Hours before the Hawks returned to the top of the NBL ladder following Perth's loss in New Zealand last night, their 188cm point guard was named the league's best player for September-October, while McLeod snared the coaches' award - the first time Wollongong has monopolised the monthly honours.

McKee (36 votes) edged Townsville counterpart Corey Williams (33 votes) in a poll of NBL-accredited media, with Melbourne's Mark Worthington (14 votes) a distant third.

The Coppin State product averaged 21.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.1 steals and shot 52 per cent from the field and behind the three-point line in his first seven NBL games.

Although McKee was satisfied with the first chapter of his career in Australia, he declared the Hawks story was far from finished.

"I'm not done yet, we haven't done anything yet," McKee said.

"I've been trying to get player of the week and so far, so good."

The Philadelphia native paid tribute to McLeod, who polled 39 votes to beat Perth coach Rob Beveridge (27 votes) and New Zealand's Andrej Lemanis (13).

"It's good to have a (former) point guard as a coach, he's on me every day, telling me something to help me," McKee said.

"He's a great teacher and stays positive and calm and that's what you want in a coach and a point guard. It makes me more relaxed and confident and makes my job easier."

McLeod deflected praise for his award to his team and assistants Eric Cooks and Matt Flynn.

"Winning the coach of the month is recognition of how our team is going, everyone shares in that moment," McLeod says.

The Hawks legend - who also coached the West Sydney Razorbacks and Singapore Slingers - admitted surprise at how quickly his squad gelled.

"If you said at the start of the season we'd be 7 (wins) and 3 (losses), people would have said 'you're crazy'," McLeod said.

Although McLeod has the league's best player so far this season, the former Boomers assistant said his reserves were the keys to capitalising on Wollongong's impressive start.

"Contributions off our bench - that's a big factor, we need the Dave Grubers, Tim Coenraads, Tim Behrendorffs, Rhys Martins," McLeod said.

"That's what we need to push this team and be the real indicator of how we're going to go.

"They're challenging each other ... ."