Salt hungry for season with Hawke's Bay Hawks

Jack Salt will play for the Taylor Hawks in the 2022 National Basketball League. Photo Getty

By Thomas Airey

A big signing in every sense of the word, 210cm Tall Black centre Jack Salt will play for the Taylor Hawks in the 2022 National Basketball League.

The 26-year old has followed his former coach Mick Downer north to Hawke's Bay from the Canterbury Rams, where he averaged 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds in nine games while working his way back from a serious knee injury.

Salt is currently playing for the Brisbane Bullets in the Australian NBL where he has struggled for consistent game time despite being fully healthy for the first time since 2019.

He said he is hungry to play a huge role for the Hawks, who he will join shortly after the season commences once his stint in Australia is over.

Salt's signature was highly sought after and he said there were two teams he was closely considering joining before opting for Hawke's Bay.

"The relationship that I have with Mick, and the team that he was building, just ticked the most boxes," he said.

"I went with my gut and I'm very confident in that decision now."

Salt will likely anchor a starting line-up containing four of Jarrod Kenny, Derone Raukawa, Ethan Rusbatch, Hyrum Harris and Jordan Hunt.

He said he is confident the team can forge the NBL's best defence, given their personnel and the mentality Downer will instil.

Salt's signature was highly sought after and he said there were two teams he was closely considering joining before opting for Hawke's Bay. Photo Getty

"I know can talk, I know I bring physicality, I know I can anchor a defence," Salt said.

"For me to come in there, with so many offensive weapons, and do my job, I think we're going to be a very solid unit."

Salt led the NBL with four offensive rebounds per game last year and he said he is happy to live off scraps when the Hawks have the ball.

"I'm very comfortable fitting in with high-level players," he said.

"I know what my talents are, I know what I'm good at. I'm fine with doing that for any team, especially this team when I've got a coach like Mick that I trust, and players that are very elite and talented offensively."

Born in London, Salt grew up in Auckland where he made the Tall Blacks and New Zealand Breakers rosters while still at basketball powerhouse Westlake Boys' High School.

He then played for the University of Virginia Cavaliers from 2015 to 2019 and became the only New Zealander to ever win an NCAA Championship at the end of his US college career.

Salt played for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Summer League after that and was signed to his first professional contract with Polish club Trefl Sopot.

A six-month bout with glandular fever meant he never made it to Poland and a knee injury before the Rams' 2020 NBL Showdown campaign meant Salt went almost two years without seeing the court.