Illawarra closed its season on Friday with a 98-82 loss to the Sydney Kings, marking an unceremonious end to a ceremonious season. A year that started with fanfare, hope and excitement ended with all of those absent.
The Hawks closed the season by losing the final 10 games of the season and finishing 5-23, last in the league by four games and out of the playoff picture by 10 full games.
First-year head coach Matt Flinn was asked about the LaMelo Ball experience following the team’s loss to the Kings.
“There’s no question that the DNA of our team was certainly manufactured through LaMelo and his usage rates with the basketball. (And) certainly he’s a great talent. I tell you, he learnt a lot from us, in particular defensive schemes and how to play at this level.
“But I also learnt a lot from him, and the challenges that come with executing talent within a system and as a first-rookie coach. That was quite difficult to do right at the start, to get that balance.”
The Hawks underwent many different phases this season, starting with having a backcourt of both Aaron Brooks and Ball and ending with a backcourt of neither by the conclusion of the season.
Given those challenges, it’s not surprising the Hawks struggled. But even with Brooks and Ball, the shortcomings of the roster were present. The top-heavy roster led to some interesting comments from Flinn about whether he would pursue a young Next Stars guard again.
“We’ve all seen how super-talented he is, (but) you’ve still got to come in and run the show and feed the fish and execute when the lights are on.
“And he did that at times, but it’s a big ask for an 18-year-old to do it. I think positionally, we would look maybe towards the other end of the roster.”
The Hawks roster was flawed from early on. Even signings of Billy Preston and Darington Hobson in-season had little impact as the former left the team shortly after joining and the latter only averaged 6.3 points in his 12 games and never shared the court with Ball.
It was a high-risk, high-reward bet by the Hawks that blew up in its face this season and leaves the Hawks at the bottom of the league and in a bad position moving forward.