0-15 was the stat line everyone looked at on Saturday night as Illawarra lost 95-101 to the Cairns Taipans.

Deng Adel, the teams big-name signing this off-season who was coming off a 2018-19 season spent with the Cleveland Cavaliers struggled to impact the game, finishing with only 1 point in 23 minutes of game time after shooting 0-15 from the field.

The effort saw Adel earn an unwanted NBL record putting up the most shots in an NBL game without a made shot.

Deng Adel’s 0-from-15 FG vs Cairns today is the worst shooting without a make by any player in any game in NBL history.

Previous worst was 0-from-14 by three players:
A. Trahair in 1999
L.Copeland in 2004
A.Stewart in 2004#NBL21 pic.twitter.com/13I0aFg7W0

— NBLfacts (@nblfacts) February 20, 2021

It’s been a frustrating start to Adel’s NBL career, suffering a calf injury in the final stages of preseason in a game against the Perth Wildcats.

He recovered in time for the season-opener against Brisbane but was restricted to just 12 minutes before sitting out with quad tightness. The Hawks felt it best to rest him over the next two games and then shifted Deng to the bench in his return.

In a blow-out, 20 point victory over the Cairns Deng saw his minutes increased to 17 but in his first two games Deng had played 28 minutes and notched up a meagre total of 6 points.

He looked far from the player expected to be the Hawks answer to other NBA to NBL stars like Mitch Creek at South East Melbourne Phoenix or Isaac Humphries at the Adelaide 36ers.

He showed glimpses of brilliance in his third game, scoring 17 points in 26 minutes off the bench against the Phoenix, but his next three outings delivered 2 points in 13 minutes in a loss to Melbourne, 11 points in 26 minutes against Sydney and the record-breaking feat against Cairns yesterday.

NBL fans and media have been vocal on social media on Adel’s performance, some even calling for Brian Boorjian to “give up” on Deng.

Surely Goorj has to give up on Deng Adel today.

— Boti Nagy (@boti_nagy) February 20, 2021

I don’t think the Taipans were necessarily the better team in that one, but a win’s a win (and they also got 6 NBL Cup points). Deng Adel’s shooting slump hit a really rough new low: 0/15 from the field, for 1 point; he was unplayable at the end there.

— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) February 20, 2021

Homicide on Deng Adel’s night:

Someone has gotta be able to go up to him and say “Hey, it ain’t your night tonight fam”.

He’s gotta do something else. He’s shooting them out of the game.#NBL21 #NBLCup

— 1170 SEN Sydney (@1170sen) February 20, 2021

Despite this Goorjian continues to show faith in the 24-year-old, clarifying that although he is injury-free right now he is still adjusting to the NBL.

“He’s putting a lot of pressure on himself, and now (teams) are really laying off him.” said Hawks coach Brian Goorjian after Adel’s 0-15 performance.

“He can shoot the ball, but one of the things need him t do is get involved in the game on the glass, get to the foul line, get a steal, get something to loosen the game up. So the depressing part for him wasn’t the 0-7 or 0-8 he was at half-time, it was the fact he had one rebound” said Goorjian.

Additionally, Goorjian, who recently included Adel in his 20 man squad for the 2020 Olympics feels he can be blamed for some of Adel’s struggles this season.

“I thought the end of the third quarter really was depressing and that’s [about] how I rotate bodies or how I use bodies. Do you use your timeouts and keep your starters in there, or do you use what you think is your strength, your bench? Now we’ve added two guys to the rotation so we don’t look as fluid as we did at the start of the season” Goorjian said.

“I’ve got to get Adel into the rotation, I’ve got to get Cam into the rotation. Long-term, that’s going to make us really good but, right now, it has been choppy. I’m stuttering on that sideline a little bit as far as how I rotate bodies so some of it falls on my shoulders.”

While the jury may be out on Adel, it’s clear Goorjian won’t be “giving up” on the Sudanese swingman anytime soon.

“Regardless if he’s hitting his shot or not, he can really help us on the defensive end and on the glass.

I think he’ll loosen up from the perimeter if he gets some easy stuff i’s just tonight that didn’t happen.” said Goorjian