Chris
Years ago

Illawarra sign Rotnei Clarke for two years

Rodnei Clarke has signed with the Hawks

The Illawarra Hawks are bringing sharpshooting guard, League MVP (2013), and All NBL Team starter (2013/14) Rotnei Clarke back 'home' to Wollongong after a two year stint playing overseas.

Returning on a two year deal, Clarke won the hearts and minds of the Illawarra community in 2013 when he singlehandedly carried the club to the playoffs in arguably one of the greatest individual season performances by a Hawks player.

Full announcement

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Isaac
Years ago

With two more import spots available to the club, Head Coach Rob Beveridge and General Manager Kim Welch will turn their attention to the NBA summer league to further strengthen an already strong Illawarra Hawks roster.

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mystro
Years ago

some amazing talent in the league this season, I can't wait for it to begin!

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Smith
Years ago

Great get for the Hawks. If they can bring in one more scoring wing they'll have a solid roster. A tad small in the backcourt rotations for mine but effort goes a long way.

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Wookiee
Years ago

Round 2 just got a LOT more interesting!

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Haz
Years ago

This is going to be a legitimately good season. No easy beats at all. Could have a ladder full of .500 teams as any team could win on any night.

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Thunder Jam
Years ago

Good on them Rotnei is a gun.

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Isaac
Years ago

A tad small in the backcourt rotations for mine but effort goes a long way.

Haven't they realistically brought Norton in for Weeks and Clarke for Lisch? If an import covers Penney's loss, they're about the same. I think they've improved in the front court with Kay coming in.

White was starting last year and was Norton starting in Townsville? If not, he was certainly a solid rotation player.

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Smith
Years ago

Concur Isaac. Whilst Norton is a different player to Weeks, he's an upgrade for mine. I love the addition of Clarke but would have preferred Lisch simply for his ability to defend. But Rotnei is the real deal so it's splitting straws a bit.

What I mean by being a tad small is - they don't really have any length in the 1 and 2 positions in terms of D. Whilst Norton and White certainly give great effort I simply would have preferred some length to back up Martin and Clarke.

Whilst the import will obviously be a scoring wing, his back up will be Coenraad and he thinks the split the line is just below the equator. Take into account is uncanny ability to commit negligent fouls at costly times and you've got a negative on D. And he's soft. Can shoot though...

As for Kay. I can't say enough about him. Absolutely love him. It also looks like Bevo will be asking him to slide over and play some backup 5 as it doesn't look like they're going for a legit backup big. This is surprising to me as their achilles heel has always been rebounding and neither Ossie or Ellis provide that in bulk. Maybe they rectify that after the season starts with their 11th man. I'd say Bevo will play it safe and only go with two imports in case of injuries etc.

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Illawarra sign Rotnei Clarke for two years

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