Hawks will change "drastically and swiftly", vows Tatum

Illawarra Hawks coach Justin Tatum has seen his side slump to a winless start to NBL27, but after Sunday's 21-point loss to the Sydney Kings, the championship-winning mentor is adamant the tide is about to turn.

Tatum couldn't fault the fight his undermanned Hawks showed, and he believes that once his full group is together, they'll be a very different proposition.

Coming off the championship triumph of NBL25, last season never got off the ground for Tatum and his Hawks, who managed just 13 wins, and the new campaign has started in similar fashion.

Illawarra has lost all three of their games so far, each on the road, against the New Zealand Breakers, Brisbane Bullets and the Kings. In that time they have parted ways with import forward Darius Days and are now without the injured pair of Todd Blanchfield (thumb) and Mason Peatling (foot).

The Hawks trailed by as many as 29 points against Sydney, Milton Doyle fouled out after a technical with almost 17 minutes left, and Tatum was hit with a technical of his own soon after.

But the coach still liked what he saw. His side won the first and fourth quarters, outscoring the Kings 56-54 across those two periods.

"My guys gave a lot of effort and I'm very proud of them," Tatum said.

"We're undermanned with guys hurt and coming off a back-to-back, and we're a little inconsistent on our roster situation right now, but I'm so happy with those guys with what they came out and did today."

Tatum pointed to the positives. Aside from Sunday's loss, the Hawks have been competitive, and they are still putting up big numbers on the scoreboard.

"We're still in every game outside of this one, really, and our free throws could have been better in the last two games, which could have given us a chance to win, and we're still scoring 95-plus points," Tatum said.

"We're still working on having a full roster, so I know our season's going to change drastically and swiftly once we get everybody on the same page, when our roster is at full strength and we keep building the confidence of the guys we have in the locker room.

"There was nothing negative that I said to those guys in the locker room, it's nothing but positive, and we're going into this week to prepare for Adelaide and then we go back on the road to South East.

"What don't break us will make us stronger. I promise you in a month's time we'll be having a different conversation."