Can Tatum lead Hawks to promised land?

Can the Illawarra Hawks finally break their 23-year Championship drought? If you ask Damon Lowery, absolutely.

No one would have picked the Hawks’ incredible rise to the Playoffs in the second half of last season, and while natural progression suggests even more improvement under Justin Tatum’s tutelage, many questions remain. 

Can the Hawks overcome the loss of last year’s All-NBL First Team member, Gary Clark? Is Lachie Olbrich going to take his game to the next level? Will Sam Froling become one of the most dominant big men in the game? 

Solving those three questions alone could go a long way towards deciding Illawarra’s NBL25 fate, but coach Tatum is confident he has the right mix for success.

Trey Kell III looms as a vital addition to the roster, forming a lethal back-court combination with Tyler Harvey.

"They bring unselfish shot-making ability for a start. They are two guys who have been in our league for three plus years now and they collaborate off each other real well," Tatum said. 

"Both of them were really high on each other once they found out that we were recruiting the other, so it just made it more convincing for myself and the staff.

"I've got two really good players out there who are a great one-two combination, and they're experienced, so there's nothing that they haven't seen in the league before or can't fight through it."

The signing of Darius Days came literally days before the NBL Blitz, but very few imports across the league had as big an impact across the pre-season. 

"Darius brings a lot of the same upside that Gary [Clark] has. He is an inch or two shorter but at the end of the day Darius is just a spitting image to me of what GC is. He has the shot-making ability from the outside and he loves the post and play on the inside as well," Tatum said. 

"Once we get him used to the fluidity of the offence and how to guard other guys, and their tendencies, he is going to be really good for us."

Then there’s Olbrich, who was one of the most impressive players at the Blitz, averaging 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

"He played unbelievable. That's something that we expected from him, something that we've seen glimpses of last year," Tatum added. 

"Lachie is now at a point where he has that year in the NBL under his belt, a very good NBL1 season so he now kind of knows what his role is and the minutes and the expectations are and he has been doing well building off that."

Excitement aside, a strong start is key. The Hawks were 2-7 when Tatum took over last year, and gave themselves a huge amount of work to do in the back half of the year.

"We don't want to start like we did the last two years. We want to start off right, with a winning record to build that momentum going into the season and keep uplifting after that," Tatum said.

"But if we find our way in that hole again, not starting well, we know what it takes to get out."

The Hawks take on Cairns on Saturday night at 8.30pm AEST, live on ESPN via Kayo.