Walk into the Snakepit these days and you'll hear one booming voice ring out over the thudding symphony of bouncing balls. Some days you'll hear it from the carpark.
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It's not that of coach Jacob Jackomas, though he no doubt wishes his voice had the reach of big-man Mangok Mathiang; or indeed the optimism. Simply put, if cars ran on positivity, 'Mango' could power a fleet of Teslas.
It's not the fake-it-til-you-make-it kind. The South Sudanese-born, Melbourne-raised 29-year-old reckons he was simply born with it.
"Mango is just energy himself," he says.
"Wherever I go, wherever I step into, I just look to bring the fun, the excitement and the enthusiasm into everything. Every moment, every second, I'm just trying to enjoy it and experience it to the fullest because these are the memories you keep.
"Hearing it from the greatest, Kobe, KG (Kevin Garnett), all those guys, some of the guys that I have known that have retired, they've all said you've got to enjoy the little things.
"The days that you're around your mates and just laughing and joking around, they're the moments you've got to love. Sometimes things can get a little cloudy but there's two sides to every card.
"Instead of stressing out, worrying about everything or being down, why not just flip it? You just flip it the other side and you'll see something else that can get you through it."
So simple when you put it like that, but it would be wrong to suggest that outlook hasn't been tested along the way.
A star as a senior with Louisville in 2017, Mathiang signed a two-way deal with the Charlotte Hornets out of college, playing four NBA games before heading to Europe.
'Mango' is just energy himself. Every moment, every second, I'm just trying to enjoy it and experience it to the fullest because these are the memories you keep.
- Mangok Mathiang
After successful stints in Italy and Turkey, a training accident that saw him break both the tibia and fibula in his right leg while playing in Slovenia pulled the handbrake on his career.
A slower than desired response to the ensuing surgery saw him part ways with Cedevita Olimpija and return to Australia with fears his career at the elite level could be at its end.
It's fair to say the now 29-year-old had to flip a few cards to find the positive in the scenario. He found it, and the motivation to get back, in the success of good friends like Jo Lual-Acuil and former Hawk Duop Reath.
"I'm a positive guy naturally so I just try stay that way," he said.
"Some days it did get harder but I'm a team player and I get excited, I get energy, I get positivity through seeing people that I know and support do great.
"Watching Jo last year do what he did, watching Duop have the year he had, these are guys I grew up with and I was competing with throughout our whole journey.
"To see us all as professionals and them being recognised for their skills and their hard work is beautiful to me.
"It let me know, cool, you have your down moments and you have your up moments and you've just got to enjoy it and be happy for whoever it is that's having their moment."
Naturally, there were fears he wouldn't get back to that level.
"For sure, they're things that go through your mind because coming back from injury is a lot harder than the day-to-day training," he said.
"The mental aspect is definitely the toughest part. It feels like you're just bumping into a wall every single day and you're never going to get back.
"You start wondering 'is this soreness or this lingering pain ever going to disappear? Are you ever going to get back to what you love to do?'
"Those thoughts come in daily but that's where the positivity comes in and the trust in your ability. I'm a christian guy so I believe in God and the higher power.
"I have a big trust in him and the people he's put around me to get me back to where I need to be."
He's not there yet, though averaging 18 points and eight rebounds in four NBL1 games with the Casey Cavaliers was enough for the Hawks to seek his signature.
It was a signing that would've been greeted with much fanfare not that long ago, but the 6 ft 10 paint enforcer is ready to remind people who he is in his first professional stint in his home country.
"Life is a movie and in every single movie or story there's characters," he said.
"Some characters go offscreen and go elsewhere and they can get forgotten about. Then there's a scene where they come back and it's all you're thinking about.
"Right now I'm just focusing on my career and where I am at this moment. I'm happy to be where I'm at.
"The competitor that I am, I want to get better every single day. To get better there are things I need to prove, not to anybody else, but most definitely to myself.
"I'm just trying to get back to what I love to do and get better at it, daily, consistently at a high level.
"I think once I do that everything else and my game will speak for itself."
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
