The Ballarat Miners have strengthened its depth, signing Illawarra Hawks guard Emmett Naar for the remainder of the NBL1 South season.
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Naar is fresh from an NBL finals campaign with the Hawks, playing under current Australian Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian.
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He averaged four points and and nearly three assists a game off the bench as the Hawks lost a semi-final series to Perth Wildcats 2-1.
Naar represented Australia at the 2013 under-19 World Championships, was a scholarship holder at the AIS and played college basketball for Saint Mary's.
The 27-year-old said he's excited to get started with the group.
"Really looking forward to getting to work with the team," he said.
"Been here in Ballarat a few times and played here, it's a great town and seems like (they) love basketball out here, so I'm really excited."
It was a last-minute decision to sign with the Miners, lockdown in Wollongong helping Naar lean towards coming to Victoria.
"It was a bit out of the blue. My parents live in Tasmania now so I was visiting them on a break expecting to go back to Wollongong," he said.
"The lockdown's happened there and Choc (Brendan Joyce) gave me a call and asked if I was interested in playing.
"When he called me it sort of made sense, I thought that would be a good thing to do rather than go back to lockdown, I can play for a good team and get experience playing here in the off-season."
With Sam Short claiming the starting point guard position for the last couple of seasons, the inclusion of Naar strengthens the Miners back court and gives the side some flexibility on both ends.
Naar wants to slot into a line-up that has hit some strong form as of late and contribute any way he can.
"I'm not expecting to go out and play a full game on Saturday night," he said.
"I think it will just sort of evolve as we fit together, the guys have won three games in a row, they've got a good thing going so my job's just sort of to keep that and not interrupt the flow."
Miners head coach Brendan Joyce said Naar's signing gives him some options in running different line-ups.
"It just gives us that depth, he can play one he can play two," he said.
"We're a long team, with Shorty (Sam Short), Matty (Matt Kenyon) and Davo (William Hickey), they're quite long guards, so I can move people around.
"I've actually played Matty Kenyon in the four spot and that's been really effective at times."
Naar is a welcomed inclusion to the Miners line-up as they welcome 11th placed Knox to the Ballarat Sports and Events Centre on Saturday night from 8pm.
The Raiders are 5-4 and come into the game in great touch, winners of three straight games.
The Miners have climbed to ninth on the ladder with a 6-5 record after three straight wins of their own, including their first home win over Nunawading in round 11.
Joyce said the chemistry in his side has been improving each week.
"We're coming off a couple of good wins and I think we're starting to play good basketball," he said.
"This is a new group, a young group. I always felt it would be around nine or 10 games it would take for us to get going as a group."
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