Hoops

Hawks re-sign Tim Coenraad for two years

Bevo has proven himself again, and again, and again.

Hawks will be competitive.

It's really interesting because the Kings are shaping up to have a ridiculous roster but they have an unproven coach.

Cairns are more of a worry. Kelly is unproven. Lost their two best Aussies. Jawai really needs to stay fit and get going.

"Find it really hard to believe AJ is on $400k"

*WHOOSH*

There's no way Aj is on 200,000/300,00 as my guess is more like about 100,000 or just over and Coenraad will be on about 60,000.The Hawks will be lucky to spend 700,000 all up.I remember Lisch was offered about 100,000 and the Kings got him with an offer three times that.

I still think the Hawks make a pretty big mistake bringing back the vast majority of the 2017 GF team last season. They were pretty fortunate to make the GF as it was and got a big helping hand from the 36ers and especially Randle in getting there.

It was clear last season a number of guys on their roster were either done or no longer up to it in Martin, White, Ellis & Forman and I think a bit of crossing their fingers and hoping for another minor miracle took place. Conger was certainly an upgrade on Harris but with the large drop off in contributors too much was left to too few. Ogilvy was exposed when more was expected of him.

A bit of a clean slate is what is needed now and with Kay & Norton departing that direction has been forced on the Hawks but re-signing a reliable contributor in Coenraad who can still occasionally step up when the others go missing is a positive in what is hopefully a younger and more exciting Hawks team better suited to Bevo's up tempo style.

The Hawks have made the playoffs 5 out of the last 9 seasons with this average core. The grand final twice. Seeing as we're in a 8 team league, that averages out to above mean.

Yes, and Black Americans really loved their President. Things change!

Hawks made the GF in what was only the first season of the new rules (or lack thereof). And they only made it because:
Gaze can't coach,
Demopolopolis count't coach NBL,
and Joey tanked then had some kind of psychotic break-down.

Without Joey tanking after wrapping up top spot, Hawks would not have even made the finals.

Simple fact remains that every team will need to take another step up next season, to compete against the Super-Kings, and so far all the Hawks have done is gone backwards.

Prior to the brave new world, the Hawks bargain-basement team was a matter of degree. They were probably not far off salary wise, lacked a lot of benefits, and made up some ground with Culture and a good coach.
Now, its chalk and cheese.

Also need to wonder how many times they can keep finding stars, like Conger, without the budget of other teams.

A very good signing I said earlier in the offseason I would've loved it if we picked Coenraad up he's reliable and every now and then wins you a game himself.

Good to see him staying at the Gong when a few years ago they were seemingly ready to move on from him. Hopefully a similar thing happens with Garlepp at the Kings.

the Wildcats were 10 points better than the Hawks in 2017. The Hawks were lucky to reach that grand final.

my hawks salary guess
Tim coenraad 32 75,000 to 100,000
AJ 29 200,000 to 300,000
Naar 50,000 to 85,000

money left for 8 players plus DP

650,000 to 700,000

Ogilvy already had a contract. Then they signed a guy out of college who broke his college’s records. Then they bring back a reasonable contributor from past years with no designation of how much he’d play. Not the worst of starts. Who are they meant to be unearthing if not getting a guy like Naar?

@Freethrows are you suggesting Anon #687326's comment should be censored or removed? It was valid criticism - you can disagree. You don't have to get butthurt over it. Isaac is Forman's brother, so what? Does that absolve criticism of Forman or the Hawks?

the Wildcats were 10 points better than the Hawks in 2017. The Hawks were lucky to reach that grand final.

Anon #687326, you do realise who the moderator of this forum is? Isaac, you are a better man than me for not jumpin in on that comment.

A lot of people rubbish the likes of Illawarra and Cairns for the lack of talent on their rosters, taking little into account in terms of the lack of funds available to those teams in comparison to the likes of Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It's hard to put a really good roster together on peanuts, as the defections of the likes of Gliddon, Weeks, Kay and Norton this season alone has testified.

As for taking a risk and unearth new local talent, do you have any suggestions as to whom? Do you think there are basketball prodigies out there, lining up to play NBL, that nobody else knows about?

I think the NBL teams have a pretty good idea of who is about, and whether they have a shot at NBL careers. Those that do, usually get either a DP position or a roster spot somehere along the line.

AJ had injuries last season.

I thought they had a better squad last season than the year before.

Rotnei = Rotnei
Conger > Marvelle Harris.
Johnson = Holyfield.

Aussie core stayed about the same, but the big improvement was Conger over Marvelle.

2 things worked against the Hawks.

1) The league really improved in talent.
2) There may have been morale issues stemming from how Ellis was treated by management above Bevo.

The Hawks have made the playoffs 5 out of the last 9 seasons with this average core. The grand final twice. Seeing as we're in a 8 team league, that averages out to above mean.

Hawks average? Ummm...before last season they had an SF and GF appearance, and with a widely understood tighter budget team.

Can I ask what would be considered as good?

the reason the Hawks have been so average over the years is due to their average core, including Coenraad and Rhys Martin, even Forman and stemming back to Geordie McLeod (overated IMO). Guys like Kevin White and Cody Ellis; the Hawks will never win with this bunch, no matter how good Bevo is

Coenraad was signed a number of weeks ago, but the Hawks didn't want their first signing announcement to be a returning player.
There's no hyping or mentions of signings outside of Stratford's twitter account, which hasn't mentioned anything big.

Haven’t seen any hyping of any announcement. Where are you seeing this?

Nice to see guys that can play their entire career with the one team
and yes, I think he still has something to give.

But if this is the big announcement they have been hyping, then they've got problems

Given the current squad and the type of play that would suit them, who's the best fit as coach? Reckon Drewey would ever get the nod from Seamus?