In The Post – “Alarm bells” ringing for Hawks

Catch up on all the latest headlines from around the basketball world in today’s edition of In the Post.

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Goorjian says “alarm bells” going off

Illawarra has lost four of their past six games and after last night’s 23-point defeat to New Zealand, coach Brian Goorjian has declared the alarm bells are ringing for the Hawks.

“I’m taking it as alarm bells. I would say something has got to happen here pretty quickly or we are in deep deep trouble,” Goorjian said.

“Line in the sand” for Taipans

Cairns Taipans coach Adam Forde has drawn a line in the sand with his players, calling out their character and will to win.

“We’ve lined everybody up and we are questioning people’s character, so I want to see how they respond. There’s a question of character…how badly do we want to win? We put a line in the sand. You’re a paid professional, do your job,” Forde said.

Simplicity behind Breakers turnaround

New Zealand coach Dan Shamir says executing the basics was the key behind the Breakers’ big win over Illawarra last night, a massive turnaround from last weekend’s loss to Tasmania.

“Isn't it amazing to see the same team put together two different games. Today was definitely unique to defend a good team like the Hawks and to keep them under 70 points. It's all about the simplest things in the game and just the attitude, mentality and toughness. We rebounded the ball, defended and built a lead and kept it. It was totally two different teams from one game to the next,” Shamir said.

NBA in the back of Travers’ mind 

Perth Wildcats wunderkind Luke Travers has admitted he does think about making the NBA, as he enters the top 100 on draft boards.

“It’s hard not to think about it for sure. It’s always going to be in the back of your mind and it’s every kid’s dream when you first start playing basketball,” Travers told Fox Sports.

“Worst part” of road Wildcats 

Wildcats forward Todd Blanchfield says the “unknown” is the worst part of Perth’s prolonged road trip as the WA border remains shut.

“The worst part is the unknown. Nobody knows what’s going on and it’s not like anyone has answers for us either,” Blanchfield told The West Australian’s The Dribble podcast.

Vukona connecting with Next Star

Tasmania JackJumpers Basketball Operations Consultant Mika Vukona has been working closely with NBL Next Star Nikita Mikhailovskii and he has praised the Russian’s work ethic and commitement.

"Everybody's trying to connect with Nikita. It's always a barrier when you have the language and culture, but you've got to give it to the kid, he has stuck in and he comes in and trains really hard," Vukona said via The Examiner.

Goulding not dwelling on poor performance

Melbourne United superstar Chris Goulding says he isn’t dwelling on his 0-14 shooting performance last weekend, as his attention turns to Sunday’s clash with Tasmania.

“There’s nothing I can do about that now and I’ve really tried not to dwell on it. You don’t want to have a poor performance like I did, but the most disappointing thing was we lost. My mindset is just do whatever you can to try to win this weekend,” Goulding said via Newscorp.

Basketballers bring in the cash

Basketball is a big winner in the Herald Sun’s sport 100 rich list, with four of Australia's top 10 highest sporting earners playing basketball.

Ben Simmons topped the list at number one with Joe Ingles (three), Josh Giddey (eight) and Patty Mills (nine) also in the top 10.