Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson expects Josh Childress to be enemy No.1 when the Sydney Kings import returns to Perth Arena.
Childress will be playing on the Wildcats' home court on Friday night for the first time since unleashing a brutal forearm to the face of Jesse Wagstaff in October 2014.
The American received a one-match suspension over the incident, which NBL great Andrew Gaze labelled as one of the biggest hits he'd ever seen in the league.
Gleeson says Wildcats fans have a long memory and will give Childress a hostile reception in Friday's match.
"The Red Army will be all over him," Gleeson said on Thursday.
"The crowd don't forget. They know what happened and they'll give the appropriate response."
Childress, the No.6 pick in the 2004 NBA draft, has been dogged by hand and foot injuries during his two seasons in the NBL.
But the 32-year-old remains one of the league's best players when fit.
In six games this season Childress is averaging 18.7 points, while last season he averaged 21 points before breaking down with injury.
Sydney sit dead last on the NBL table with five wins from 21 games.
But Gleeson said any team containing Childress remained a formidable foe.
"If he's healthy, he's the MVP of the league without question," Gleeson said.
"I think he should have won it last year, but injuries curtailed his short season, and again this season.
"He's a quality player, with a good basketball IQ.
"He can score, he can rebound, he gets his teammates involved."
Three losses on the trot have seen Perth (13-8) stumble to second spot on the table; two wins adrift of Melbourne United.
In an added blow, star centre Matt Knight will miss Friday's match against Sydney because of an ongoing shoulder issue.
Knight has been carrying the injury since November, but Gleeson is confident the 204cm star will be back for next week's home clash with the Illawarra Hawks.
"He's been playing through pain most of the time," Gleeson said.
"He's been a soldier this year.
"He's been our best rebounder, one of our best defenders, and the physio said, 'Hey, listen, we've got to rest that up for some period of time'.
"We thought this was a good little period that we can tighten stuff up and take his load off.
"Hopefully this will give everything the little bit of rest that he needs, and he'll be good to go for the last month."
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