Few professional basketball teams outside of the NBA would have been prepared to handle LaMelo Ball’s arrival and the Illawarra Hawks were not one of them. Despite being one of the founding teams of the league, the Hawks are a small-market organization even by NBL standards.
Add in the financial struggles of the franchise and the dysfunction in the front office and the Hawks were doomed from the get-go. The overwhelming experience of having Ball on the roster led to problems, something David Andersen, one of the veterans on last season’s Illawarra roster.
During an interview with ESPN, Andersen talked about the experience of having Ball as a member of the Hawks this season.
“The Hawks probably weren’t prepared for that and we did suffer a little bit. It was weird because you had ‘Melo’ who was like a rock star and just followed so heavily online and with the social media stuff it made it interesting.”
The initial wave of support and interest from fans, including Barack Obama, after Ball announced that he was joining the Hawks was a sign of what to expect during the short-lived Ball Era. The franchise was put under a microscope that it never had been before and there were cracks that likely led to the team needing to find new ownership after season’s end.
The team never found its footing on the season even after growing acclimated to Ball. For example, despite having the league’s most popular star, after Aaron Brooks’ injury, the Hawks wavered on bringing in a new import player. By the time the team decided on a player after pressure from the NBL, Ball’s season had already come to an end.
In the end, both sides walked away likely wanting more from the experience even if both sides also felt the experience was a positive one.
