The Illawarra Hawks knew Makur Maker would help them when they brought him in, but perhaps not to the degree that he could be the man to lead their season resurrection with both coach Justin Tatum and co-captain Tyler Harvey trumpeting his influence.
Maker joined the Hawks following the departure of import Darius Mays and when Mason Peatling's season ended due to undergoing foot surgery, but he made an impact first up and that has only continued.
Before Thursday night's 107-95 win in Cairns, he was already averaging 15.7 points and 5.9 rebounds, and then he went up a gear against the Taipans with 24 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks on 9/14 shooting.
That was on the back of 21 points and five rebounds in Saturday night's win in Perth with him instrumental in the Hawks making it consecutive wins for the first time in NBL27 to improve to 4-8 ahead of Saturday night's trip to Adelaide.
Coach Tatum made it clear what an impact Maker is having on his team.
"Yeah, that's a bad man right there," Tatum said.
"He had a really good game and he's a difference maker for us. He's blocking shots, he's rebounding the ball and the capability of him making shots and making passes is unbelievable.
"We just want to keep that going and keep building his confidence up, and everybody else will just come along."
It hadn't quite been the same Tyler Harvey so far in NBL27 as he's been throughout his now 206-game career with the Hawks, but he was back to his usual lethal shooting self on Thursday night.
He scored 19 points on 5/8 three-point shooting, but even he couldn’t be more impressed with Maker's impact, even if he's softly spoken.
"He just goes about his business silently and he's just a cold killer," Harvey said.
"You look up and he has 25 points, and you're just like, yeah, just get this man this ball.
"He's definitely been a difference maker and if we get beat driving the lanes, he's there to wall up and have our back. He's definitely been a great addition to this team and he's been getting better every game."
The back court that Harvey has been part of hasn’t been quite clicking as it was capable of so far this season with he, Milton Doyle and Davo Hickey combining for just 32.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 12.3 assists a game.
But that was up to 49 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in Cairns with Hickey liking the way things are starting together not only with that back court trio, but he whole group.
"What's working? I think we have a lot of threats on the court and when you have myself, Davo and Milton being a threat, but you also have to worry about Kelan (Martin), MK, Sam (Froling), Swak (Wani Swaka Lo Buluk), and whoever's in the game. it's tough.
"When we're playing unselfish basketball like we are, it's tough for teams to figure out who they're trying to stop. So, us three being aggressive and finding our teammates is a good recipe."
Right throughout a challenging start to the season where the Hawks ended up being 2-8 before these two road wins in Perth and Cairns, coach Tatum had remained fully confident in his playing group.
The last two matches have shown why and Harvey was part of the leadership group within the squad that never lost faith either, but there's no time to let up just yet given they are still playing catch up at 4-8 heading to Adelaide on Saturday night.
"As a team and as a coaching staff, you can't lose faith because once you lose that, then what are you playing for?" Harvey said.
"So yes, it sucks losing those games early on, but you also have the time to look at yourself in the mirror, look at your teammates, look at your coaches, have meetings with each other and figure out how you want to get this season to go.
"You're going to take losses, but the way we were losing just wasn't Hawks basketball and we had to find a way to get back to trusting each other, figuring out offensively and defensively, and it'll come together after that.
"We've got champions on this team that want to figure it out, and when we do, we're a great team."