One was the best and the other was "soft" but in a cruel twist neither of the basketball imports from last season will be returning to roost with the Hawks next year.
HBS Bank Hawks coach Tab Baldwin says signing up Napier-based, American-born Kareem Johnson means the matrix for picking another import has changed, marginalising last season's outstanding US import Brian Greene and Serb import Darko Cohadarevic.
"He [Cohadarevic] wasn't the right fit for our team," says Baldwin as the Hawks put their feelers out in the next few days to secure a big rig-type of import to complement Johnson.
"We needed a guy who was playing tougher," the former Tall Blacks coach says of Cohadarevic based in Macedonia.
The 27-year-old, 2.06m tall forward made all the right noises when he arrived here this year but didn't deliver as the Paora Winitana-captained Hawks failed to make the cut for the playoffs in an abysmal Bartercard National Basketball League (NBL) season.
"We were not happy with the quality of his character. It didn't come out early [in the season], it came out late," Baldwin says of Cohadarevic, scrutinising him "more as a person than a player".
"Even though he's a good player he won't find a job here again," he says.
Eight rounds into the NBL last season, Cohadarevic was grappling with his demons in coming to terms with how different things were in New Zealand when compared with the European leagues.
He alluded to "dirty" play, singling out the brand of basketball Dillon Boucher brought as player/co-coach of the Wellington Saints.
"Dillon is a dirty player and he just kept pushing Brian [Greene] in the back," Cohadarevic had said of the retired New Zealand Breakers forward who claimed a three-peat of Australian National Basketball League titles earlier this year.
Greene was banished from the court after he threw a ball at Boucher in the last quarter during the Hawks' losing NBL encounter against the Pero Cameron-coached Saints in the capital city. The referees sent Boucher to the bench because he had grabbed Greene's throat in retaliation, prompting players from both camps to become embroiled in a scuffle before the game resumed.
"There's an unwritten rule that you don't play like that. If a team's better then they just deserve to win, so you don't play dirty like that," Cohadarevic had claimed.
The Serb import was reduced to a "bricklayer", failing to find much traction with the rim and stumbling into foul trouble with some consistency early in the season.
Greene, on the other hand, has maintained his envious double-doubles with points and invaluable possession off the glass.
Cohadarevic had echoed the sentiments of Baldwin, saying the refereeing standards here were substandard. Baldwin served a suspension for venting his spleen in a loss to Taranaki in New Plymouth.
Sporting a bloody nose against the Otago Nuggets, Cohadarevic accepted he had to make some adjustments to adapt but was adamant those tweaks wouldn't evolve to dirty play in the physicality stakes.
Former Hawks player/coach Paul Henare led the Southland Sharks to a historic maiden NBL title this year in his first season at the helm after abruptly leaving Hawke's Bay following a change of franchise ownership.
The new franchise offered Johnson a contract last season but it became increasingly obvious the immigration authorities weren't in a hurry to stamp the 32-year-old's application for New Zealand citizenship.
Baldwin says the franchise also realised keeping him on the payroll was becoming a costly exercise although Johnson, whose wife Lucia Sunseri is a Kiwi, kept on training with the Hawks several weeks into the NBL season.
He describes Johnson's citizenship process as "fluid".
"It's not something the organisation [franchise] or Kareem, for that matter, can give a definitive answer on because it is not in our hands."
The forward only got his permanent residency in 2012 and has been banking on an application of "exception" to be granted a citizenship but the "if" and "when" matters are strictly in the hands of the immigration department.
He suspects a permanent resident is required to be living in New Zealand for at least five years before they become eligible for citizenship.
"It's in the hands of the Government ... and they don't answer to anyone so it's a wait-and-see scenario."
Baldwin says if Johnson's citizenship is approved early, especially before the next NBL season tips off in April, it'll mean it'll open the way for the return of US slasher Greene.
"Brain would love to return and we'd love to have him back but he's potentially not the right guy for us."
Baldwin, who started the season on the concept of "pressure basketball", says small forward Greene played the season out of position as a power forward.
Fans may miss his exciting brand of basketball but they will all, ultimately, want wins.