BIO: Dene MacDonald was born in Wollongong (NSW) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Illawarra basketball program. During his time in the NBL he was known as a ever reliable player for the Hawks for nine seasons who was a solid three-point shooter while more often than not, found himself defending the oppositions top frontcourt players.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Dene MacDonald made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 17 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

In 1989, MacDonald averaged 3 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists as the Hawks finished with a record of 7-17 during the regular season.

1990
In 1990, MacDonald averaged 2.3 points and 1 rebounds, and helped guide the Hawks to a eighth place finish in the regular season with a 13-13 record.

1991
The 1991 season saw MacDonald average 3.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists during a season where the Hawks struggled against the competition.

On the 27th of July, 1991 MacDonald was a part of the highest scoring game in NBL history when the Illawarra Hawks lost to the Melbourne Tigers 186-158 in a game where a total of 344 points were scored. MacDonald contributed 13 points himself and added 6 rebounds, and 2 assists to the stat sheet as well. Remarkably the Hawks shot 76% from the field, which remains the highest shooting percentage ever recorded by a team in a losing effort.

The Hawks managed only six wins this season, finishing with a 6-20 record.

1992
During the 1992 season, MacDonald averaged 3.2 points, 3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists and helped the Hawks finish with a record of 13-11 and ended the regular season in eighth place.

1993
During the 1993 season, MacDonald averaged 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists and was a part of the Hawks squad which finished in sixth place with a record of 15-11.

1994
In 1994, MacDonald averaged 5.9 points and 4 rebounds, and helped guide the Hawks to a tenth place finish in the regular season with a 13-13 record.

1995
After three consecutive years of being eliminated in the first round of the NBL playoffs, head coach Alan Black knew his job was on the line if the team was unable to advance past the Quarterfinals. Black was able to re-sign star import Melvin Thomas and have veterans Chuck Harmison, Mick Corkeron and Dene MacDonald return but lost Butch Hays and Craig Adams, who both signed with Newcastle. Black bolstered his roster by replacing Hays with pass-first point guard Andre LaFleur, who had connected on more assists than any other player in the league over the prior three seasons, former Perth Wildcats star Kendal Pinder, young talent Glen Saville and Illawarra junior Terry Johnson.

Five games into the season, offcourt issues arose surrounding Pinder (9.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists), who was released from the team after facing criminal charges. However, with his absence and injuries to Mick Corkeron (9.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.7 assists), the Hawks witnessed the explosion of young point guard Terry Johnson. Johnson, who had failed to make his with the Giants two years earlier. Off court issues saw the Giants question Johnson’s commitment to the sport which resulted in him spending a year playing with Cairns in the state league. Johnson (11.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists) respnded by tripling his numbers from 1993 to finish as the competition’s leading three point shooter at 48 percent (34 of 71) and runner-up to Tonny Jensen (Newcastle) for the Most Improved Player award.

Melvin Thomas led the team in almost every category, posting 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.8 blocks and formed quite the duo with LaFleur, who finished with averages of 21.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.9 steals. MacDonald finished the season with averages of 5.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists.

Illawarra (14-12) finished seventh and faced off against second-placed South East Melbourne in the Quarterfinals. In game one, the Hawks delivered a upset, defeating the Magic behind a 29 point outburst from 37 year old veteran Chuck Harmison (12.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists). The Hawk’s flying start was stemmed once the series moved to Melbourne. There, the Magic claimed victory in both games two (92-89) and three (93-75) to deliver a fourth straight Quarterfinals exit for Illawarra in as many years.

1996
In 1996, the Hawks lost head coach Alan Black and Melvin Thomas, their leading scorer and rebounder from the past four seasons to the deeper wallets of rivals Sydney. Although many felt the void left by Thomas would be a difficult one to replace, new import Marcus Timmons surprised everyone by being one of the premier forwards in the competition. He led the team in almost every category, leading the team in points (21.9 ppg), rebounds, (12.3 rpg), steals (2.3 spg) and blocks (1.0 bpg). His import partner Andre LaFleur however started to show signs of slowing down, his numbers dropping to 18.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game.

Under new head coach Brendan Joyce, The Hawks would struggle to find wins during the year and finished in 10th place with a record of 9-17.

MacDonald would finish the year with 4.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.

1997

After another season missing out on the NBL playoffs in 1996, the Hawks were unable to retain their scoring and rebounding leader Marcus Timmons (who would end up leading the Melbourne Tigers to the championship that season) and were forced to move into a rebuilding phase for this season. The Hawks rebuilding would focus on the continued development of Hawks big man Matt Zauner, who was named team captain at the start of the season, and young stars Glen Saville and Mat Campbell. The Hawks chose not to re-sign 31-year-old Andre LaFleur and signed two young imports in guard Bryan Edwards and big man Clayton Ritter to replace the scoring and rebounding of Timmons. The team also added SEABL stawart Eric Cooks who had played under head coach Brendan Joyce during his time with the Ballarat Miners in state league competition, a team which had also included both Saville and Campbell.

MacDonald contributed 1.1 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.8 assists during the 1997 season but with Edwards not being the fit needed at point guard and off-court issues between Zauner and Joyce stemming from a contract dispute the Hawks struggled. Edwards was replaced by Dylan Rigdon mid-season and the Hawks (7-23) failed to make the playoffs yet again.

Dene MacDonald played nine seasons the Illawarra Hawks. He averaged 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 194 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (817 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.