Jermaine Jackson.
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Brother of Michael. Member of the Jackson Five. Illawarra Hawks secret weapon?
Well, Jermaine Jackson the musician certainly won't be arriving in Wollongong anytime soon, but Jermaine Jackson the basketballer is set to arrive in town and the Hawks couldn't be happier.
LaMelo Ball's high school coach since he returned to the States last November, the former NBA player will accompany Ball throughout his Australian experience.
The 43-year-old played alongside Andrew Bogut during the Australian's rookie season in Milwaukee and helped guide Kevin Durant through the early stages of his career.
That relationship with Durant became a lasting one, with the pair still in close contact even as Durant has developed into one of the best players in the NBA.
For Hawks general manager Mat Campbell, Jackson will have a much bigger role than simply helping Ball develop. Campbell is confident all of the Hawks roster will benefit from Jackson's tutelage and experience.
"It's exciting from my point of view to have someone with his NBA experience and being a coach as well," Campbell said. "He's offered up his services to the club from that point of view in an individual capacity.
"He doesn't want to interfere with the coaching group from the philosophies and bits and pieces on the floor, but he's offered his services to help develop our younger crew, with the likes of Emmett Naar, Dan Grida, Angus Glover, Sam Froling.
"For our younger group, we have guys who want to develop individually and get better and that's a key focus of what we're trying to achieve at this club, giving these guys the best opportunity to be the best basketballers they can be."
While the Hawks acknowledge Ball's stay will likely be short, the club is hoping it will generate long-term benefits that flow for years.
One of Campbell's key goals for this season is to use Ball and Jackson to help develop the club's young core of players, such as Glover, and turn the team into long-term NBL contenders.
"Angus is a phenomenal talent. He's been out of the game the last couple of years with injuries, to put him around a player with the hype LaMelo has will give him every opportunity to continue developing his game.
"What we see the difference between our level of basketball and the United States is that level of swagger. They've got that ability in the way they play which is a little different to our style, so I think he'll be able to come out and teach some of our guys what it is to be a professional at their level as well."
Ball isn't the only Hawks player with his eyes set on the NBA draft, with Glover also hoping to work towards declaring for the draft over the next couple of years.
Glover is confident the attention Ball will bring to the Hawks will only help him achieve that goal.
"I'm really looking forward to having him here and going up against him at training," Glover said. "We're going to have scouts here, it's not just good for me, it's good for the whole team.
"If you look at America, they've got a bit of swag about them, I think I can learn a bit of that off him. I've never been a swaggy person, but I think I can be a bit more confident in myself, hopefully I can pick his brain about what the style is like over there."
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