Hawks interim coach Justin Tatum addresses the media | November 16, 2023 | Illawarra Mercury
New Hawks interim coach Justin Tatum addressed the media for the first time since his appointment.
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00:00 Very surprised, very surprised.
00:01 I mean, I understand the situation last year with the record.
00:04 Nothing out of my control, but at the end of the day,
00:06 we were clearly heading on the same way.
00:08 And the management decided something out of my hands.
00:12 But like I said, very unexpected, but very well ready.
00:16 And at the end of the day, I just wanna make sure
00:17 these guys get it together.
00:18 Production-based, and it's day by day.
00:20 I mean, at the end of the day,
00:21 these guys want a consistent, familiar voice.
00:23 And hopefully I can be that person
00:26 to the end of the season, do very well.
00:27 But at the end of the day,
00:28 they have to do what they need to do.
00:30 But I think that we're gonna be fine here in this space.
00:32 I look at, I wanna be prepared for every game coming on up.
00:35 I don't think that I have to worry
00:37 about looking over my shoulder
00:38 because these guys wanna produce.
00:40 Yeah, for sure.
00:41 I mean, my goal is to become a head coach
00:42 professionally somehow, some way.
00:44 And if I do well enough, we do well enough,
00:47 the management thinks that I'm their man for next year,
00:49 I definitely will step up
00:51 and hopefully be an advocate, a person for that role.
00:53 But if not, I have to take what's going on.
00:55 - What are your plans for AJ, John?
00:57 Obviously, Jake is pretty keen on playing
00:59 the long game with him.
01:00 Is that your view as well?
01:01 Or how do you look to use him?
01:03 - I think AJ is gonna be a useful attribute for us.
01:06 I think that, I mean, just last couple months
01:08 of him working and training and sitting
01:10 and hopefully building up his hunger
01:12 has endured him to come out here and help us win games.
01:15 I'm not saying it's gonna be 18 to 20 minutes,
01:18 but I think he's gonna be a big factor
01:20 for us to win some games.
01:22 My focus will be just competing, I think, and having fun.
01:24 I didn't see our group do that in the first nine games
01:27 consistently enough.
01:28 This is a very competitive league,
01:30 and we didn't do that for 40 minutes.
01:31 We might have done it for 25, maybe 30, but not for 40.
01:35 None at all, none at all.
01:36 I don't feel no pressure on that.
01:37 And I talked to AJ, I said,
01:38 "I know what you expected of yourself
01:39 "and what the world expects of you,
01:42 "but at the end of the day,
01:43 "you still have to play within these four lines
01:44 "and gain your teammates' trust and my trust
01:46 "to be able to get you out there to do that.
01:48 "We know what your capabilities are,
01:50 "but we don't want to gamble on games
01:52 "just to try to get you to go
01:54 "where you're feeling that you're gonna go next year."
01:55 So he understands that.
01:57 So I said, "As long as you work hard in here for me
01:58 "and talk and grow out your comfort zone,
02:01 "then I'm gonna find spots and minutes for you,
02:02 "and I know you can help us win."
02:04 - What was Jason's reaction
02:05 when you told him the news of the--
02:07 - Oh, he was excited for me.
02:08 He was like, "Man, I can't believe it."
02:10 Now he was taking an ice bath after the New York game,
02:13 so the time difference, but he was really excited for me.
02:15 Man, he was happy.
02:16 He knows what I bring to the table
02:18 and that I can relate to these guys
02:20 out on the court and outside the court.
02:21 So that's a good thing that I bring.
02:23 - Yeah, I'm for sure that 3 and 25
02:25 stuck in the back of their heads, our heads,
02:27 for that, especially the returners.
02:30 I told everybody to have a new sheet of paper.
02:32 We're all zero-zero right now.
02:33 And so that kind of gives them life and hope
02:35 to understand that 3 and 25 is behind us,
02:38 that 2 and 7 is still lurking around,
02:39 but we've gone in with a zero-zero type of mind.
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