THE road ahead for Nathan Jawai is as pitted as the corrugated dirt road leading to his Cape York community of Bamaga.
The former Cairns Taipans MVP has returned home from his debut season with the Toronto Raptors well aware there is plenty of work to do if he is to have a future in the NBA.
Jawai played six games with the Raptors last season, eventually making his debut on January 21 against the Detroit Pistons after being banned from all activity during the pre-season when an irregularity was picked up during routine cardiac testing.
His fitness waned as he spent four months on the sidelines under orders to keep his heart rate below 100 beats per minute.
"I’m not going to say it was a heart problem – because it wasn’t a problem – but my heart thing, it set me back," Jawai told The Cairns Post.
"I sat out for four months, I couldn’t do anything, so it was a bit hard.
"But I can’t do anything about it, things happen for a reason and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
"I’ve just got to go back and work hard."
Jawai knows there’s plenty of hard work ahead but believes he’s capable of forcing his way on to the court next season.
"I want to be there where I get the opportunity to play a full 20 minutes or 10 minutes, even five minutes, I want a straight five minutes," he said.
"But I have a lot of work in front of me, I’m not ashamed to tell you that.
"I need to develop some more."
Jawai in the news:
- June 8: Hoop Dreaming star
- May 26: Pumped to flex muscle
- February 20: First NBA points
- January 23: NBA debut
- January 8: Quest for fitness
- 2008: Bamaga to the big time
The hectic NBA schedule means there is little time for full-court scrimmaging during the season and Jawai believes he will be much better with a full pre-season under his belt.
"Give me a good pre-season, I believe in myself," he said.
"If I can’t make it there, I’ll always come back here, or go back and try to make it (in the US) again.
"That doesn’t mean definitely I’ll get another contract, but we’ll see.
"Aaron (Taipans coach Aaron Fearne) said to me I haven’t made it until I sign my second contract.
"I may be in the NBA now but I haven’t made it, that’s my attitude right now."
Fearne has spent most of the past year with Jawai, accompanying him to camps and workouts throughout the US in the lead-up to last June’s NBA draft, then heading to Canada with him and mentoring him in his first year in the league.
But with Fearne named the Cairns Taipans’ head coach for the new NBL season, Jawai is now in charge of his own
destiny.
"Aaron was guiding me through my ups and downs that I had, he’s not there now to coach me, so I’ve got to be more professional," Jawai said.
"I’ll still communicate with him – I still communicate with him right now.
"He’s worked me out a few times (since Jawai’s return to Cairns), he knows what I’m like as a person, he knows how to work me out, he’s the one that gets me motivated.
"We’ve gone in different directions but still I come back here and I still listen to him.
"It’s a big year for me and I’m looking forward to it.
"It’s either make it or break it but then again, I have other options."
Jawai heads into camp with the Boomers on Friday, something he is looking forward to on many levels.
Proud to be named in the Australian squad and looking forward to working with new coach Brett Brown, Jawai is also keen to mentor Cairns teammate Kerry Williams who will attend his first camp.
"I would love to play in the first camp because Kerry’s there," Jawai said.
"I want to be able to be there for him and support him because I’ve been through the same stuff he’s been through.
"I want to be there to guide him through it."
The Boomers have a series of camps and tours which Jawai is keen to attend in the coming months.
He is unsure if he will complete the whole program given the Raptors’ NBA summer league commitments.
One player unlikely to be in the Boomers camp is fellow Torres Strait Islander Patrick Mills, a candidate in the NBA draft later this month.
"I’m so proud of him because I’ve seen him go from where he was nothing to right now," Jawai said of Mills, his cousin and teammate at the Australian Institute of Sport.
"I want him to go first round (in the draft) and I think he will because of his work ethic, he’s committed himself.
"I may have been the first indigenous (Australian) to play in the NBA but if he makes the first round, he’ll be the first indigenous to get drafted in the first round.
"So it’s special as well."
Jawai has been a regular at Cairns Marlins games since his return to Cairns and says he will always support his region.
He has overcome the shyness that was evident when he arrived in Cairns from Bamaga more than six years ago and is now comfortable with being recognised in public.
"When I played for the Taipans I used to want to hide," he said of the attention.
But things have changed now and Jawai is comfortable with being a drawcard for hoardes of youngsters at the Bendigo Bank Basketball Centre.
Pictures: Jawai on Cairns court
"I come back here, I’ve gone through so much. I just want to come back and make my community good.
"Coming home, seeing all the little kids, it doesn’t bother me any more.
"It’s my community. Cairns is my place now, and Bamaga."
