LaMelo Ball has been met with both encouragement and push back with his pursuit of purchasing the Illawarra Hawks franchise. While the sentiment in the general public has been positive, those close to the league and the franchise have pushed against the idea.
Recently, former league commissioner Rick Burton warned Ball about the pitfalls of buying into the NBL. He isn’t the only one associated with the league that isn’t high on the idea of Ball being apart of it.
Illawarra Hawks legend Glen Saville, regarded as one of the franchise’s greatest players ever, is also not throwing his support behind a Ball-led consortium. In an interview with the Illawarra Mercury, Saville was asked if Ball buying the franchise was the right move for the Hawks.
“For me personally, I don’t think so. It’s just my opinion. I don’t know what’s going on with that whole situation, I’m just taking in what everyone else is taking in through the media. It was great when he came into our competition, it did a lot for the crowds, it did a lot for our local community, but at the end of the day, he left the club without the club and the players even knowing about it after being injured for more than half the season.
If he was that interested in being involved in our club, why would he just jump on a plane and head back to US without actually telling anyone he was leaving?”
Saville also raised other valid points, most notably in the fact that Ball himself still has not spoken on the matter. The only comments from his camp came from his manager Jermaine Jackson and not from Ball himself. Saville also noted that, as an outsider, Ball doesn’t have a grasp on what the franchise means to the community.
“It’s great from a media perspective that it came out in the papers that he wanted to buy the team and he wanted to be involved in it but I don’t think he totally understands the legacy that is involved with Illawarra, me having been involved in it for 25 years.
There’s other fans and people that have been involved a lot longer than that, there’s long legacy and a long history with this club. I’m not sure he understands it.”
Saville played over 500 games for the Hawks and captained the franchise to its lone NBL title in 2001, winning Grand Final MVP as well. After his retirement, the franchise retired his jersey, one of only five jerseys to hang in the rafters for the Hawks.
All that means there are few people who know what’s best for the Hawks more than Saville. His questions raised are legitimate and they’re ones Ball will have to answer both with words and with his actions should he take over the franchise.
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