Tatum keen to create history as he waits on Hawks to make their move

Tatum himself is happy to wait for the Hawks to make their move, concentrating instead on trying to create history with a club which won only three of 28 games last season.

Tatum was appointed interim head coach in November, replacing Jacob Jackomas, after Illawarra slumped to a 2-7 win/loss record.

He has since propelled the Hawks to play-in contention, winning nine of 14 games, to guide Illawarra to sixth-place ahead of their round 18 showdown against the Brisbane Bullets in Wollongong on Saturday.

This has pleased Tatum but the interim head coach told the Mercury the job was far from complete.

"It's still in the Hawks' hands, nothing has progressed on that," Tatum said when questioned about his coaching future at the Hawks.

"I'm totally okay with that because everyday I come to practice I want to make history. I want to come in and say hey I want to be the bottom team that gets in the payoffs to win the whole thing.

"I can concentrate on my personal goals after that but my focus now is these guys in this program winning games."

In demand Hawks star Gary Clark for one would love to see Tatum rewarded for turning the Hawks' fortunes around.

Clark, who is weighing up his playing options for next season amid strong interest from clubs here and in Europe and the NBA, said who coached a team factored in his decision making.

"I wouldn't say aligning us together makes or breaks what is next for me," he said.

"I would however say it's a pretty big piece as to what happens next for me, he's done a phenomenal job.

"I think everyone in the community likes him, everyone on the team loves him.

"He is learning, but he is learning fast.

"With my decision, he will definitely be involved with my conversations with my agent and what his team is saying in his corner.....so it's a beautiful thing to have going on right now but you can't give it too much thought because you got to win some games still."

This view is shared by Tatum, especially the 'must win' game against Brisbane at WIN Entertainment Centre.

The fifth-placed Bullets have won both clashes against the Hawks this season, with star Australian guard Nathan Sobey especially influential in their last win in Brisbane.

Tatum said the Hawks would have to work collectively to limit the effectiveness of Sobey and find a way to secure victory against the well-coached Brisbane side.

"We should be hungry. We should understand that this is a significant game for us to be able to go up in the ranks. It definitely is a must-win in that regard," he said.

"[Sobey] got hot last time. I think we just got to collectively lock in and don't let him go off so early and make other guys beat us or get more involved and see how they react to our defence.

"We just want to make sure that he does not keep rolling those points like he did last time round."

Tatum added the Hawks' had also been working hard in practice this week trying to fix their dismal shooting from the free-throw line in recent weeks.

'It's a major problem we need to address," he said.

"As a team we have to shoot at least 80 per cent. Missing free-throws is hurting us. We can't miss 14 free throws and expect to win these games.

"We missed 12 shots and got beat by Cairns in a buzzer-beater. If we didn't get 23 offensive rebounds against the Breakers, we probably would have lost that game too."