THE dream team of Kate Malpass and Sami Whitcomb won't eventuate with the Willetton Tigers due to a little thing called the WNBA, but Malpass has recommitted, Stacey Barr is on board as well an import big as Simon Parker aims for back-to-back SBL championships.

Coming off the heartbreak of losing the 2015 grand final to Whitcomb and the Rockingham Flames, the Tigers clicked at the right time last year.

After finishing in third spot, they beat the Lakeside Lightning and Flames to reach the grand final, and then beat the Joondalup Wolves in the decider when Malpass delivered the winning basket as time expired.

Parker always knew that Ebony Antonio would be leaving to focus on her football career after that and that Louella Tomlinson would also be moving on after two years with the Tigers, but he had high hopes of bringing Whitcomb and Malpass together on the same team.

That looked a possibility, but quite simply Whitcomb was too good during the WNBL season with the Perth Lynx and now looks set to play in the WNBA in the coming season.

That left the future of Malpass with Willetton up in the air too, but she has committed to the Tigers for another season in a major boost to their hopes of going back-to-back.

Replacing Tomlinson's presence inside will be new import Jessica Hootmann while Gemma Houghton and youngster Shannon Johnson will give some help inside to Zoe Harper as well.

Then the Tigers have added some scoring punch with the signing of another former WNBL player Barr who like Antonio and Houghton is currently playing in the AFL Women's competition with the Fremantle Dockers.

But Houghton and Barr will soon join up with the Tigers, and once Hootmann arrives and Parker has assembled a group that he has good reason to expect to be capable of giving back-to-back titles a real shake.

"It's business as usual really. We pretty quickly focused on getting ready for this year as exciting as it was. It was awesome from where we came back from to win though," Parker said.

"We still talk about it now at training and things, and recap on a few things that we did last year so we have that to call on and it's always there. The key now is to backing it up this year. There's no point being a one year wonder.

"The first year that we lost the grand final when Sami hit the 41 points, we were fortunate enough to go back again and actually win it. The idea is to stay up there and be competitive again, and go back-to-back."

A backcourt featuring Malpass and Whitcomb was an idea worth trying to make happen for Parker and the Tigers, but there was always a good chance that the WNBA was in Whitcomb's future.

Parker knew that and being able to sign up Barr in the meantime is a significant coup.

"It would have been pretty awesome to see them play together, but who knows how it would have turned out. If you chuck in our other import and everyone on the court would have had to be guarded and respected. It would have been very interesting to see how it turned out but it wasn’t to be," he said.

"I think we always knew at the time when I first talked to Sam that she was going to go and try out for the WNBA. She was basically going to go and hit some of the camps to see how she would go so we always knew that was a possibility.

"But once that changed we made sure we had a back up plan and we are pretty lucky to have picked up Stacey who sort of just fell into our lap. So that's worked out well."

Barr had a strong season in 2016 with the Kalamunda Eastern Suns putting up some good numbers on the back of a WNBL season with the Lynx, and before embarking on an AFLW season with the Dockers.

She now will join the Tigers giving them a different option on offence as a pure and potent scorer. Parker is looking forward to seeing how she settles in.

"It will be interesting how the dynamics work with her having some better players around her. I think she might be more efficient and a better player," Parker said.

"We've always been a team who wants to get the best shot we can, but there will be times when she shoots under the 14 seconds which we're hoping she can do. She still has to fit into the dynamics of what we're doing to make sure we are successful.

"Our offence dictates that we have multiple scorers and we'll never rely on one person, but Stacey does come in and change our dynamic a little by giving us that pure scorer."

Replacing Tomlinson will be no easy task for the Tigers, but Hootmann will join Willetton once her season in Germany for Bad Aibiling ends sometime in April.

The 31-year-old will be capable of filling that role as a big and Parker has no doubt she will fit right in.

"We picked up a 6'4, 6'5 girl coming out of the German league right now. She is a pretty good post player and she might not be a massive scorer, but she will be good at setting screens, rebounding and all that stuff," he said.

"She has some good experience too and she's about at the end of her time in Europe so she should fit in nicely down here I think.

"She is playing 32 minutes at the moment where she is so we know she has a bit of a tank on her, which is a good thing and with Lobby and Zoe coming back, and Shannon on board, we will stay one of the biggest teams in the league which is what we wanted."

Houghton is another player who was looking for more opportunities and Parker saw enough in her to suggest she deserved an opportunity. She will be given the chance to show what she's capable of with the Tigers.

"Gemma was just looking for more opportunity so I think she is pretty athletic and she will be a good replacement for Ebony so we can sort of maintain that defensive pressure," he said.

"It will be interesting to see how she scores as well because she averaged something like 30 points in D-League for East Perth last year. If she can translate 10 of those into the SBL for us she will be a good pick up."

Not only is Parker glad to have Malpass and Harper returning for what they provide on the court, but also for what they provide in terms of leadership to the young players coming through who already have a boost in confidence after being part of a championship squad in 2016.

"The good thing about having Kate in our team is that she teaches the young kids coming through and making the transition to playing in the SBL," Parker said.

"That's not just about having an awesome player, it's about that leadership and being a role model. Zoe is the same. We have all these young girls, but you need someone to teach them and you need those senior players to do that."

Photo by June Halliday