The start of the new NBL season is still months away but the "aggressive recruitment" campaign by the Adelaide 36ers is making waves across the country.
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Adelaide kicked off their recruitment drive by snaring last season's league Defensive Player of the Year, Antonius Cleveland from the Illawarra Hawks.
In recent days the 36ers also signed on Cleveland's good mate, power-forward Robert Franks on a two-year deal, signalling the club's intention to return to the top.
Tim Coenraad wished his former team-mate Cleveland well, but added while the Hawks hadn't been as aggressive in the off-season as Adelaide to date, he had every confidence the coaching staff would put together a great roster.
"For us it is just about going through the process," he said.
"It is never going to be an easy task when you have had a change of coach because players are wandering where they stand with the new coach but I've got 100 per cent faith in [head coach] Jacob Jackomas and our staff that we are going to put together a great roster."
Coenraad said the club had a good core group of young players ready to step up.
"It is up to the organisation to add some exciting pieces around these talented players. I've got confidence the club will be able to do this," he said.
"I'm really excited about our young core, guys like Sam Froling and Alex Mudronja. Those guys are really ready to go and picking up Wani [Swaka Lo Buluk] is a really good pick up for us as well.
"He is someone with a real defensive presence who can guard those big name players and can also knock down the open shot. I'm looking forward to seeing how his game develops with the Hawks, giving him maybe a bit more responsibility."
But in the meantime Coenraad's focus was on getting the Hawks back out engaging in the community in a big way once again.
Coenraad has been charged with reinvigorating the club's community engagement programs, which suffered greatly in recent years because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Read more: Big-time cricket back in Wollongong
On Wednesday he led a Hawks' basketball clinic at the ASPECT South Coast School within Barrack Heights Public School.
"It was a special day today as we were able to do some participation with some kids with autism and it was a really enjoyable experience," Coenraad said.
"We are really looking to ramp up our community engagement. What we are really dedicated to doing right know is making sure that we reach out to as many schools and as many organisations in the Illawarra as we can.
'The main thing for us is to get back out in the community. We are a community team which takes great pride in our area.
'I've already seen more schools since the end of the season then we did the last two whole seasons combined. I'm proud of the way we are going about our business in the community now and I just want to see it keep progressing as the season goes on."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
