From nbl.com.au:
The Hawks Co-Owner Dorry Kordahi has declared the club is ready to fight with the league’s powerhouses and become a perennial championship contender.
The new ownership group of Kordahi, Bryan Colangelo and Michael Proctor have led an offseason of change for The Hawks. Master coach Brian Goorjian has been recruited while they’ve broken club records for the amount of money spent on the playing roster.
Kordahi hopes the new beginning will symbolise the start of a winning culture being installed at The Hawks, a club that has been starved of recent success. The Hawks have missed the playoffs in the past three seasons and haven’t won a championship since 2001 but the club is ready to soar out of the abyss.
“This is the highest paid roster The Hawks have ever had,” Kordahi said.
“For us as an ownership group, we believe in investing into The Hawks, which is why we took it on board.
“To be a winning team and a winning organisation, you need to hire the best. Getting Brian in was a big impact for us and that set the tone that we are here to win games and we are serious about this organisation.
“We are not here to make up numbers in the league. We are here to be a title contender.”
Kordahi added he has already received feedback from players who are excited about the new processes and procedures being implemented at The Hawks. This has included an investment in high performance, with the club hiring a Strength and Conditioning Coach (Adam Roberts) for the first time.
The Hawks have constructed an impressive roster for NBL21, headlined by former NBA players Deng Adel and Cam Bairstow, Next Star Justinian Jessup and imports Justin Simon and Tyler Harvey.
That contingent joins Emmett Naar, Deng Deng, Dan Grida, Sam Froling, Isaac White and Max Darling, and Goorjian, who hit the training court with the team for the first time on Thursday, reckons the group has what it takes to make the playoffs this season.
“We have put together a real nice group, a hard-working group, a motivated group that appreciates the new environment,” Goorjian said.
“I feel good about the team. That’s the goal (to make the playoffs). The talent is there but the challenge is everybody is new, there is no familiarity and there is going to be a process of learning to play together.
“I feel good about what we have got, and I feel good about the direction of the club.”
The 2020/21 NBL Season is slated to tip-off in mid-January.
