Editorial
If anyone wanted further confirmation the new owners of the region's National Basketball League side are serious then they've got it in spades over the last week.
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If they didn't have it already when the new-look club announced the most successful coach in Australian basketball history in Brian Goorjian.
Yet the ownership has hit by some pretty big curveballs to start its tenure.
The first was the fallout from the decision to remove the name of the region, Illawarra, from the club which was actually a stipulation by the NBL of the new license and therefore in essence a proverbial sandwich they were forced to chew from the outset.
Secondly the region's best prospect in many years, young gun Angus Glover, signed with the arch enemy Sydney Kings.
Thirdly the club has had to operate as a new franchise in a COVID environment without the aid of the government support which all other NBL clubs and most other sporting clubs are able to access to support their employees.
Despite all that, the signings the club have secured in the last week show that despite all that, they are committed as they can be at making the Hawks a success on the court.
The announcement of former NBA player and emerging star Deng Adel was arguably one of the biggest signings in the NBL free agency period. His ceiling, particularly under the tutelage of Goorjian, is endless.
The Hawks fired an equally huge shot in announcing their first import by securing the services of a scoring machine Tyler Harvey.
Harvey proved himself to be an incredible scorer during his college career and has had a solid career in Europe as well as being on the fringes of the NBA after being drafter by Orlando in the 2015 NBA draft. In February last year he hit 58 points for Memphis in the NBA G League.
The Illawarra's NBL side has hosted some incredible American talent in its history and Harvey would be right up there with the very best.
And it's expected some more big news is coming for hawks fans in the near future ... Stay tuned.
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