The Illawarra Hawks have received a boost on the eve of the NBL finals, with news Justin Tatum has signed on as the resurgent club's permanent head coach.
Announced as caretaker when Jacob Jackomas was fired in November, Tatum has signed a three-year deal days after narrowly missing out on being named coach of the year at the NBL awards.
Tatum, in his first professional head-coaching job, inherited a team that had won only two of its first nine games but finished the season in fourth place on the ladder.
The Hawks have posted a 12-7 record under Tatum and will face Tasmania JackJumpers in a fairytale finals clash on Wednesday.
Tatum, previously an assistant to Jackomas, had been keen to remain as permanent head coach from the outset of his stint as caretaker.
But the American had been open to exploring options elsewhere if a new deal at the Hawks was not tabled by the end of the season. He got his wish on Thursday night.
"I am grateful to the team, my assistant coaches and the management team at the Illawarra Hawks who have trusted in me since I took over in November," he said.
Tatum will continue weaponising Illawarra's underdog status to inspire his players on their finals tilt.
"People just don't give us the respect that we worked for - I'm not going to say (the respect) we deserve, we worked for this," he told AAP.
"We were at the bottom and we figured out a way for the guys who were all on different pages, to find a way to fix it and be one of the top four teams.
"We still feel slighted. But at the end of the day we're OK with that because we have our self-respect."
Hawks big man Lachlan Olbrich agreed with his coach.
"I still think they're all writing us off," he told AAP.
"I don't think many people believe that we'll go to the grand final and win it all.
"We know we're not underdogs, but we're more than happy for everyone to treat us like underdogs because it gives us the upper hand."
The path to the franchise's second title heads through Hobart, and depending on that result, will go either to a playoffs series with Perth or snake back home for a sudden-death game.
The Hawks won a nail-biter on their last trip to MyState Bank Arena; January's 108-107 victory over the JackJumpers remains the only double overtime match of the season.
Tatum is chasing more consistency from his side this time around.
"We had a lot of bright points out of that game and we've felt that if we have that leverage again we won't see a double overtime," Tatum said.
"We have a lot of spots in the game where we have self-inflicted wounds, playing-wise.
"We can control that and manage that, and not allow teams to get back in."
