NATIONAL Basketball League rookie of the year Nathan Jawai has flagged his intention to officially enter the NBA draft in June, engaging an agent and heading to the US in late May for workouts with interested teams.

The Bamaga behemoth was revealed yesterday as a unanimous choice for rookie of the year after gaining the vote from every rival head coach, assistant coach and captain in the league, finishing with a maximum 105 votes.

While there have been unanimous rookie choices before, the quality of rookies entering the NBL this season was the highest in years, with players such as Perth’s Alex Loughton (second with 58 votes), Brisbane’s Craig Bradshaw (third with 29 votes) and West Sydney’s Matt Knight among the contenders.

Jawai finished his first season among the league leaders in
rebounds, blocks, average points and shooting percentage to become a raging favourite for the award.

Along with Stephen Black, he was one of the Taipans’ best and most consistent players in 2007-08 but the Taipans may have seen the last of the 21-year-old, who graduated through the club’s academy program to become one of the NBL’s stars in his first season.

Jawai, who was in Bamaga when news of his award broke, said being named rookie of the year was a great honour and something he would always treasure.

"I have enjoyed every minute of my first year in the league, we have so much young talent coming through in Australia and the NBL is such a strong league," he said.

"I can see more and more players getting the chance at playing in the NBA in future.

"My year in the league has been especially helpful to me in my dream of playing in the NBA and I am looking forward to taking that next step but whatever way it goes I will always be grateful for my year in the NBL."

Taipans coach Alan Black said the win was tremendous for Jawai and well deserved.

Black was well aware of Jawai’s natural talent when he signed for the Taipans but admitted yesterday he was not sure it would translate immediately.

"I thought he would struggle, to tell you the truth," Black said yesterday.

While Jawai had great size and was quick, Black felt he may not yet be able to handle his body and could attract charge calls.

"But as soon as he started to train, I saw he had body balance," Black said.

"I think there’s very few players that have that raw speed, good hands, good feet, that combination."

Taipans assistant coach Aaron Fearne, who guided Jawai through the club’s Academy program and will continue to work with him in the lead-up to the NBA draft said Jawai had done well to deal with the pressure that built through the season.

"He had some bumps in the road but (even the) top players do that," Fearne said.

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