“It’s performance based, so we’ll see.”

“It’s performance based, so we’ll see.” 

The question from the media scrum was little more than polite. Sure, Justin Tatum had just been installed as interim head coach, but he was seemingly no chance of keeping the role beyond that stint. The front office made no bones about the fact it was chasing a proven championship-winner to be the club’s next head coach. 

As it turned out, they’d already found him. They just didn’t know it yet.  

Neither did the media pack that so politely asked Tatum that morning in November 2023 if he saw himself as a contender for the role long-term. He did, but he wasn’t interested in convincing those gathered media types.  

There was a group of players he had to convince first. Those players believed in him then, so, when he did ink a three-year deal at the end of that season, he returned the favour, bringing almost all of that group back. 

For it to culminate in a championship-clinching 114-104 win over Melbourne United on Sunday was simply “indescribable” for the 46-year-old newly minted title-winner.  

“I was a rookie coming in,” Tatum said. 

“I knew I had a great group of guys, so I knew that something positive was going to happen. Was it going to be in grand finals within 18 months? I didn't know, but I knew that I was ready to coach a great group of guys and who wanted to play for each other. “For them to believe in my thoughts and my plan for this group, on the fly, unexpectedly, and to create and build [this] together is a special thing.  

“I told them before the game, I have my internal family that I left at home for eight months, but this is my external family that took care of me and did everything I’ve asked, day in and day out, to become better as players and as people.”  

To a man, Tatum’s Hawks have done that and more. There’s no better case in point than Will ‘Davo’ Hickey who, in just 18 months under Tatum, has gone from back-up to the back-up point-guard to falling just short of a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in a championship decider. 

It was enough to see him awarded Finals MVP by, of all people, United star Matthew Dellavedova who, in a classy gesture, bestowed the honour on Hickey after initially being named winner of the award himself.  

After missing Game Four with a knee injury – a game in which the Hawks grafted their way to an against-the-odds victory – Trey Kell was also supreme with 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. 

Tyler Harvey also finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Lachy Olbrich’s 12 points and four rebounds was crucial in the absence of injured co-skipper Sam Froling.  

“I texted Trey this morning and said ‘hey man, how you feeling, how's the knee after the workouts yesterday?” Tatum said. 

“He texted back, ‘I'm just ready to win the trophy’, not ‘it's okay’ or ‘I think I can push through’ it was ‘I'm ready to win this trophy’.  

“There was reassurance there and Davo’s Davo. He has a lot on the line, he wears his passion and his heart on his sleeve, and we know what we’re going to get out of him. It’s just their passion and their will to win.” 

It was part of a busy morning for Tatum’s phone, the reigning NBL Coach of the Year providing a rare public window into his relationship with his son, Boston Cetics megastar Jayson Tatum, who provided a timely pre-game boost to his old man’s team. 

“This morning, I woke up to a video he sent to my team,” Tatum said. 

“He texted me and said ‘Pops, send this to your group’. It was about how to win a game seven for them, game five for us. I think that enlightened them a lot, that the whole 23-24 Boston Celtics is about to watch our game right now. 

“Hearing from him and having him sending that message just on his own [initiative] was unbelievable, and it was meaningful to my players as well.” 

In the wake of a championship, the obvious question becomes – can you bring the whole team back for a shot at consecutive titles? Tatum’s a realist in that regard, but says doing so is “plan A” moving forward.  

“We’ve been talking [about it] and, as a staff, that's what we want,” Tatum said. 

“You’ve always gotta have plan B and C, but plan A is for this group to reunite to do our best to keep the core and everybody together. These guys love each other outside of basketball. That's so important because otherwise, we would not have won nothing.  

“Selfishly, I would love to make sure that everybody comes back. Could that happen, yes and no, but my goal is to get good character guys like we have to stay together. “People who want to come to play in Illawarra, you have to be a great character guy, work hard and understand your role. The precedent is set. When you come to Illawarra, this is what's going to happen.”  

Tatum and the organisation will give more thought to those questions when the dust settles but, for a city that’s waited 24 years for its second-ever NBL crown, that might take a little while. 

“To see the enjoyment of the fans and everybody who’s been waiting for this for 23-plus years, that excites me more than anything,” Tatum said. 

“When they promoted me to head coach, I was walking home and forgot that I drove, that's how excited I was. I had to turn back and walk and go get my car. I could not imagine that I'd be in the spot to be able to talk about being NBL25 champion right now.  

“Being able to see our team fight through adversity to do it … words for it are hard to find at the moment, but I’m happy.”