Gordie McLeod only arrived in town yesterday morning but was already hitting the phones by the afternoon, trying to finalise the Wollongong Hawks' roster.
McLeod has been coaching Wellington in the New Zealand national league and arrived home with the recruitment process already in overdrive.
The Hawks have signed four players: Mat Campbell, Glen Saville, Cam Tragardh and Tim Behrendorff - leaving at least six spots available.
The season begins in September and McLeod wants a near full squad to begin training by August.
"I've only just got back but obviously there's always plenty to do," McLeod said yesterday.
"We want to get them (new players) into Wollongong as soon as possible and settled in so we can get our thing going - we want to try and get the whole group in and going by the start of August, if not before.
"Most other teams will be getting underway and getting stuff done. What's been happening is that this time of year is normally the strength and conditioning period. We'd like to get into the basketball stuff."
The Hawks are placing long-term financial sustainability ahead of immediate on-court success. They won't spend up to the league's $1 million salary cap and will be relying mostly on home-grown talent.
"When you consider we're not spending the full cap it really does put pressure on. What we have to do is look at what we can do with our development players and how we get them involved."
Illawarra's junior basketball stocks will be scoured by McLeod and his recruitment team, with the coach hopeful up to four spots on the roster can be filled by development players.
"We'll be looking for those guys to have some other employment or they'll be doing some sort of study," he said. "I would like us to ideally have 10 players plus four development players."
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