Hawks on Hunt for the Best

Illawarra Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas has instructed management to search for “the best player possible” to help turnaround their 1-9 start to the season.

Forward George King has returned to the U.S following an on-going ankle injury and most likely will miss the rest of the NBL23 season. The Hawks are looking for a replacement for the rest of the campaign.

“Right now, we just need to get the best player possible,” Jackomas said.

“We do need a few pieces right now. Whatever we do need I think the instruction to management would be his best player possible.

“We’ve got a great bunch of guys that play a great role, I think Tyler (Harvey) does need a little bit of help.

“If we can get someone that’s a great rebounder, that’d be great.

“I don’t know if we can be picky right now, in this recruitment period, there’s not a lot out there because everyone’s got jobs.”

The Hawks were extremely close to gaining their second win of the season on Sunday against the reigning champions, the Sydney Kings.

The Hawks were up by four points with 10 seconds left on the clock, before losing on the buzzer in a heartbreaker, 83-82.

Harvey produced 32 points for the Hawks in a herculean performance. Despite the loss, Jackomas was positive on the effort his team gave against the ladder leaders.

“They’re the defending champions, so that’s a pretty good effort,” Jackomas said.

“It’s not time to kick guys, these guys have good resilience as you can see with what’s going on with them.”

The Hawks’ promising effort will again be put to the test against the South East Melbourne Phoenix at 4:00pm AEDT on Sunday.