Lachy Reid hinted at it yesterday and someone in his replies had the name soon after. Someone here posted it was Conklin a couple of hours before this Fox story too.

Interesting pick-up. Didn't think we'd see him back in the NBL, but he is only 28 years old so has years left in him. Feisty combo with Ogilvy though!

Might struggle for rebounds unless they get a rebounding big or bring back Conger.

Nice one, pair him with AJ and they now have one heart beating between them.

Love it...can't wait for him to play again as he is a former league MVP and doesn't mind throwing it down!

Conklin isn't replacing Conger.

Elbows is a 10/10 nickname

Elbows is about right, he didn't do it just once!!Although one had significantly more impact to the receiving player.

surprising somebody with his history can get a spot back in the league, but let's hope he is more mature and moves on from his previous bad instances. If back as his former MVP self it'll be a good signing and one that Illawarra need to offset the Jekyll and Hyde Ogilvy.

2014-15 season Conklin averaged 18.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, eventually earning the Andrew Gaze Trophy after being named the league's MVP

Reuniting with his former College Captain in Cody Ellis?

He is a much more athletic version of Tai Wesley with a confident midrange J. Plays bully ball under the rim.

Just like Wesley he will take it up the court and lead the break. Decent rebounder.

Great touch around the rim

Wait does Wesley lead the break?

Anyway Conklin does. Defensively he's good in switching down scenarios, although the league has gotten decidedly more athletic since he was here. Can play the 4 or 5. Moderate defender overall

Loves a jabstep this bloke. Good face-up game. Gets the big shoulders into you and beats you to a pulp. Then he elbows your jaw.

Man I'm psyched for his return

Someone get Manu some Kleenex.

Make that 2 boxes.

Hawks are looking okay so far but really need Clarke to return for them to be a chance at playoffs.

Hawks looking better than Cairns and Brisbane at this point

Surprising
Conklin embarrassed the league, and Townsville were forced to sack him.
Nothing legally stopping him from returning, but it won't earn them any Brownie Points either.

Any comparisons to current or recent NBL players for his production and play style? What kind of numbers should we expect from him?

Bevo's system just has 2 bigs and 3 guards on court, and players are interchangeable within the spots, so all this talk about "can blanch play the 2" doesnt really matter, he just plays as one of the 3 guards.

AJ, Conklin, (Import) and Ellis will fill the 2 big spots, Blanch, Rotnei, (Import), Coneraad, Naar, Martin will fill the 3 guard spots.

If they manage to lure Conger back they look strong, if they get a budget quality like Marvelle Harris type they'll beat a lot of teams but can't contend.

Conklin is 2 tonnes better than Wesley

Read another article saying he has not signed as of yet. Plus Aussie Hoopla's recent FA Tracker mentioned the Hawks negotiating with a few imports including Conklin i.e Demetrius Conger, Rotnei Clarke, Jordair Jett and Delvon Johnson.

If multiple journos are writing that the Hawks haven't signed Conklin not long after Olgun wrote that he is, I wonder about the respect Olgun has among his peers

Wasn't that the talk that if Rotnei comes back it will be as an Aussie? If not they'd need to find another cheap Aussie to possibly fill the Delvon role from last year.

Hawks need some balls. Nice signing.

I love the signing if it happens, just wondering how Illawarra will spin this, I don't remember them making too much noise about Gary Ervin coming back when he did for them and we are talking about league MVPs (not former as they haven't had them taken off of them).

I think AJ and Conklin could be scary but scary good or scary train wreck I can't tell yet but I'm fascinated.

They can still get Rotnei and Conger can't they ? (Forgetting monetary issues)

The most underwhelming MVP ever returns with his shitty attitude and pointy elbows......yay

Sounds like one of Coach Cooks' boys will be joining them, going by Boti's tweet today.

Conklin hasn't signed at all.

I wonder if 'reputation' is making them re-think.

It was pretty clear that Townsville were pressured to dump him by the league, so maybe when this rumour first hit somebody had a quiet word with the Hawks?

To get the knob to leave.

Conklin was named LEAGUE MVP.
For the following season he was made captain.
When he smashed Martin's Jaw, the league played it down and said he had no case to answer.
He displayed extremely poor attitude and judgement in his public persona, and two weeks later he hit Creek in a similar fashion, giving the league no choice but to suspend him.
Two weeks later, Townsville (a team literally dependent on league handouts for their continued existence) sacked him.

Do the math.

AD's conspiracy seems much more likely than the alternate scenario that the Crocs were cutting their highest paid player - just within the window that they were able to do so without paying out his full contract - after hemorrhaging money and being out of finals equation.

'501, I hope that's sarcasm!