation and his own dedication will really dictate that. He’s got tools that we only dream of having. But the thing that impressed me the most without really knowing him when he joined us is that he gives himself a chance because he goes about life the right way.”

How does he go about his life?

Rillie: “He’s very grounded. He has a small circle. I didn’t lose any sleep at night wondering what he was doing. To think that he’s a high-level prospect in this year’s draft if you want to believe the experts on where he’ll go, he’s very high at 1 or 2, in that range. I’ve never had to deal with some of the expectations of that. He allowed us to coach him and get him better and so forth. We didn’t have any wasted energy in that area.”

He's excelled on both sides of the floor. But where did his development take the biggest jump?

Rillie: “The flexibility that he can bring at the defensive end through his athleticism and his mobility. And then obviously his gifts with his length and so forth. I think where he showed good growth with us, but he can still keep pushing that, is on the offensive end with his playmaking, ball handling and decision-making. When he was with the French national team and some of his previous stops, you would think he was more about being in the dunker spot and being a back-to-the-basket type of guy. But with us, I allow guys to make decisions with the ball in their hands unless they start turning it over too much. He really thrived with that responsibility. Like with anything at [age] 18, he can still progress and really improve. But I really like his willingness to be a playmaker and teammate with his basketball decisions.”

Alex has so many different skills. What are the keys to blending all of those things together?

Rillie: “That is probably the thing that he’s going to have to figure out himself. What do you become elite at? He’s so versatile, like with his short roll. When you play the short roll in the NBA, it’s become such a big part of being an agile forward. So what is your finishing skillset? That can improve with finishing around the rim and that six-to-10-foot range where you’re playing just below the foul line. I think the best thing that he does out of that situation is his decision-making. He has a good IQ, and he's a willing passer. That’s the thing I gravitated to first when I watched film of him."

"In my couple of years coaching here, I am low on turnovers. We led the league in the least amount of turnovers on the offensive end. Then, our assists have to be up. So if we can have five guys that are willing passers, that leads to good offense. So that part, I have no problem. As he gets stronger and more mature in athleticism, his ability to finish around the rim, at the rim and over the rim will only get better. If you watch film on him from when he first joined us to where he was in the playoffs, he was much more assertive and confident in his ability to do that. His perimeter shooting is going to come along nicely. Early on in the season, he hit some big 3s for us down the stretch of the game. There’s a little element to him where he enjoys and embraces the big moments in a game.”

What examples jump out to you on how he embraced the big moment?

Rillie: “We were playing the Adelaide 36ers at home, and it was a very close game (Oct. 21, 2023). There was about two minutes left in the game. We run a pretty simple “Horns” set. We have the league MVP on our team, Bryce Cotton. He comes off two possessions in a row where he’s willing to pass it to Alex, and Alex stepped up and made the 3s. It just blew the game open. You reflect on the best player in the league trusted that 18 year-old in that moment. He also showed a little substance about who he was by stepping up and making the shots. It was a good moment moving forward in our season. It helps a young player in those moments to win across his teammates as well.”

You mentioned about his growth on the offensive side of the ball. But what about defensively?

Rillie: “In our pick-and-roll coverage over the course of the year, he was understanding angles and embracing whether it was a big or a guard’s physicality. When they get into his body, he was not letting that get to him. At the start of the year, he would fold or guards would beat him to the outside a little too much. By the end of the year, guys could bump him and try to get him off his line. He would still have a nice verticality about himself. His length could really deter the shot-making ability at the rim.”

There’s the inevitable connection with Victor Wembanyama with both being a top prospect, a versatile big and playing for France. But as far as his game, does Alex have any player comps?

Rillie: “Who does he become is a common question, but I think it’s become unfair to him and unfair to anybody like with the Nic Claxton’s, the Evan Mobley’s and the Jarrett Jackson’s. But if his offensive game and shooting ability come around, then he takes himself out of that realm. Nic Claxton is a terrific rebounder. Alex has to show he can pursue the rebound more aggressively. He’s at a good level for an 18-year-old. But he’s going to be in a situation where he has to be a decision-maker and secondary playmaker because he’s going to be playing with some high-level guards, no matter who he plays for.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=traivoDgHAQ

For both the American and international readers, can you paint a picture on what the atmosphere was like with the fan interest and NBA scouts that Alex attracted?

Rillie: “To paint your audience a picture, the Perth Wildcats as a franchise is like the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s a very successful franchise. The expectations are high. The community of Perth has 2 million people, and we have 14,000 fans at our games. So the expectation is championships or bust. That’s part of how we were looking at Alex. If he can survive in this type of atmosphere and help impact winning, I think that really shows who he is. As far as the people coming through, we didn’t have all 30 teams. But I think it got up to about 25 times. They would come through from anywhere to two days or four or five days so they could embrace a couple of practices, catch a game or two and then go on the road and watch us in a road setting.

You can see what the due diligence is between teams in the NBA. The way those teams operate: besides talking to our general manager and coaching staff, they’re talking to the physio and strength and conditioning coaches as well as teammates. Our roster is made up of veterans, and we have a nice core of young players. So how does he interact with those guys? It was a good way for everyone in our organization to see what goes into looking at and evaluating a top-level prospect.”

What did you all learn?

Rillie: “We have some other NBA prospects on our roster. They’re always watching. Alex was out for a period of time with a hip injury [in January]. Some teams came through during that period. They’re taking a look at the dedication that he’s putting toward his rehab. It’s easy to say you’re a professional. But how professional are you in every moment? These teams are willing to invest a lot of money into you. So they want to see what they’re getting in return.”

How did Alex manage the frustration with being out, the rehab and his return?

Rillie: “His return to play was very good. It was an unfortunate injury. When you’re dealing with someone like Alex, you’re just not sure what the mentality would be moving forward. But I truly believed that playing on a team in the playoffs in that type of atmosphere was more beneficial than just going and working out for teams. Luckily, the kid and his agency trusted us with that. He did a good job of managing his injury. We are fortunate that we have full-time people with our club in that area. So he could get attention all the time. We certainly tried to manage it as best as we could. But I was, for sure, anxious when he went down in the game. It did look worse than what it ended up being.”

I saw in other interviews that you noticed that he and his teammates really supported each other. What examples jump out?

Rillie: “Yeah, you never know how these things are going to go. In the NBL, we have a terrific ‘Next Stars’ program where all of these potential prospects come over and put their faith in these franchises. As I alluded to earlier, it’s his groundedness and willingness to embrace anything for his age. He can walk into any room, and he has a pretty good feel for the room and the correct behavior on how to conduct yourself. When his teammates saw that, they embraced him. But you never felt like he was trying to big-time people. So for his teammates, it’s easier for them to embrace him. That was anyone from our imports, such as Kristian Doolittle of Oklahoma and Jordan Usher of Georgia Tech. These are guys who performed at a high level. Bryce Cotton was an all-time MVP. But we also have a 16-year vet, Jesse Wagstaff, who has won six championships. He could see that obviously, he could help our team. But he wanted to embrace what we’re about. These guys truly had his back on and off the court, and vice versa. It’s all because of the way he conducted himself. I allowed that to organically happen. We’re not meeting about trying to make it work. It just came together very nicely.”

You also observed that his brother, with his NBA experience, and his parents played a positive role. What examples stood out?

Rillie: “Luckily, his parents were with him the whole time. That brought a little bit of comfort. His inner circle is his parents and his brother. In his time out here, he had his childhood friend visit. Besides that, those were the only people besides his teammates that were around him. He’s very comfortable and confident with who he is as a person and his environment. As an 18-year-old and where he’s going with the sport, it was amazing to see. He didn’t deviate whether there was a general manager from an NBA franchise coming in or the janitor was in doing his job. His mood was the same, no matter who was in the gym.”

On top of that, Alex has so many different worldly experiences in France and Australia, how do you see that affecting how he will transition into the NBA?

Rillie: “With that family dynamic and the worldliness that you talk about, I think that allows him to walk into any room. He can interact and make it not seem like work or look fake. He knows how to interact with a lot of different people. In the NBA world, that’s a great trait to have. Sometimes, that can get a little overlooked. He can get along with all different types of teammates and also understand how he needs to act. In our world, we deal with a lot of different sponsors and corporate people. He was tremendous in that world. There was no coaching. He just naturally understood how to behave in those moments.”

So after coaching Alex and observing all of this, what are your expectations on what impact he will make his rookie season wherever he ends up?

Rillie: “The way I approach this with any of the players that I coach is that there has to be a connection and belief where the franchise feels he can be and the same with the player. There has to be a collaboration. Now if the collaboration is miles apart, that’s going to be a problem. I think if you set him obtainable milestones, he’s going to embrace that. I have my timeline, but I don’t know if that is Alex Sarr’s timeline. But as long as he’s moving in a positive direction, he’ll get to where he needs to get. It just becomes whether you become impatient with him. All I can tell you in my experience with him is where he started and where he finished, there was good growth. I just believe as long as you’re moving in the right direction, you’ll get there. He certainly did that.”

To tie this all together, what caught your eye to think you wanted Alex to join your team?

Rillie: “His ability to facilitate and be a good teammate. I truly felt like whatever NBA team he plays for, he’s going to have to show those characteristics. The one thing I was comfortable and confident in was with him showing his ability to play on the perimeter with the ball in his hands. With the way we play our offense, I want our bigs and our forwards to be allowed to be playmakers. You look at NBA teams. If you’re a big and can make decisions, you can create a nice niche for yourself on the team. I wanted him to grow in that area as well as defensively. Because of his length and athleticism, he has the instincts to block shots and plug gaps the way Chet Holmgren does for OKC. He doesn’t have to be defending the ball. But with his presence away from the ball, the guy turns the corner and thinks, ‘I can see Chet seeing me.’ Alex’s presence on that end of the floor could truly be very influential in helping a team to wins.”

Beyond what we already discussed, what else do you think makes Alex tick?

Rillie: “The only thing we didn’t touch on is because he doesn’t outwardly play with a lot of emotion, he has a nice little inner competitive drive. How that attention was drawn toward me was I get our star players do a DISC profile. The numbers that come back from that made me a little bit more aware. Once I was aware of it and watch how he behaves in certain moments, I could see it. He’s not a big ‘rah rah’ kind of guy. Like anyone, when he makes a good play, he has a positive reaction. But he’s not pounding his chest all the time. But inwardly, he has a nice little competitive edge. Until you’re around him, you don’t fully appreciate it.”

What questions and answers came out of the DISC profile?

Rillie: “It’s like a questionnaire for your behavior. The ‘D’ in DISC is ‘Dominant.’ So it’s about finding out if you have a dominant personality. If you were to just have a conversation with him, you’d think he’s more social than anything. He can interact. He’s a nice and generous person. But he comes back with a high number as a dominant personality. When you’re just around him in a social setting, his demeanor doesn’t come across as dominant. But he gets in between the lines, he has that in him. He doesn’t outwardly show it. But inside, there is a fire that is flickering away there.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider with Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.