BIO: Deng Deng was born in South Sudan

NBL EXPERIENCE

Deng Deng made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 26 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.

As a rookie, Deng averaged 2.2 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.2 assists with the Kings as they finished in third place (18-10).

ILLAWARRA HAWKS
2020/21
In April 2020, the Hawks’ season began with the team falling into voluntary administration, with creditors voting to liquidate the Hawks one month later. The NBL, however, vowed to keep the club alive, and on 17 June 2020, the NBL announced that Dorry Kordahi, Bryan Colangelo and Michael Proctor had been awarded the license for the club.

Under the agreement with the new ownership, the team has renamed The Hawks in a effort to broaden the team’s appeal in New South Wales and shortly after, it was announced the team had added Brian Goorjian as its head coach.

With all players having to renew their contracts with the new ownership, Sam Froling and Emmett Naar were the only players from the previous season’s full-time roster to return as the new ownership looked to build a almost entirely new roster. This began with the signing of Deng Adel, who had just finished a short stint with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and Cam Bairstow, who had just returned to Australia after spending a season in Lithuania which was cut short due to COVID-19, who were both part of the Australian Boomers national squad. Justinian Jessup, who had signed a Next Star deal with the NBL, was also added to the roster and was placed in Illawarra on a two-year contract, while imports Tyler Harvey and Justin Simon were also brought in to be the focal points of the team’s offence and defence respectively.

The Hawk’s season began with plenty of off-court drama. First, it was the omission of AJ Ogilvy and Tim Coenraad, both fan-favourite players and key players from last season. As a result of injuries, both players were later added to the squad as injury replacements.

Next was the outpouring of fans calling for the return of ‘Illawarra’ to the team’s name, something which was front page news in Wollongong, clearly outweighing the Hawk’s 4-0 start to the season.

In early February, after a campaign by the new ownership group where more membership numbers and corporate support contributed, the NBL reinstated the Illawarra name ahead of the club’s first home game.

While the Hawks fought for, and retained their name, they faced several further challenges, the first being Bairstow, who after missing nine games with a minor hip issue was ruled out for the rest of the season and Daniel Grida, who ruptured the ACL in his right knee whilst playing in the state league. Add to that the struggles of Adel (5.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2 assists), who was never able to make a impact in the NBL, requested a release from his contract mid-way through the season, in a attempt to prevent any harm to his future NBA chances.

From round 16, the Hawks took flight and won eight of their last 10 matches to cement a spot in the finals, qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2017.

Scoring didn’t come easy to the Hawks, who fell from averaging 90.5 over the first 10 games to finishing with the league’s lowest points average in the league with 81.5. Only four Hawks players averaged points in the double-digits, Tyler Harvey (20 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.4 steals), Justinian Jessup (13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.2 steals), Cam Bairstow (11.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) and Sam Froling (11.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks). The Hawks also had the worst field goal percentage of the league, sitting at 42.5 percent on the season (47.8 percent from the two-point range and 33.2 percent from deep). Illawarra’s free throw shooting also came in at 69.4 percent.

Despite the challenges, Illawarra didn’t fall below fifth place for the entire season and eventually finished third (20-16).

The club powered through and made their first finals series in four years, a semi finals series against defending champions Perth. In four regular-season meetings against the Wildcats this season, the Hawks won one game – in Round 21 by two points. Otherwise, it was double-digit margins the way of Perth. Illawarra took Game 1 of the series by two points again, but unfortunately for the club, it would lose Game 2 and 3, each by eight-point margins, to end their playoff campaign.

Deng would earn his way into being a regular rotation player for the Hawks, appearing in 39 games and averaging 6.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 15 minutes of court time. Deng was also involved in a incident with Perth Wildcats forward Vic Law when the pumped-up pair came together in a heated exchange, to which Law leant into Deng, who then dropped to the floor in a attempted to earn the referee’s whistle in humerous fashion.

Plenty happening in The Jungle ????
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– Watch #NBL22 live on @ESPNAusNZ + @kayosports ???? pic.twitter.com/aURlMOjRfb

— The NBL (@NBL) December 17, 2021

Both players received technical fouls and the incident was reported to the NBL tribunal. Law received a $1,000 fine for his role in the confrontation.

BRISBANE BULLETS
2021/22
Coming off the back of finishing sixth last season, it was announced that Andrej Lemanis was leaving the side after five years as head coach. After considering assistant coach and former Bullets player CJ Bruton for the role, they instead brought in former Sydney Kings assistant James Duncan as the team’s new head coach.

The Bullets were also forced to re-tool their roster, making several changes to key personnel. While import Lamar Patterson returned, the Bullets lost Vic Law to Perth, and with BJ Johnson signing a NBA deal with Orlando, they were unable to retain him either. Local bigs Matt Hodgson (to Perth), Harry Froling (to Illawarra) and development player Callum Dalton (to Melbourne) all headed elsewhere, looking for better opportunities.

Brisbane re-signed Tyrell Harrison (two-year deal) and Jason Cadee (two-year deal) and filled the remaining gaps with international flavour, signing Chuanxing Liu (China), Jack Salt (New Zealand), Deng Deng (South Sudan), Next Star Tom Digbeu (France) and import Robert Franks (USA).

In the opening game of the season, the Bullets fell short against the JackJumpers in Tasmania (74-83). While the overtime loss didn’t end the team’s season, it set the tone for the Bullets, who saw single-digit losses pile up against the league’s top team’s all season.

As the competition hit the halfway mark, Brisbane’s record was 5-9, and with injuries to Harrison (elbow) and star guard Nathan Sobey (knee), Brisbane struggled to find any rhythm during the second half of the season with the duo missing 11 and 16 games respectively.

Robert Franks (18.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) was the Bullets high scorer in 13 games, and leading vote getter for the Leroy Loggins MVP Award (Club MVP). While leading the team in scoring, he shot 50% from the field and 76% from the free-throw line and finished fifth in the league for points per game.

Patterson (16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.0 steals), Sobey (16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists), and Jason Cadee (10.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists) were the only other players scoring in double figures.

This season new head coach James Duncan wanted the Bullets to be better defensively, at the start of the season the 44-year-old would have been impressed with how his team was playing defensively. However, Brisbane wasn’t able to maintain it, and its defence fluctuated throughout the year, it finished the year as the worst defensive team, conceding 89.3 points per game and finishing first for turnovers, averaging 14.6 per game.

Although the Bullets did show small glimpses of potential under the reigns of new coach Duncan, Brisbane would miss the finals for the third straight year, finishing in eighth place (10-18). Deng would appear in all 28 games for the Bullets, averaging 6.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.8 assists.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS
2022/23
After two straight seasons of reaching the NBL semi finals, head coach Brian Goorjian would exit the Hawks, signing a deal to coach the Bay Area Dragons in the newly established East Asia Super League. Goorjian’s longtime assistant Jacob Jackomas would be elevated in the role of the head coach and look to continue the success of the prior two seasons. However, this wasn’t to be, as Illawarra would see a mass exodus of talent after the coaching change, retaining only Tyler Harvey and Sam Froling from the Hawk’s main rotation. Duop Reath (to Lebanon) and Justinian Jessup (to Spain) heading overseas, Antonius Cleveland (to Adelaide), Xavier Rathan-Mayes (to Melbourne), Harry Froling (to Brisbane) signing with other NBL team’s and the retirement of longtime Hawk, AJ Ogilvy.

Illawarra would replace the outgoing talent with locals Deng (via Brisbane), Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (via Perth) and Mangok Mathiang, who had been playing in the NBL1 state competition as he recovered from a long-term injury before finalising the roster with imports Justin Robinson and George King.

The Hawks would split their opening games, losing to rivals Sydney (97–106) and then defeating South East Melbourne (85–72) behind a strong showing from Tyler Harvey (22 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists). The Hawks would then embark on a injury-riddled season which would see Justin Robinson require surgery on a meniscus tear in his knee, suffered in the Hawks opening game. Kevin White (via Perth) was brought in as a short-term injury replacement. Nine games later, Illawarra also made the decision to release George King (10.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.9 assists), who had struggled to overcome a persistent lower leg injury.

Former New Zealand guard Peyton Siva (9.3 points, 6.3 assists and 1.6 steals) would be brought in as a replacement for import Justin Robinson but managed only 11 games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury against Adelaide, adding further salt into the wounds for the struggling Hawks.

By mid November, the Hawks still hadn’t won another game (1-9), and after playing through the first third of the season relying on Lachie Dent (4.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists), Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (4.9 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) and injury replacement player Davo Hickey (4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.0 steals). Shortly after, former Perth Wildcats import Michael Frazier II was signed to help cover the load.

In December, the Hawks were able to snap their nine-game losing streak and defeat Melbourne (93-79), who entered the game on a 0-4 losing streak. Sam Froling (29 points) dominated for the Hawks, scoring 16 in the first quarter at a efficient 64% from the field. Michael Frazier II (16 points) and Tyler Harvey (15 points) also played key roles in the win.

After appearing in 8 games, Frazier suffered a broken arm during a game against Adelaide, after colliding with two 36ers players and miss the remainder of the season. Frazier (17.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists) was the Hawk’s highest-scoring player at the time.

It wasn’t until the third last game of the season that Illawarra registered another win, knocking off New Zealand in a nail-biter (78–76). A final minute Tom Abercrombie steal and dunk put the Breakers up with just seconds remaining, but a Tyler Harvey (25 points and 3 steals) match-winning heave sealed the win and produced one team’s highest moments of the season.

Illawarra (3-25) would finish the year with the worst record in club history. Tyler Harvey (18.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.5 steals) led the team in scoring, Sam Froling (14 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists) won the Hawk’s MVP award, while Deng delivered the best season of his career to date, averaging 8.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists 1.1 steals while playing in all 28 games for the Hawks. Deng’s best game coming in a loss to Adelaide (80-90) where he recorded a season high 18 points as well as 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Deng Deng played four seasons across three NBL teams. This included the Sydney Kings, Brisbane Bullets and Illawarra Hawks. He averaged 6.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 114 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (798 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.