Illawarra Hawks year in review: where to now for Justin Tatum's team?

Having slumped to a 2-7 win/loss start to the season, recovering to achieve this feat was rightly applauded by supporters and those within the club.

But before the season proper started, playing finals basketball was the minimum expected by the Hawks' front office.

Having endured their worst season on record in 2022/23 with a franchise low 3-25 win/loss record, the Hawks armed coach Jacob Jackomas with basically a new roster.

The new players brought in this season were Gary Clark, AJ Johnson, Hyunjung Lee, Mason Peatling, Lachlan Olbrich and Todd Blanchfield. Justin Robinson also returned to the court after missing all of last season with a major injury.

During this time the Hawks also lured Justin Tatum, the father of NBA superstar Jayson Tatum, to Wollongong as an assistant coach. More on Tatum later.

So Jackomas had all the tools it seemed he needed to create a winning team.

But the team struggled early, winning only one of their first five games.

Jackomas' final game in charge was on November 11 when the Hawks gave up a sizeable lead to lose 81-71 to the Taipans in Cairns and slump to a 2-7 win/loss record.

Three days later Jackomas was sacked and Justin Tatum was appointed interim head coach.

Tatum's reign:

Tatum started with a bang, guiding the Hawks to a gritty first-up 69-65 win over the New Zealand Breakers.

In his third game in charge the Hawks produced a defensive masterclass on Bryce Cotton to down the Perth Wildcats 100-82 in Wollongong.

Eight days later on December 16 they hammered South East Melbourne Phoenix to end the Hawks' 616-day wait for back-to-back victories.

Tatum would go on to guide the Hawks to a fourth-place regular season finish with a 14-14 win/loss record, winning 12 of his 19 games.

Three of those wins came against the Wildcats, including a season-defining victory in Perth.

The 95-77 win on January 25 arrested a three-game losing run for the Hawks, who then won another two games straight to keep their finals hopes alive.

Off-court drama:

Even when news filtered out that Hawks star man Gary Clark had been issued a DUI charge, things on the court for Illawarra and Clark for that matter remained very good.

In the first game after news came out about his driving under the influence charge Clark was judged best on court with a monster 25 points, 15 rebounds and two assists in Illawarra's double-overtime victory over the JackJumpers in Tasmania on January 12.

Six days later he hit a season high 36 points against the Cairns Taipans and then helped Illawarra down the Breakers, in the process again voted best on court with 29 points and eight rebounds.

Clark had a standout season which saw him named the Illawarra Hawks season MVP. He was also named into the All-NBL First Team.

The rise of the Hawks and their coach:

The only surprise that Illawarra officially named Justin Tatum their permanent head coach was how long it took for the Hawks to remove the interim from his title.

Tatum was officially announced head coach during the Hawks' end-of-season presentation awards night held a week before Illawarra played Tasmania in their seeding-final.

While Dean Vickerman was named coach of the year for guiding Melbourne United to finish first in the regular season with a 20-8 win/loss record, many good judges felt Tatum should have won.

It's hard to argue against Vickerman's record but the job Tatum did in guiding the Hawks from last to a memorable finals' run deserves kudos.

Being shortlisted for the coach-of-the-year award and finishing second in the category was the least Tatum deserved.

What could have been:

Hawks captain Sam Froling and Tatum were quick to lament what could have been after Illawarra's season was ended in a game three semi-final loss to Melbourne United last Wednesday.

Earlier in the finals the Hawks failed to hold onto a double-digit lead against the Breakers but prevailed largely thanks to the heroics of Jusrin Robinson down the stretch.

There were no such heroics though in the Hawks opening game against United after the home team Melbourne fought back from a 17-point deficit to snatch a game one victory from the jaws of defeat.

That loss ultimately cost the Hawks the series and a chance to play in a grand final.

Froling couldn't hide his disappointment after the series loss.

"We should have beat them.

"I'm sure there's a lot of stuff, we'll go back and watch that. We could fix this....but it's a bit bittersweet.

"We believe, and we know we could have done it. It just sucks."

Where to now for the Hawks:

Most players have left to rest and recuperate ahead of next season.

Some have returned home to the US, some are playing in the NBL1 competition, while others like Lachlan Olbrich are taking part in summer camps in the States.

AJ Johnson is one who has returned to the US to see if he gets picked up in the NBA draft.

Whether Johnson gets drafted or not, at this stage it seems unlikely he will return to Wollongong.

Tatum indicated after the Hawks were bundled out by United, that he wanted all players back for next season.

The coach conceded retaining the services of in-demand import Gary Clark was a priority.

Another priority is holding onto both Will Hickey and Tyler Harvey, whose contracts are up at the Hawks.

It would be a surprise if both are not back in Wollongong next season, but as of this stage, they are yet to resign.

"I want everybody back on this team," Tatum said.

"But we know this is a professional league, we got to do our best to retain and get them back.

"But GC and Sam, everybody knows I want the same 12-13 guys that was in there.

'If that doesn't work out we will find a way to make it work, but that is our first priority."