2020–21 The Hawks season

The 2020–21 NBL season is the 43rd season for The Hawks in the NBL, and their first under their new name of The Hawks and under new Head Coach Brian Goorjian.

2020–21 The Hawks season
Head Coach	Brian Goorjian
Captain	Andrew Ogilvy
Stadium	WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
NBL results
Ladder	2nd
Wins	4
Losses	1

Roster

Signings

• The Illawarra Hawks retained five players due to them signing multiple season contracts, who were Angus Glover, Sam Froling, Todd Blanchfield, Emmett Naar and Sunday Dech.
• Following the rebranding of the club to The Hawks by the new owners, on 23 June Brian Goorjian was signed as the new head coach.[1] Due to the club being liquidated, all remaining contracts were voided.
• On 15 July, Emmett Naar re-signed with The Hawks for a fourth season.[2]
• On 16 July, Deng Deng returned to Australia on a one-year deal with The Hawks.[3]
• On 21 July, Daniel Grida also re-signed with The Hawks.[4]
• On 22 July, Sam Froling returned to The Hawks on a two-season deal.[5]
• On 23 July, Deng Adel signed with The Hawks.[6]
• On 24 July, Stanford University college guard Isaac White signed with the club.[7]
• On 28 July, Tyler Harvey signed with The Hawks on a one-year deal.[8]
• On 4 August, Cameron Bairstow returned from his short stint in Europe to sign with The Hawks.[9]
• On 5 August, New Zealand teenager Max Darling signed with The Hawks.[10]
• On 14 August, former NBA G League player Justin Simon signed with the club on a one-year deal.[11]
• On 28 August, The Hawks signed Justinian Jessup to their Next Stars roster position. Jessup, who played college basketball for the Boise State Broncos, was signing his first professional contract.[12]
• On 8 September, Andrew Ogilvy re-signed with The Hawks as an injury replacement for Grida.[13]
• On 12 October, The Hawks announced that Akoldah Gak had signed a three-year contract with the club, with the first season as a development player.[14]

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

2020–21 The Hawks roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G 0 Simon, Justin (I) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 24 – 6 May 1996 G 1 Harvey, Tyler (I) 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 27 – 17 July 1993 G 2 White, Isaac 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 22 – 22 June 1998 G 3 Naar, Emmett 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 26 – 3 July 1994 C 6 Ogilvy, Andrew (C) 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 115 kg (254 lb) 32 – 17 June 1988 F 7 Deng, Deng 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 29 – 5 January 1992 F/C 8 Darling, Max 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 20 – 30 September 2000 G 10 Jessup, Justinian (NS) 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 22 – 23 May 1998 G/F 11 Grida, Daniel  1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 22 – 26 April 1998 F/C 17 Froling, Sam 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 109 kg (240 lb) 20 – 10 February 2000 F 24 Adel, Deng 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 89 kg (196 lb) 24 – 1 February 1997 F/C 41 Bairstow, Cameron 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 113 kg (249 lb) 30 – 7 December 1990 F 47 Gak, Akoldah (DP) 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 18 – 12 July 2002	Head coach Brian Goorjian Assistant coach(es) Jacob Jackomas Shaun Roger Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (IN) Inactive (I) Import player (TP) Training player (NS) Next Star player Injured Roster Updated: 15 December 2020

Pre-season

Ladder

2020-21 NBL pre-season ladder
Ladder	Information
Pos. Nat. Name Pld. W. L. Last 5 Streak Home Away For Against Pts % Win % 1 Melbourne United 1 1 0 1-0 W1 0-0 1-0 97 81 119.75% 100.00% 2 Sydney Kings 1 1 0 1-0 W1 1-0 0-0 98 89 110.11% 100.00% 3 Adelaide 36ers 3 2 1 2-1 L1 2-0 0-1 276 225 122.67% 66.67% 4 Perth Wildcats (RC) 2 1 1 1-1 L1 1-1 0-0 165 165 100.00% 50.00% 5 Cairns Taipans 2 1 1 1-1 W1 1-1 0-0 177 185 95.68% 50.00% 6 Brisbane Bullets 4 2 2 2-2 W2 2-0 0-2 347 378 91.80% 50.00% 7 The Hawks 3 1 2 1-2 L1 0-0 1-2 254 263 96.58% 33.33% 8 SEM Phoenix 2 0 2 0-2 L2 0-0 0-2 198 210 94.29% 0.00% NZ Breakers 0 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0.00% 0.00%	Total Rounds 5 weeks Total Games 11 games Legend (RC) Reigning Champion Updated: 9 January 2021

Game log

2020 pre-season game log Total: 1–2 (Home: 0–0; Road: 1–2)
December: 1–2 (Home: 0–0; Road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 15 December @ Perth Wildcats L 91–83 Justinian Jessup (24) Deng Deng (7) Adel, Harvey, Jessup, Naar (2) RAC Arena not announced 0–1 2 17 December @ Perth Wildcats W 74–82 Tyler Harvey (18) Andrew Ogilvy (7) Emmett Naar (5) Bendat Basketball Centre not announced 1–1 3 20 December @ Sydney Kings L 98–89 Justinian Jessup (21) Deng Deng (9) Tyler Harvey (4) Qudos Bank Arena closed event 1–2

Regular season

Ladder

2020-21 NBL ladder
Ladder	Information
Pos. Nat. Name Pld. W. L. Last 5 Streak Home Away For Against Pts % Win % 1 Melbourne United 5 5 0 5-0 W5 2-0 3-0 456 407 112.04% 100.00% 2 The Hawks 5 4 1 4-1 L1 0-0 4-1 443 410 108.05% 80.00% 3 Adelaide 36ers 7 4 3 3-2 L1 4-3 0-0 606 629 96.34% 57.14% 4 SEM Phoenix 6 3 3 3-2 W1 1-0 2-3 551 553 99.64% 50.00% 5 Sydney Kings 5 2 3 2-3 W1 0-0 2-3 446 428 104.21% 40.00% 6 Brisbane Bullets 5 2 3 2-3 L1 2-3 0-0 457 479 95.41% 40.00% 7 Perth Wildcats (RC) 3 1 2 1-2 L2 1-1 0-1 248 241 102.90% 33.33% 8 NZ Breakers 3 1 2 1-2 W1 0-0 1-2 254 261 97.32% 33.33% 9 Cairns Taipans 7 1 6 0-5 L6 1-5 0-1 591 644 91.77% 14.29%	Current Round Round 4 Total Rounds TBD Games per Team 36 Total Games 162 Legend (RC) Reigning Champion Ladder Updated: 7 February 2021

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top four.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

Team	1	2	3	4	5
Adelaide 36ers	3	5	3	3
Brisbane Bullets	6	9	5	6
Cairns Taipans	4	7	8	9
Melbourne United	1	1	2	1
New Zealand Breakers	–	8	9	7
Perth Wildcats	–	2	4	8
South East Melbourne Phoenix	7	6	6	4
Sydney Kings	5	4	7	5
The Hawks	2	3	1	2

Game log

2020–21 game log Total: 4–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 4–1)
January: 4–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 4–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 16 January @ Brisbane Bullets W 84–90 Sam Froling (19) Cameron Bairstow (9) Justin Simon (5) Nissan Arena 1,746 1–0 2 18 January @ Cairns Taipans W 76–92 Tyler Harvey (25) Justin Simon (12) Tyler Harvey (7) Cairns Pop-Up Arena 1,808 2–0 3 21 January @ Brisbane Bullets W 82–90 Tyler Harvey (31) Ogilvy, Simon (9) Justinian Jessup (6) Nissan Arena 1,591 3–0 4 28 January @ Cairns Taipans W 70–90 Tyler Harvey (21) Froling, Ogilvy (8) Justin Simon (4) Cairns Pop-Up Arena 1,849 4–0
February: 0–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 5 7 February @ South East Melbourne Phoenix L 98–81 Deng Adel (17) Sam Froling (11) Adel, Naar, Simon (3) State Basketball Centre 2,175 4–1 6 10 February Melbourne United boxscore WIN Entertainment Centre 7 14 February @ Sydney Kings boxscore Qudos Bank Arena

See also

• 2020–21 NBL season
• The Hawks

References

1. Ward, Roy (23 June 2020). "Friendship, trust lure Brian Goorjian back to the NBL after 11 years". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
2. Jennings, Mitch (15 July 2020). "NBL: Naar recommits to Hawks as free agency begins". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
3. "Hawks sign former Sydney Kings forward Deng Deng". ESPN.com. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
4. "Grida making most of Covid delay, signs on with new-look NBL Hawks". Illawarra Mercury. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
5. Jennings, Mitch (22 July 2020). "Hawks confirm return of young-gun Sam Froling". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
6. Houghton, Nick (23 July 2020). "Hawks snare former NBA forward Deng Adel". SBS. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
7. "Returning College Star Isaac White Joins Hawks". NBL.com.au. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
8. "Hawks Announce Tyler Harvey as First Import". NBL.com.au. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
9. Woods, Melissa (3 August 2020). "Hawks' Goorjian lures Bairstow back to NBL". The West Australian. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
10. Hinton, Marc (5 August 2020). "Teenage Kiwi basketballer Max Darling signs 3-year NBL deal with Wollongong's Hawks". Stuff. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
11. "Hawks sign 'blue-collar' US guard as second NBL import". South Coast Register. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
12. "The Hawks sign NBA prospect Justinian Jessup". ESPN.com. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
13. "Hawks Sign AJ Ogilvy as Injury Replacement". NBL.com.au. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
14. "'NBA prospect' Gak signs as Hawks development player". Illawarra Mercury. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

External links

• Official Website