He doesn't travel (unless there is injury) and would be being paid peanuts, if anything at all. He would also insure numbers at practice. The crowd love him so i dont see a problem.

Gordie just wants local representation in the squad. That means guys like Jackson, Delaney, Beagley, etc. Jackson and Demos are the best from that Illawarra Hawks ABA team. Slim pickings otherwise.

No, Zac is not going to crack the main rotation at any point.

If someone with more upside wanted an NBL run, they could probably do worse than move to Wollongong and ask to train with the team, try to grab 10th spot playing cheap and prove themselves.

That's very true Isaac. Do you know why they didnt sign Ben Dowdell? Someone from the region with a bit of talent.

Gruber is solid, but taking him as the fourth big ahead of a young local like Dowdell who has represented Australia seems odd to me.

Good on Gordie for wanting local content in his team, I believe that is a big reason the Breakers have been embraced so well by the NZ public

Paul, Ben Dowdell is on the Crows Rookie list.

The salary for an AFL Rookie is now around $50Kpa, that is before he ever plays a game in the SANFL (or AFL if he is elevated), so probably a better option for him than NBL.

Ben Dowdell would now be earning $50k a season as a rookie listed player at Adelaide with the potential to make the squad one day. Id say AFL just offered him more money (even if he doesnt get a game) than what he would at the Hawks.

There have been plenty of situations like this with plenty of other players like Zac Delaney.

BJ Carter- Sydney
Luke Carnegie- Sydney
Tim Labka- West Sydney
Brett Rainbow- Melbourne Tigers

These guys often become cult heroes and crowd favourites. Ive seen the crowd chant to get them on during the last minutes of the game. Having guys like this go a long way to securing good local crowds.

Guys, Dowdell decided to become an AFL rookie after he couldnt get an NBL contract. He toured China with Cairns and was offered a rookie spot there I believe. I am just wondering why Wollongong didnt pursue him or if they did, why nothing eventuated.

Seems short-sighted to pick Gruber over Dowdell if that is what happened.

BJ Carter was a considerably better player than the others on that list.

paul, if he wanted to play NBL, why not take the offer from Cairns? Not like the Hawks are going to beat anyone with the chequebook.

BJ Carter turned into a crowd favourite and cult hero. I'm sure a journalist named him "the kid who bleeds purple and gold"
I'll agree that he was a better player than the others I mentioned, but I don't think BJ was any better than Zac Delaney.
I think this is Zac's first year in the NBL side, from memory BJ Carter got 6 or 7 years as the last guy on the roster, and I don't think he saw courtime for the first season.
Zac Delaney may surprise a few people as the years go on, if he can keep a spot (albeit the last spot) on an NBL roster for a few more seasons he good turn into a good back up point guard.

Isaac - they would beat Cairns' DP salary! Just wondering if the Hawks made any sort of offer or if they trialled him etc etc.

Like I said, why not invest in a local talent over an older, role playing naturalised guy? They could have had a good reason or maybe they erred in judgement, just wondering how far down that path the Hawks went.

bjfan, I don't think he'll crack the rotation or ten even. Just there for numbers. Good kid, but the size and ability work against him. Compare to Jackson in the ABA as an example - Jackson puts up strong ABA numbers, but has never made much of a splash at NBL level.

In the NBL, Zac has only ever been "See if we can get him a three in garbage time." I don't hear about him tearing up training, etc.

Good on him for making it as far as he has though.

Then again, if Glover got minutes...

Development players should be those with a chance of making it in the NBL, and who wouldn't look bad playing junk minutes.

The worst choice of development player would have to be the Tigers' one - too small to play NBL, maybe even too small for SEABL.
Lane might be more use as a development player than Wilcher (?0

Zac sells a lot of Hawks jerseys. In fact i would go as far as saying, the most jersey sales. If not, maybe a close second to Matt Campbell. But every Hawks game i go to i see at least 10+ Delaney jerseys.

He's value as a D'Player is great. Little time, sells jerseys and gets the fans involved.
But what happens when he is no longer a development player & the team has to pay him min salary? That's when we will likely see the last of Zac in the league.

We have all seen that size doesn't matter. A lot of short basketball players have gone on to have solid pro careers. But they are fast & usually have a good outside shot, Zac is fast at the ABA level. Not at the NBL level. And can't get a contested shot off.

Alex Bagley should be given more of a chance.

I believe Gordie had an open invitation to training for people in the Gong. Zac turned up to every training and would always give 100%. Gordie rewarded the kid for having the right attitude.

Nat, where does Beagley play the off-season? Not with the same team as Dan and Tyson?

He hasn't yet, but I think this off season he will be. He just played in the local comps at the Snake Pit & in the UBL (Wollongong Uni basketball league).

Maybe he's still coming along, but that doesn't suggest he's going to be quick to get Hawks time to me. Surely you'd want to be performing well at ABL level first?

I think Eric Cooks saw him in the UBL & invited him to train with the team and then he progressed from there.
He can be a solid NBL player in a few years. Good defender, can hit mid range shot, more a slasher type player. Bit streaky..

hoopie

have u even seen wilcher play... he deserves the nbl development spot and according to cam tragardh he does extremely well at training, wilcher being on the bench squad at training does better thn regulr starters. and after being crosswells back up in seabl last year and narrowly losing to geelong in the conference semis i think he is better than people think. also dominating every aspect of junior basketball in victoria which is no doubt the best basketvball state in this country.

I played ABA for three seasons, I was not a star, barely a role player. Seeing Zac Delaney get an NBL uniform and get a minute every so often makes me wish I had worked harder at chasing that teenage dream of an NBL game.
Having Zac in the NBL side would strengthen the Gongs junior and ABL programs by making teenagers realise that hard work brings rewards.
I still think he could develop into a role player at the NBL level, goodness knows he is getting good coaching and training.

People are underestimating just how good Gruber is when he is fit. He would absolutely destroy Dowdell if he was fit. Gruber was unstoppable 2 years ago in the SEABL - cannot do much when injuries keep you off the court.

Gruber was probably the best player in the SEABL - he is a bit short for NBL but the Hawks got him for cheap. If Dowdell was as good as Gruber he would be playing NBL now.

People are underestimating just how good Gruber is when he is fit. He would absolutely destroy Dowdell if he was fit. Gruber was unstoppable 2 years ago in the SEABL - cannot do much when injuries keep you off the court.

Gruber was probably the best player in the SEABL - he is a bit short for NBL but the Hawks got him for cheap. If Dowdell was as good as Gruber he would be playing NBL now.

Saw Delaney play for UOW at the unigames in 2009. could only just get the ball over the halfcourt in 8 seconds, couldn't shoot, was an average passer against teams who play basketball as secondary to uni studies. The was only one other player who had gotten any training time with an NBL team, Josh something, who was scoring at will against the higher quality teams and averaging a near triple double.

Here's a semi related question - How many Wollongong/Illawarra development players have ever gone on to have a NBL career after their Development status?

I never said Dowdell could not play. As you said he played for Santa Clara (a decent Div 1 school) so he has talent. Ive watched him since the AIS and liked him (although he was overshadowed by Ogilvy and Mills). I just think Gruber would eat him alive on the basketball court 'when fit'. People seem to forget Gruber killed the SEABL not long ago and regulary destroyed proven NBL players.

I like Dowdell, but he is no where near Gruber (sure he is younger though). The fact is no NBL team was interested enough to give him a contract and is now playing AFL.

I'll give your question a shot nat. I will only name those who got some minutes outside of garbage time. Rod Johnson, Warrick Giddey, Tim Morrisey, Lenny Lembo (although Giddey, Lembo & Morrisey a went to the tute in between being youth league NBL dev players and playing NBL full time),Lucus Agrums,Dene McDonald, the late Michael (Moose) Roodenrys (sp?), Terry Johnson while an Illawarra junior did not fill a development role and started NBL at the Giants before returning for a couple of seasons with the Hawks.
There were many local juniors in the early years of the NBL including Gordie, Bob Kubinga, Steve Tonkin, Jim Williams but this was before the dev player officially became a position. Many of the above may have been not actually dev players but they were local juniors who trained with the Hawks, suited up with the squad and then worked their way into thecontractedd lineup. I have probably missed a few.

Josh wilcher can actually ball, if he actually got game time he can show that, hes gotten less than 1 min all season so saying hes terrible is ridiculous to say

Gruber is solid but he is the fourth big, meaning he wasnt likely to get a heap of opportunities ala previous seasons.

In hindsight the Hawks would have been better with Gruber and Dowdell instead of Catron, then using the extra money getting a good import combo guard to start with. They would probably be competing for a playoff spot right now.

If Dowdell stinks at footy this year will be interesting to see if the Hawks suss him out. They do like to have talent from their local area and he is one of the better ones.

I think Dowdell is viewed as a project player in the AFL - he is rookie listed so will only have a chance if he gets elevated to the senior list (doubtful Id say this season).

Gruber started early last season ahead of Forman until he got injured. Once Gruber suffered the ankle injury last season Forman got his position as a starter (and took the opportunity as he had a great year last season). Gruber was probably the number 2 big early last season behind Davidson until his injury. He was just starting to play good this season when he broke his hand.

Does zac play for illawara hawks or dominate at the lesser level?

Put it this way - a couple of years ago he was released by Mt Gambier. I dont think he did much there.

I agree Dude, I was thinking more in the instance that it became plainly obvious the sport wasnt for him, for example not getting a kick in SANFL reserves and genuinely struggling to pick up the skills anywhere near the level required.

Thanks, Anonymous. Sounds like the kid deserves a few minutes to show his stuff.

(I still reckon he's too short for the NBL, though.)