Along with Deba George and Ben Knight

Hawks are going after Jerry Smith as an import..That is from a reputable source.

Maybe they have resigned to the fact that they are unable to pay the $$ needed to keep Ervin in Wollongong.

New faces at the Hawks scrimmage this week are Alex Opacic from NSW ABA, former 76er Ivan McFarlin who has played for Bendigo in the SEABL and most recently Hapoel Lev HaSharon of the Israeli Liga and Simon Conn from Nanawading.

Good luck to him. He was good in the 1 minute he got for the sixers last season!

I hope the 36ers look at McFarlin for their import spot for the PF/C, especially if they are looking fopr a potentially cheap import.

Harris has had some very good games in the SEABL this season. Could still be a late developer who could give some valuable back up minutes. Genuine nice guy so hope he gets a gig.

I would like to see more teams go with 11 players and give guys like Harris, Jervis and Opacic, as examples, a chance.

While they mightnt be stars at NBL level, they might be handy in short stints when match-ups permit. And given the chance to actually play they may show something.

i think what Clarke was saying got taken out of context but some sections of the media. The suggestion was to move to an AFL model where you have a core group and can then drop and bring in players due to form and injury.

It would open up more playing opportunities for people like Harris and many others. it will also keep alot more players around the game.

For instance Molitor has been lost right at a time that he could have cracked the NBL. If Clarke's idea was implemented Molitor could have stayed on , got paid and been in the mix each week.

That secondary group would also keep pressure on the main group to perform.

Use Patty as an example of how it works in the NBA. Some guys fall out of favour and he is sitting there waiting to grab every second he can. it works well for everyone IMO.

At present NBL rules are really stacked against guys like Harris from making a roster.

Look at the available free agents list of the NBL players from last year and there is a big shortage of talent.

Teams will find that the have to take a punt on an untried player or recycle someone else's 10th man.

I dont buy the shortage of talent line that some people give. Two years ago Daniel Dillon, Lucas Walker, Luke Cooper and Graeme Dann were considered too short of talent to get an NBL contract. Ben Madgen had little interest last year.

Who else is out there that could perform at NBL level given the chance? They dont necessarily have to play to the level of those guys either, just good enough to be the last guy off the bench and develop.

Tom Daly just scored 23 points, by the looks of it matched up on a guy who led his Serbian league team in scoring two seasons in a row, yet no one has signed him. There would be plenty of guys good enough for spots 9, 10 and 11 who arent signed.

When it comes to the last positions on your roster, it is pretty much about signing a young player and developing them to be able to play 5-10 mins.

Clubs expecting someone who can play decent minutes for their last spot and then calling out there is a lack of talent when they cant find one is kind of funny.

Madgen only got the opp to play after all the other guards went down. Exactly my point. That there aren't enough known entities out there to recruit from. The only way to develope players is to give them minutes. If you are developing player in the Nbl you need a coach with big balls to sign you and give you the court time. The 40 min game certainly depleted opps further.

The league needs bigger rosters or more teams to expand the talent pool.

I agree. No doubt, as you said, new teams will initially find it hard to recruit top end guys as many of them are now locked up for 2 or 3 years, but that will sort itself out pretty quick as contracts expire. I think there is a real issue when a list like below dont have contracts, and that doesnt even include the next lot of promising young players. Cameron and McDonald werent horrible as rookies but have barely got a look in since.

L Martin, Bradshaw, Dickel, Conn, Cameron, McDonald, Jervis, Jones, Vasiljevic, Henry, Horvath, B Dowdell, B Knight, Louis, Daly, Tait, Harris, Kendall, Brebner, Helliwell, Robertson, Behrendorff, Holmes, Demos, B Williamson, C Cedar.

It is healthy for some of these guys to miss out so players have to perform to keep a spot in the league, but right now there just arent enough opportunities for players who can play at this level, let alone the next Dillon, Walker etc who need a chance to sink or swim.

Another prime example is Tragardh, he warmed the bench up in Townsville for years and years. And when he moved to Wollongong and got a chance he became hot property and was poached by Melbourne.