Illawarra Hawks favourites Gary Clark and Sam Froling win NBL awards

It was still a celebratory night on the Hawks front, with star import Gary Clark named to the All-NBL First Team, and skipper Sam Froling collecting the Next Generation award after he was surprisingly snubbed for the honour last year.

Clark's accolade as one of the top five players in the NBL is well deserved.

He admittedly took some time to find his feet playing under FIBA rules, but since Clark's found his groove, he's proven an unstoppable force for the Hawks.

The 29-year-old former NBA big man has emerged as the most consistent weapon in the Hawks resurgence.

While he's averaged a healthy 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists on the season, his numbers since Tatum took over climbed to 17 and eight.

Stand-out performances included a monster 36 points in what was ultimately a last-gasp loss to Cairns in round 16, and a 25-point, 15-rebound double-double in a double-overtime win over Tasmania in round 15.

The Hawks front office will now turn its attention to retaining the North Carolina native on a multi-year deal.

Clark was named in the First Team alongside Anthony Lamb (New Zealand), Bryce Cotton (Perth), Chris Goulding (Melbourne United) and Parker Jackson-Cartwright (New Zealand).

Having been snubbed for the inaugural award last season, Froling collecting the NBL Next Gen gong on Monday, February 19 restored credibility to a trophy that risked irrelevance had the Hawks skipper been overlooked again.

It did not prove the case, with Froling beating out United swingman Luke Travers and Perth Next Star Alex Sarr for the award in its second year.

The Next Gen - for which every player under the age of 25 is eligible - replaced the Rookie of the Year award last season given the vagaries around what constituted a 'rookie' in the NBL.

Froling was the clear stand-out among eligible players, but lost out to Sam Waardenburg despite averaging more points, more rebounds, more assists, more minutes and a higher efficiency rating than the Cairns big man.

This year's voting righted that wrong, despite many having tipped projected No. 1 pick at the upcoming NBA Draft, Sarr ,to bag the gong.

The prodigious Sarr has a megastar future in the game, but by the award's criteria, Froling and Travers had demonstrably stronger claims.

Froling claiming the award ensures its relevance after a maiden-year hiccup.

For Coach Tatum he has gone from smokey to one of the favourites for the gong after taking the Hawks to the finals on a 12-7 run since taking the reins following the sacking of Jacob Jackomas in November.

Illawarra had gone 3-25 the season before, and were 2-7 on the current campaign when Tatum took over. Few but the 44-year-old himself saw the elevation to interim coach as an audition for the full-time gig.

He now boasts the equal best record of any coach in the league since he stepped into the lead role, but it wasn't enough to sneak past Vickerman in voting following United's dominant season en route to top spot on the ladder.

It's unlikely missing out on the Lindsay Gaze Trophy, along with Perth's John Rillie, will dent Tatum's prospects of being installed in the head coaching role in Wollongong long term.

He's yet to ink a deal but, having rallied a jaded Hawks fanbase on the way to the post-season, being named the foundation club's 15th head coach looks to be simply awaiting the rubber stamp.

Club legend Damon Lowery called on the club to make it so on a special episode of NBL Now following the Hawks win over Perth last week, though the award judges ultimately disagreed with his take on who was the season's best coach.

"About seven weeks ago I held up the fist and went 'hold on, let's just wait till the end of the season'," Lowery said.

"As the self-proclaimed, unofficial spokesperson of the Illawarra Hawks, I am now giving my full permission to unleash the hounds. Go to that man's house, right now is the time.

"[Give him] a three-year deal, put an option at the end of it, give that man his paperwork right now.

"He's the Coach of the Year, unequivocally, and what coach of the year doesn't have a three-year job, at minimum, by the time a season finishes.

"Justin's going to take it in his stride, his team's very focussed, he knows all he had to do was put in the work and the rewards will come. Now it's time to sign this man."

Illawarra captain Tyler Harvey spoke to the transformation Tatum's overseen following last week's win over Perth, one that punched the Hawks post-season ticket.

"From the first day that JT took over he was just honest with us, talked about our situation that we were in, and he always had that belief in us," Harvey said.

"We felt that as players, and that's all you can want from your head coach, to have belief in you as a player. That gives us the free-reign to make those decisions out there on the court.

"For me, this is my fourth year here in the Gong, it's my last year on the contract, but to share it with JT these last however many games we had with him, it's been unbelievable.

"I go home just ready for the next day to go to work, and it's not even work, it's fun. It's been a blast playing for him."