Hawks complete dramatic Tatum turnaround

The Tatum turnaround is complete in Illawarra. Last night’s victory over the Perth Wildcats established the Hawks’ status as a top-six side going into the NBL24 Finals – but they’re not done yet.

Tatum took the reins of the Hawks when they were languishing in the depths of the ladder with a 2-7 record. Since taking over he’s led the side to 12 wins from 18 games.

Illawarra hasn’t just scraped into the top six either. Although they have one game remaining in the regular season they currently sit fourth, and given the win/loss records and percentages of the teams around them, that’s likely where they will finish.

The Hawks will face Melbourne on Sunday afternoon, and Tatum says victory over the ladder-leaders is the next target in his sights.

“Out goal is to finish with a winning season,” Tatum said post-game. “That’s what I told the guys before we broke out of the locker room.”

“Melbourne is a team that has had our number, we have not beaten everybody in the league and Melbourne is one team we haven’t had the chance to play collectively under my helm, and we want to find a way to win that game.

“We want to win because we want to have a winning season in 23-24. That’s our finishing goal for the regular season.

“I don’t think I’d have been saying we could be in this spot when I was asked to take over by the management in late November, but before the season started I had aspirations for this team playing this well or having some success – but I never knew what it would be.

“Being here right now and being part of it and leading these guys into the Playoffs is an unbelievable season.”

Tyler Harvey has been a constant for Illawarra in the club’s ups and downs over the past four seasons.

He was a key cog in the Hawks teams that made it to the semi-finals under Brian Goorjian, and was the linchpin and leader under the teams that struggled with form and fitness under Jacob Jackomas.

His role has changed slightly under Tatum, but he’s still a crucial offensive weapon for the reborn side, and he was once again a strong contributor with 16 points in Thursday’s win over Perth.

Harvey has cited Tatum’s belief in the playing group as a decisive factor in the club’s rise over the course of the season.

“From the first day ‘JT’ took over he was just honest with us, he talked about the situation we were in, and he always had that belief in us and we felt that as players,” Harvey said.

“That’s all you can want, for your head coach to have belief in you as a player and that gives us the free reign to make those decisions out there on the court.

“It’s been a blast playing for him, for me this is my fourth year here in the ‘Gong and it’s my last year on contract, but to share it with ‘JT’ these last however many games we’ve had with him is unbelievable.

“It does feel good to solidify ourselves in that four but we still have work to do. We can’t be satisfied with just being in the Playoffs, we have bigger goals. ‘JT’ tells us every day we have to stay locked in, take it one game at a time, and let’s see where that takes us.”

Illawarra will close out its regular season against Melbourne United on Sunday at 2pm AEDT. The game will be broadcast live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play.