In town for meetings with the Hawks front office ahead of the relaunch of the NBL in September, Sengstock said the community model in Wollongong is the way forward for basketball to once again succeed at a national level.

"This is what the league is all about," Sengstock said.

"We are in the position where we need to link the grass roots with the elite.

"Wollongong has done it in the past very well and will do it in the future very well."

Sengstock returned to basketball earlier this year to try and make a difference after the national league struggled as several teams went broke.

The Hawks have had well-documented problems for several years but have come out the other side to the relief of the BA boss.

"For me personally, it really hit home when the call went out for support in Wollongong to make sure the Hawks stayed in the league and the enthusiasm that was shown here was fantastic," he said.

"This is one of the foundation teams and it was extremely important we maintained that for the league."

The NBL will start rebuilding this year with an eight-team competition but Sengstock flagged expansion with teams in Sydney and Brisbane a priority for 2010.

"If you have a national broadcaster like Fox Sports, you need to have teams in those major markets," he said.

"But we want to make sure they are done correctly.

"We don't want to have another bubble that bursts.

"We want to make sure that those teams that are coming out of those major centres are sustainable."

The main aim for this season is to have an NBL, which will provide quality basketball and a base to take the sport back to the halcyon days of the 1990s.

Sengstock knows that league needs to re-establish itself as a force in the sporting landscape.

"I think on the floor we are going to see some fantastic basketball this season," he said.

"The standard of play will be better and bigger than ever because we have consolidated the players (into eight teams).

"Off the floor what we are trying to ensure is to get ourselves in a position to move forward," Sengstock added.