Has there been a more up and down them throughout the season then the Wollongong Hawks?  Recently both Eric Cooks and Glen Saville came out and said that the Hawks need to step up in two main areas: rebounding and consistency.  Lets have a look at their roster and break it down player by player:

Kavossy Franklin: I remember the first time that I laid eyes on this guy and thought ”Why in the hell have the Sydney Kings recruited a midget to play beside Shane Heal?”  After watching him play a few games, I realised why they did.  Kavossy started the season off a bit inconsistently but seems to be moving in the right direction. He is a natural leader and a good choice for the hawks.

Mat Campbell: His averages are a little bit down this season (9.4ppg, 3.0rpg and 2.6apg) and he seems to have slowed down half a step.  What he does bring is solid leadership and he is pretty good at the defensive end. An increase in his 3pt percentage would help to no end.

Glen Saville: Wollongong Hawks fans were very excited when they found that he was returning from the Sydney Kings.  His numbers are significantly better this season but he is in a situation where he is the main man and not just a piece of the puzzle.   

Dusty Rychart: Dusty seems to be doing the job that he has always done for every NBL team that he has played with.  His numbers are not overly spectacular but they are pretty dam good.  He has been a super pick up for them after last years debaracle with their 2nd import spot.

Cameron Tragardh: He had a super off season in the QABL and has had a pretty good run so far.  His numbers are down on last years Most Improved Player award but his team is playing a lot better.  In his last hit out against a tough front line against the 36ers, he seemed to get the job done. 

Anthony Petrie: In my opinion, this guy is awesome for this franchise.  He seems to play the role that he is asked very well and provides good depth at both forward spots.  I loved the way that he didn’t backdown against Martin Cattalini in their game on Fox Sports last month.

Larry Davidson: Larry is a bit of an enigma.  He is super somtimes and average others.  He seems to have a tendancy to float in and out of games. 

Rhys Martin: The poor guy had his car torched earlier on in the season.  He has been taking advantage of his opportunities and seems to be making a contribution. 

Daniel Jackson: I have no clue on this guy so I won’t make a comment.

Lindsay Tait: At the beginning of the season I was really looking forward to watching Tait play and I honestly thought that he would push Matt Campbell out of his starting spot.  It seems that this hasn’t been the case and he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to press his case.

Head coach Eric Cooks seems to have the respect of the players who play for him.  He took over the team mid season a couple of years ago in wake of the Brendan Joyce decision and has continued on with them ever since.  Since Joyce has left, Cooks has added Tragardh, Tait, Martin, Saville (lost and gained) and Petrie to the roster and lost Daniel Joyce, Casey Frank, various imports, Ben Castle and others.  To me it just seems that (and I have only watched a couple of games) the Hawks are still playing the same game style on offense that they were during the Brendan Joyce era.  Whilst I can appreciate that the playing rosters are similar in nature, towards the end of the BJ era he wasn’t winning.  Maybe the formula needs to be adjusted.

One thing that you can seem to rely upon the Hawks doing is punching above their weight.  If we honestly critique their roster, their talent from players 1 – 10 is not as great as some of the others in the league.  They seem to put in a honest effort each week but are not able to consistently get over the hump. 

So will they make the playoffs?  Once you get past New Zealand, South Dragons, Melbourne Tigers and Perth Wildcats, it is an open race in my opinion.  I am prepared to say that the Gold Coast Blaze are done for the year and I am almost ready to put the nail in the coffin for the Cairns Taipans.  So that leaves Adelaide, Wollongong, Sydney and Townsville competing for play off spots.  Their remaining draw for the year is:

Dragons vs. Hawks Hisense Arena Sat, Dec 6 7:30 PM AEDT
Crocodiles vs. Hawks Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre Sat, Dec 13 7:30 PM
Blaze vs. Hawks Gold Coast Convention Centre Wed, Dec 17 7:30 PM AEST
Tigers vs. Hawks State Netball Hockey Centre Sat, Dec 20 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Spirit Wollongong Entertainment Centre Sat, Dec 27 7:30 PM AEDT
Taipans vs. Hawks Cairns Convention Centre Wed, Dec 31 7:30 PM AEST
Hawks vs. Breakers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Jan 2 7:30 PM AEDT
36ers vs. Hawks Distinctive Homes Dome Wed, Jan 7 7:00 PM ACT
Spirit vs. Hawks Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre Sat, Jan 10 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Tigers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Sat, Jan 17 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Crocodiles Wollongong Entertainment Centre Sat, Jan 24 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Tigers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Jan 30 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. Breakers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Feb 6 7:30 PM AEDT
Hawks vs. 36ers Wollongong Entertainment Centre Fri, Feb 13 7:30 PM AEDT
Blaze vs. Hawks Gold Coast Convention Centre Sat, Feb 14 7:30 PM AEST

They have seven home games remaining with a run of five starting January 17.  The Hawks always play better at home than they do on the road.  Out of those seven home games, I think that they will win 3 or 4 of those games.  On the road, I think that they will win 3 of their remaining 7 games which will leave them with a 14 wins and 14 losses.  Without studying the other contendors remaining games, a 50% win loss record usually gets you into the playoffs.

In answer to my original question: Yes I think that they will get there in the end!

PS…..I just finished watching the replay of the pumping that was the South Dragons game.  I was horrified in how the Hawks played.  They have to many role players and not enough superstars.  I am going to write a big blog entry about the role of the role player but that was an awful performance from the Hawks.  I honestly don’t know if they can make the playoffs!

I am the first to admit that when Joe Ingles first entered the NBL, I wasn’t the biggest fan of his.  He came in with huge wraps and I thought that some of them were a little bit underserved.  That impression lasted all of about 10 days. 

Joe is currently in his third season in the NBL and has seen his team go through a lot of ups and downs.  He saw his superstar player turned coach (Mark Price) get the sack early in his rookie season, to be taken over by a player coach (Shane Heal) for about almost one and a half seasons, have an interm head coach (Guy Malloy) for around half a season and now have a new head coach this season (Brian Goorjian).  All of these coaching changes have had Joe playing different roles and it is a credit to him that he was able to adjust to each scenario. 

When Joe was a rookie in the league, he was a very good player but did not have an overall complete and polished game.  Whilst his game is far form polished now, it is much improved from his rookie season.  His descion making with the ball is fantastic and he can be relied upon to handle the ball against pressure effectively. 

I actually thought last year for a while that his game was going a little bit backwards and he was not progressing as most NBL fans would have liked.  I came to the conclusion that the reason I was feeling this way was that he was playing more of a 1/2 guard with Shane Heal as the coach and asked to play a little bit more with the ball in his hands and get shots for others.  Last season his asssits jumped to 4.9 per game as opposed to 3.0 the season before.  I have to admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘this Joe Ingles’ and was a little bit perplexed about the whole scenario.

The best thing that could have happened to Joe was the fact that he won a spot on the Olympic team.  He spent the entire off season playing and preparing for the Olympic games.  Whilst he wasn’t a huge contributor, he certainly seemed to enjoy the experience of going hard against the guys at practice each day and competing at that level.  He was left off the roster after the off season tour a couple of years ago.  It was good to see him recover and make the final roster.  He pulled his name out of the draft last year and that was a good thing in my opinion. 

He has certainly had some good numbers this year.  His game seems to have gone to a different level playing for Brian Goorjian.  As every basketball pundit is aware, Brian Goorjian coached teams: a) play defense and b) shoot the 3 ball.  He seems to be extremely confident in his own abilities and is playing the game at a different level than what he used to.

So what will a NBA team get if they draft him?  They will get an athletic 2/3 man who has good size and a good feel for the game.  He is a pretty good ball handler, makes good decisions and seems to have an awesome attitude.  What will they not get if they draft him?  They won’t get a lock down defender who will flat out be able to stop people.  Lets not forget people that he is 6″8′ in the USA scale.  That is pretty tough.

I was talking to my friend and fellow co host of the TO Grandmaster Funk the other day about this scenario: Can you imagine if Joe Ingles was at St Marys or any other college and the damage that he would do to opontents?   Whilst Mills is outstanding (and nobody can doubt this) Ingles is larger, more athletic and more of an NBA body.  I am a fan of Brad Newley and thought that he had a good Olympic campagain.  I just think in the long run, Ingles has more to offer than Newley.

So NBA pretendor?  Certianly not!  NBA contendor?  I will say yes but like all things NBA draftish, it all depends on where he is drafted.  If he can get a 1st round pick, I think that he is in for good things.  If he goes in the 2nd round, it could get a little messy!  Only time will tell I guess!

 The TO has returned for its third episode.  In this episode a lot of ground is covered about a lot of issues.  We predict the rounds games and the winners of the games.  In a segement we also make some predictions about the future of some of the coaches in the NBL.  Everybody’s favourite topic – the future of the Sydney Spirit is also discussed in depth and a possible saviour is named. 

Listen to Episode 3 of the TO here

If you are having trouble with it, could you please email me at ashleyproud@gmail.com so that I can attempt to fix the technical issues. 

Hello all and welcome back to another version of Tuesday’s Random Rambles.  This is the 5th version of this and once again I will attempt to give my opinion on all things in basketball.  My photo is dedicated to the Sydney Spirit.  They have escaped from extinction but still have a challenge to face.

- A lot has been made over the comments made at the post game press conference in the Melbourne Tigers vs Townsville Crocs game from last Wedneday night.  If you haven’t seen or heard it, click here to find out what I am talking about.  My issue is the attitude of a certain Melbourne import.  He certainly had some things to say and rubbed up some Crocs fans the wrong way. 

- Sydney Spirit Captain Jason Smith has implored on the fans of basketball in Sydney to come to the games.   I truly believe that Sydney is not a dead duck and if we don’t have a solid vibrant franchise in the harbour city, our sport in Australia is doomed?  Whilst it is great that they had a good win against the Dragons on Saturday night, they need to keep the momentum rolling.  I am not sure about how I feel about Julian Khazzuah (wrong spelling) and Derek Low leaving.  I can appreciate that people need to get paid to earn a living but this is a special scenario.  Some fans are calling on Rob Beverdige to replace Low and Khazzuah as soon as possible.    I can appreciate the whole insurance thing but …. I just don’t know!  The guys at asaspace.com have an awesome photo story of the game I especially loved the photo of Dean Uthoff.  That’s Gold!

- I say this is all seriousness: has anybody approached Mark Cuban and asked him if he would like to own the Spirit franchise?  I am deadly serious!  He has money to burn and seems to be really passionate about the sport.  LIke him or hate him, you can not say that he is not a character and the NBL certainly needs them at the moment.  He has recently had some problems with Insider Trading allegations and a failed attempt at taking over ownership of the Chicago Cubs so the time could be right.  Could you imagine Mark Cuban owning the Spirit and they get screwed on a last second call in a game.  He would walk into ’Super Chucks’ office, put his feet up on the desk, write out a check for $1 000 000 and start firing off media reports at a rapid rate!  It is times like these that we have to think outside of the box!  His blog is banned at my work people.  Maybe we should start a campagin to try and get in contact with him and see if he is interested?

- So it looks as though Sam Mackinnon’s season is over due to blood clots on his lungs.  There is also talk that this may be the end of his career.  If this is the case, that is awful and it sucks big time for him.  Unfortunately Sam has been a bit injury prone throughout his career and missed a significant amount of time due to various injuries.  Whilst I think that the Tigers are deep enough to cover this loss, it still doesn’t help them at the PG position.  Mackinnon is a decent ball handler who helps them initate their offense (along with Barlow)  He surely will be missed.

- Rillie still rolling is an article that is currently on the NBL site.  The following is a direct quote from that article:

John Rillie buried rumours of his basketballing demise as he lifted the Townsville Crocs to a come-from-behind 94-90 win over the Taipans in Cairns on Saturday night.

Rillie rattled out 14 final term points including four triples and a field goal in a whirlwind four minute blitz that saw the Crocs blast past the Taipans with a 32-19 final quarter.

 Whilst I don’t necessarily agree that there were rumours of his basketballing demise, it is great to see that the ‘Self Confessed Blogger of the Year’ is running into some form.  JR thinks that his form has turned around because he has gone back to weraing a jockstrap.  Whatever gets the job done will work for me!

-   The next episode of the TO should be out on Wednesday this week.  Some people have seemed to enjoy it, whilst others have hated it!  Our whole purpose for doing it is to spread the message about the NBL and provide more content for people to listen to.  Anyway, hopefully you all enjoy the next one.  Watch out for it people!

- It is great to see Brett Maher putting up some good numbers.  In the game against the Hawks on the weekend, he produced some good stuff.  In the same game, you have got to question Aaron Bruce’s production.  I know that I have done this in the past (and I am sure that I will get a message from a relative about it again!) but apart from his assists, he didn’t (just by looking at the boxscore) seem to have much of an impact on the game.  I am sure that therre is a lot of pressure on him (being a rookie and starting in the NBL) but the 36ers need to start winning some games consistenly and he needs to be a major contributor. 

- St Marys has returned to form with a 79-54 victory of Cal State Fullerton  Whilst this win is defintely expected, it is good to see them back in some form.  Patrick Mills had 21 points which is always pleasing to see. 

- I was thinking about Joe Ingles the other day and how outstanding of a player he is.  There is a lot of well deserved hype out there about Patrick Mills, but my question is this: If Joe Ingles went down the college route, would have have the same hype that Mills has?  I think that might be a blog entry for later on in the week!

- Google Analytics is an amazing thing!  My account tells me that I have had 1 491 visits to this site.  1 322 are from Australia, 65 from the USA, 33 from the UK, 21 from NZ, 16 from Singapore, 6 from Japan, 5 from Canada, 2 from Thailand, South Korea, Ukraine and France and 1 from Malaysia, Tonga, Cayman Islands, Brunei, Portugal and Norway!  From there it also breaks down from each city around the world.  I won’t bore you with that, but I found it bloody interesting.  Thanks again people for joining the revolution to improve coverage of Australian basketball!