THE National Basketball League (NBL) has returned to its regular round format, after a bumper amount of action over the Christmas and New Year period.

Starting on Wednesday and concluding on Sunday, there are some big matchups in Round 15 as the season edges closer to conclusion, with the race for spots in the postseason still well and truly open.

There have already been a pair of upsets to start the week’s action, with the Brisbane Bullets snagging a thrilling win over the Tasmania JackJumpers on Wednesday night, before the Adelaide 36ers felled the Sydney Kings.

With that in mind, Rookie Me Central will continue its weekly series of highlighting some key players worth keeping an eye on this weekend.

Sam Froling – Illawarra Hawks

The Hawks have been on some sort of a tear lately, completely turning their season around and storming into contention for a postseason appearance.

The team is now 5-2 under interim coach Justin Tatum, and one of the most obvious improvements has been the implementation of Froling into the team’s offensive sets.

His touches per game have gone through the roof, and as a result he has put together multiple 20-point performances in the team’s winning stretch.

Froling’s Hawks take on the JackJumpers on Friday night, and Tasmania has struggled with opposition bigs in the past, so he could be in for a massive outing.

Rocco Zikarsky – Brisbane Bullets

The cult hero has stormed onto the NBL scene, and is putting together some excellent outings throughout his first season in the competition.

At 17 years old, the big man still has a long ways to go in terms of development, but the glimpses of brilliance are beginning to become more frequent.

In the win over the Bullets last week, Zikarsky had four blocks, and showed his hand at protecting the rim again against the JackJumpers on Wednesday night, swatting an attempted dunk from Milton Doyle.

He will face off against the offensive juggernaut side that is the Hawks on Sunday, and will need his shot blocking ability to be present once again.

Jonah Bolden – Sydney Kings

The world has turned upside down for the reigning champions, who have slid from second to fourth in seemingly no time at all.

The Kings have experienced quite the form slump of late, losing eight of their last 11 games, with a number of players underperforming.

One of them has been Bolden, who has struggled with accuracy during the team’s down patch. In the loss against the 36ers on Thursday night, he made just one shot on 10 attempts off the bench, and had minimal impact in the game.

Bolden has proven himself as an elite big in the past, and is capable of turning things around, which could help Sydney get things back on track, but he will need to do it sooner rather than later.