Tatum firming as permanent Hawks head coach?

What Justin Tatum has done with this Illawarra Hawks roster has, so far, been nothing short of miraculous.

Tatum has taken a side that was rooted to the bottom of the NBL ladder and had won just three of its previous 25 games – and two of those wins came courtesy of last second Tyler Harvey game winners - to three wins in four games.

The last two wins have come to the tune of 18 points over Perth to end the Wildcats’ six-game win streak, and a 28-point smashing of a South East Melbourne side reeling from a Throwdown defeat earlier in the week.

With Illawarra now sitting just two games outside the Play-In positions, Derek Rucker believes Tatum should be appointed as the club’s head coach following his interim spell.

“When a coach believes in you and has a certain amount of energy and enthusiasm – and he obviously has basketball intelligence – that vibe moves right throughout the collective performance,” Rucker said on Moments That Mattered.

“The thing that shocked me is how quickly it’s happened. Normally there’s a timeline where you say ‘the team is carrying itself better, they’re having narrow losses where they were getting blown out’.

“They’s turned L’s into W’s rapidly – probably quicker than I’ve seen in my time in the league.

“I don’t know what more you really need to see to start to reach out to Tatum’s representatives and have a conversation about 2024-25, 2025-26.

“If you look at that team it is amazing to look at what Justin has done to turn around the fortunes, the energy, the way they play. He deserves so much credit.”

The Hawks face perhaps the biggest test of Tatum’s short tenure to date in Round 12 though.

They’ll host a JackJumpers side reeling from a pair of losses on December 23^rd, before they head down the highway to play Sydney at Qudos Bank Arena on Christmas night.

The Hawks’ last clash with the Kings was seen as the final nail in the coffin for Jacob Jackomas’ tenure according to some NBL experts following Illawarra’s uncompetitive 20-point loss to its local rivals.

Rucker says if the Hawks can get a result against the Kings they could inject themselves into the post-season picture.

“I think a lot is going to be revealed on Christmas Day, how do they come out against the Sydney Kings on Christmas Day,” Rucker continued.

“If they can make that a game against a very tough opponent on a very inopportune day to play for most players – but we all love – if they make something happen on that day they’re legit and they can start chipping away at the Brisbane Bullets and the Cairns Taipans.

“I would like to see if he could get Justin Robinson going a little bit better – although I think Robinson has certainly lifted his play.

“We saw a much-improved Tyler Harvey who kind of looked like the Tyler Harvey we saw under Brian Goorjian, and Sam Froling is now playing really good basketball.”

Both of Illawarra’s Round 12 games are a part of the NBL’s 12 games of Christmas. Catch every game live on ESPN via Kayo Sports.