Sydney Kings

Sydney Kings
League	NBL
Founded	1988
Arena	The Kingdome Sydney Entertainment Centre
Arena Capacity	10,517
Location	Haymarket, Sydney, NSW
Team colours	Purple, Gold and White
Main sponsor	MightyMite
General manager	Rod Harys
Head coach	Damian Cotter
Team captain	Ben Madgen Tom Garlepp
Ownership	The Kings Consortium
Championships	3 (2003, 2004, 2005)
Website	Sydney Kings
Uniforms
Home Away

The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. They were the first team to win three consecutive championships in the NBL and currently sit third behind the Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers (four each), two away from the record six wins by the Perth Wildcats. The Kings play their home games at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in Haymarket, New South Wales. Since the Kings moved to the SEC in 1990, the venue has been known as "The Kingdome" during Kings' home games.

History

1988-2002: First 15 years

The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the Sydney Supersonics in 1988. The team adopted the purple-and-gold colours traditionally linked with the most winning team in the NBA during the 1980s, the Los Angeles Lakers

Before the merger, no Sydney-based teams had even made the final four in NBL competition. That changed in 1989, when the Kings finished fifth with a 15-9 record and advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over the Melbourne Tigers. The Kings were then humiliated by the Canberra Cannons 142-82.

Sydney did not make the playoffs again until 1992, when, led by imports Dwayne McClain (who was named to the All-NBL First Team) and Ken McClary (ranked 5th in the league in rebounds), the Kings finished second on the ladder. This time they advanced to the semi-finals and were beaten by the Tigers, who would eventually lose to the South-East Melbourne Magic in the championship series.

Over the next few years the Kings, despite the rich pockets of private owner Mike Wrublewski, earned a reputation for being chronic under-achievers. They failed to make the playoffs in 1993 or 1995, and were eliminated in the first round in 1994 and 1996. The team soon received the nickname of 'The Violet Crumbles', a popular chocolate sold in purple wrapper; the joke being that the team was wrapped in purple and shattered under pressure. 'The Cardiac Kings' was another tag, for the team's frequency in getting involved in close, thrilling games.

After their 1996 elimination, the Kings would not make the NBL playoffs again until 2001, when they made it to the first round before being eliminated by the Townsville Crocodiles. Australian Olympic team guard Shane Heal was recruited to lead the team, and he finished second in the league in scoring average, behind Olympic teammate Andrew Gaze. Heal finished third in scoring average in the 2002 season, but the Kings again failed to make the playoffs.

2003-2008: Championships era

For the 2002/03 season, Heal was joined by talented imports Chris Williams and Kavossy Franklin. The team also welcomed the NBL's all-time leader in coaching victories, Brian Goorjian. The Kings finished on top of the ladder with a 22-8 record, and swept the Perth Wildcats in the grand final series to claim their first-ever championship.

With Goorijan able to implement his defensive tactics which were so successful with the Magic and Titans, in addition to finally being able to purchase high quality superstar imports he was unable to attain due to financial constraints on the team in Melbourne, there seemed to be no stopping the Kings. This included players like league MVP Chris Williams and powerhouse players such as Rolan Roberts. In addition, many Victorian groomed players who had previously played for Goorijan such as Jason Smith and Bradley Sheridan followed him north to Sydney.

Heal retired after the 2003 season, and C. J. Bruton was recruited to take his place, Jason Smith was signed after returning to the NBL after playing in Europe but unfortunately was injured 13 games into the season and was replaced by import Chris Carrawell. The Kings started the 2003/04 season with 12 successive wins, and would eventually win their second championship after their best-of-five grand final series with crosstown rivals West Sydney Razorbacks went down to the deciding fifth game. Kings player Matt Nielsen would win the regular season and finals MVP this year before leaving to play overseas.

The Kings again performed strongly in the 2004/05 season despite a disastrous early game against Townsville which saw C. J. Bruton out for weeks with an elbow injury, and a season ending torn ACL for rookie of the year candidate Luke Kendall. The Kings managed without their starting backcourt until Bruton came back and they signed import forward Mark Sanford, moving Jason Smith down to shooting guard. Arguably stronger than before the Kings finished on top of the ladder and crushed the Wollongong Hawks in three games to become the first team in Australian league history to win three consecutive championships. Jason Smith won the finals MVP with many Kings fans thinking he also deserved the regular season award.

In the 2005-06 season, the Kings again finished atop the ladder and made it to the grand final. Import centre Rolan Roberts suffered a torn pectorial muscle imitating a Vince Carter dunk during the All Star dunk competition and was replaced by Sedric Webber. In the finals they were swept 3-0 by the Chris Anstey led Melbourne Tigers.

The club was then purchased for $2 million by the chairman of fuel technology company Firepower International, Tim Johnston. Johnston later purchased the team outright and sold a part share in 2007 to 31 year old Dorry Kordahi, CEO and owner of DKM, one of the fastest growing companies in Australia.

2008-2010: Club demise

On 24 March 2008, coach Brian Goorjian quit the club after a mutual agreement. He was hired by the South Dragons on 1 April. On 12 June 2008, the NBL terminated the Sydney team's licence as Firepower collapsed and the Kings were unable to pay player salaries.

2010: Kings return

Under a revised management structure and ownership, the Sydney Kings relaunched. On 24 April 2010, it was formally announced that the Sydney Kings would be a part of the reformed NBL competition, with their new training headquarters at Macquarie University. The reformed league was the result of a merger between Basketball Australia and the National Basketball League.

2011: Bid to sign Andrew Bogut

Due to the 2011 NBA Lockout Australia's highest profile basketballer, former Milwaukee Bucks centre Andrew Bogut was looking to play in the NBL during the 2011-12 season. He was linked with the Adelaide 36ers, Gold Coast Blaze and the Kings, who Bogut had supported when growing up in Australia. Sydney was favored to secure his services and Bogut ultimately chose to make his NBL debut with the Kings. Unfortunately the insurance to cover his remaining USD $39m contract with the Bucks couldn't be resolved leaving the Kings and NBL without services of Australia's highest profile player. It was expected that Bogut's signing would see an increase in Kings membership and league attendances. Despite not being able to play Bogut has since expressed interest in joining the Kings coaching staff during the lockout to help out the club and still helping to raise the NBL's profile. In 2012, it was reported that Bogut, a contender for the Australian Basketball team at the 2012 London Olympic Games, had broken his ankle and had signed for the California–based Golden State Warriors in the 2012-13 NBA season.

Home Arena

The Sydney Kings first home venue was the State Sports Centre located at Homebush. After playing at the 5,006 seat venue in 1988 and 1989, the Kings then moved into Sydney's largest indoor venue, the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1990. The SEC, known for Kings games as "The Kingdome", would be the Kings home until the team moved back to Homebush in 1999 and into the new, 21,000 capacity Sydney Super Dome which had been built as a venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Despite attracting an NBL record 17,803 crowd for a local derby clash with the West Sydney Razorbacks in 1999, the Kings time at the Super Dome only lasted two years before the club decided to move back to the Entertainment Centre in 2000 citing falling attendances and the high cost of playing their games at the NBA size venue.

The Kings have remained at the Entertainment Centre since 2000, though they were forced to move one game in the 2012–13 NBL season to the State Sports Centre due to a pre-booked event taking priority at the Entertainment Centre. As of the 2013–14 NBL season, the SEC has a basketball capacity of 10,517 giving the Kings the second largest capacity venue in the NBL, though as the SEC was opened in 1983 it also gives the Kings the leagues oldest current venue.

The Kings will be forced to move back to Homebush after the 2014–15 NBL season due to the SEC being demolished to make way for an 8,000 seat convention centre, with the smaller (and cheaper) SSC likely to be their home arena. It has been reported the Kings are keen to continue playing close to the Sydney CBD and are expected to become tenants of the new Convention Centre after its scheduled opening in 2016.

Honour roll

NBL Championships:	3 (2003, 2004, 2005)
NBL Finals Appearances:	Sydney Supersonics - 2 (1983, 1986) Fosters (West Sydney) Westars - 1 (1986) Sydney Kings - 13 (1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013)
NBL Grand Final appearances:	5 (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008)
NBL Most Valuable Players:	Owen Wells (1983 - Sydney Supersonics), Chris Williams (2003), Matthew Nielsen (2004)
NBL Grand Final MVPs:	Chris Williams (2003), Matthew Nielsen (2004), Jason Smith (2005)
All-NBL First Team:	Tiny Pinder (1985 - Sydney Supersonics), Dwayne McClain (1992), Leon Trimmingham (1994), Shane Heal (2003), Chris Williams (2003), Matthew Nielsen (2004), Jason Smith (2005), C. J. Bruton (2006), Mark Worthington (2008), Julian Khazzouh (2011, 2012), Ben Madgen (2013), Andrew Ogilvy (2014), Josh Childress (2015)
NBL Coach of the Year:	Robbie Cadee (1983 - Bankstown Bruins), Brian Goorjian (2008)
NBL Rookie of the Year:	Matt Nielsen (1997), Derek Moore (2000), Travis Lane (2002), Gary Boodnikoff (2003), Mark Worthington (2006), Ben Madgen (2011), Anatoly Bose (2012), Angus Brandt (2015)
NBL Best Defensive Player:	Isaac Burton (1996)
NBL Best Sixth Man:	Dontaye Draper (2008)
NBL Most Improved Player:	Ben Madgen (2013)
Retired numbers	#23 Shane Heal

Source: History - Introduction

Current roster

Sydney Kings roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. 2.5 !G/F 1 AUS ! Madgen, Ben (C) 70001930000000000001.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 700183000000000000083 kg (183 lb) 1.0 !PG 3 USA ! Perry, Kendrick (I) 70001830000000000001.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 700182000000000000082 kg (181 lb) 1.0 !PG 5 AUS ! Cadee, Jason 70001860000000000001.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 700173000000000000073 kg (161 lb) 2.0 !SG 6 AUS ! Joyce, Daniel 70001940000000000001.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 700180000000000000080 kg (176 lb) 3.0 !SF 7 USA ! Childress, Josh  (I) 70002029999999999992.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 700195000000000000095 kg (209 lb) 5.5 !F/C 8 AUS ! Duinker, Josh 70002110000000000002.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 7002104000000000000104 kg (229 lb) 4.0 !F 11 AUS ! Chol, Madol (DP) 70002000000000000002.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 6.0 !C 12 AUS ! Brandt, Angus 70002080000000000002.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 7002112000000000000112 kg (247 lb) 4.5 !PF 14 AUS ! Garlepp, Tom (C) 70002029999999999992.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 700198000000000000098 kg (216 lb) 1.5 !G 15 AUS ! Trustum, James (DP) 2.5 !G/F 22 AUS ! White, Kevin 70001890000000000001.89 m (6 ft 2 in) 700185000000000000085 kg (187 lb) 4.5 !PF 24 AUS ! Ellis, Cody 70002029999999999992.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 7002111000000000000111 kg (245 lb) 1.5 !G AUS ! Kearins, Ben (DP) 2.5 !G/F AUS ! Pozoglou, Nic (DP)	Head coach Damian Cotter Assistant coach(es) Tim Hudson Shannon Seebohm Warren Rosen Robbie McKinlay Dr. Adrian Hurley Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: 23 August 2014

Depth Chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench	Reserve
C	Angus Brandt	Josh Duinker
PF	Tom Garlepp	Cody Ellis
SF	Kevin White	Madol Chol	James Trustum	Josh Childress
SG	Ben Madgen	Daniel Joyce	Nic Pozoglou
PG	Kendrick Perry	Jason Cadee	Ben Kearins

25th Anniversary Team

On 10 October 2013, the Sydney Kings announced their best team from the first 25 years of the club at their 2013/14 Season Launch at the Australian Museum. Three-time championship winner with the Kings, Brian Goorjian, was named head coach of the 25th Anniversary Team, while Jason Smith was bestowed the honour as captain of the team.

Depth chart

Coaches

• Head Coach: / Brian Goorjian

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench	Reserve
C	Matthew Nielsen	Leon Trimmingham
PF	Chris Williams	Mark Dalton	Mark Worthington
SF	Dwayne McClain	Damian Keogh
SG	Jason Smith	C. J. Bruton	Ben Madgen
PG	Shane Heal	Steve Carfino

Notable players

• David Barlow
• Jerome Beasley
• Tony Bennett
• / Anatoly Bose
• Steve Carfino
• Josh Childress
• Shane Heal
• Stephen Jackson
• / Julian Khazzouh
• Sam Young

External links

• National Basketball League official website
• Sydney Kings official website