Justin Tatum was a phenomenal basketball player in his day. In fact, he earned the Conference USA First Team All-Defense Player Award while at St. Louis University (SLU) and once ranked sixth all-time in blocks in school history.

Tatum has been a North American scout and special advisor to basketball operations for the Illawarra Hawks. He was promoted to interim head coach on Monday after the team fired head coach Jacob Jackomas for a slow 2-7 start.

Tatum’s son, and Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum, expressed how happy he is for his father after he scored 35-points in the Celtics win over the New York Knicks during his postgame press conference on Monday.

“I’m extremely happy for him and proud of him. That’s a big step. I know he’s trying to build his résumé and his coaching career. He won multiple state titles in high school with different teams. He’s been over in Australia for the last four months and is now the head coach of the Hawks. I’m excited for him and looking forward to him kind of turning that organization around.”

It didn’t take long for Tatum to climb the ladder into a head coaching role after joining the Hawks earlier this year. It shows that he can lead a room and that the organization believes in him. I’m looking forward to seeing if he can turn this season around for the Hawks.

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Photo Credit: Illawarra Hawks