“Ego”, is not a dirty word

Justin Tatum wants to instil belief and confidence in his group, urging his players to use their “exceptionally great egos” to do what they do best. 

The Hawks are flying high after another big win on Sunday, taking down the red-hot Perth Wildcats and Bryce Cotton by 32 points and further establishing their stranglehold on top spot. 

Tatum said he has incredible trust in his players, and they continue to return the favour by performing, week in, week out. 

“You guys don’t see egos, but I do,” he said, in his post-game media conference. 

“It’s exceptionally great egos ... it’s not like ‘I’m better than you’ ego, all of them are greatly confident in what they do well and I want to make sure that I keep building that up in them to see how it formulates into the team.”

The Hawks boast depth most teams can only dream of, with the likes of Darius Days, Hyunjung Lee, Will Hickey, Lachlan Olbrich and Todd Blanchfield rounding out an elite bench unit, and everyone has a clear role. 

“I don’t want anybody to feel that they can’t or shouldn’t do something, but I want to know, whatever you do well, make sure that it complies within the group,” Tatum said. 

“They understand that and they know they make mistakes, and I’m OK with it, as long as it’s not consistently, and knowing that when you do make a mistake, that I believe you’re going to go back in.

“It’s the trust factor from both sides.”

The Hawks saw strong performances from Trey Kell III, with 31 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Sam Froling (18 points, 6 rebounds) and Tyler Harvey (15 points) in a well-rounded team effort. 

It was a dominant display against a team many consider to be in the championship mix, the Wildcats, particularly given their scoring capability. 

Tatum labelled his back-court combination of Harvey and Kell III as the “best in the NBL”, ahead of a huge Christmas night clash against Sydney. 

It’s first versus third in the latest edition of the Freeway Series, with the Hawks' coach quick to ensure his team gains the respect it deserves. 

“I don’t think it’s too much us thinking about (Xavier) Cooks and the Sydney Kings, I think there’s more of them worrying about us,” he said. 

“It’s all about us when go about practice and games … we have scouting reports, but I don’t overdo it with those guys.

“When we go to practice and go about games, I talk about Trey Kell, I talk about Tyler.

“I think Sydney really needs to focus on the capabilities that we’re having and at the end of the day, we’re going to do our best to slow down their guys.

“But it’s pretty much all about us like it has been all year, because we in our organisation, in our city, in Illawarra, are probably the only people that we believe can do it.  

“That’s why we’re just staying focused all about us.”