Post Season Review - Sydney

The Season

With huge hype coming into the season after a fairly poor first season, the Kings were a painful disappointment.  They had the best centre in the league in Julian Khazzouh, eventual Rookie of the Year in Anatoly Bose and livewire import Jerai Grant.  How did all this talent only manage an 11-17 record on the season?  For starters the team couldn’t get on any winning streaks, only recording an actual winning streak (of two) four times.  Counter that with a five game losing streak in the middle of the season puts the club in dire straits come playoff time.  In fact, only two of their eleven wins were against playoff teams and six wins were against the two teams below them on the ladder, Adelaide and Wollongong.  Talk about a soft record.

What went right?

Their best players were good, showcased by their five Dabster Award winners and eventual Menga Award recipient.  Anatoly Bose was miles ahead of all other rookies and was rightfully granted the Rookie of the Year crown while Ben Madgen and Aaron Bruce stood up at times.  When Bruce was moved to the shooting guard position and realised that he isn’t a very good point guard he played well which bodes well if the Kings can get a quality import point to run the show.  Jerai Grant was a revelation by bringing some showtime to this Kings team that really needed someone who made the highlight play similar to Leon Trimmingham.

What went wrong?

Quite frankly, they were soft.  No-one wanted to break a nail and other teams feasted on their squishy underbelly.  Aaron Bruce going down with injury halfway through the season didn’t help but they were on the edge even with him suited up.  Kevin Ratzsch had got to be one of the worst imports I have ever seen in this competition, he was so bad that he didn’t even get court time in their last game against Wollongong.  He will not be back.  With so much prestige leading into this season, Martin Iti was invisible and hopefully he can find some minutes next season so he can showcase something, anything.

Most Valuable Player

Even though he had checked out mentally after his return from his NBA tryout, Julian Khazzouh was a cut above the rest.  He won the inaugural Menga Award with a league high 19.9 ER but after his implosion this should be a bittersweet victory for him.

Targets

Shane Heal has stated in a recent interview that neither Khazzouh nor Jerai Grant will be back in the purple and gold which is surprising.  Sure Khazzouh will go onto greener pastures in Europe (or similar) but to flat out say that “I won’t be offering Jerai a contract” is strange.  I was a big fan of Grant and will be sad to see him go.  This means that they will definitely be looking for an import power forward and point guard.  It’s going to be very interesting to see if they can luck out and get someone of Cedric Jackson’s calibre next to a healthy Aaron Bruce.  There was been rumours that Ian Crosswhite will be the replacement for their captain which I see as a downgrade, but not enough to call it a bad move.  I guess anyone would be a downgrade of Kazoo and Crosswhite is a talented player who will give them some added firepower and arguably better defence.  If they cannot find an impact import power forward I would like to see them give Cameron Tragardh a chance as he was dynamite for most of the season and has been cut from the Tigers.

Next Season

This team is in a state of flux and that could backfire on them immensely.  Here’s hoping that with a proper point guard, Ian Crosswhite and a decent power forward, as well as retaining Anatoly Bose this team will look similar to last season.  Big, talented and destined for the stars.  It’s up to the team and the coach to make it happen.

EDIT - Apparently today the Sydney Kings have announced that Anatoly Bose will not be returning to the harbour city next season.  This makes their moves in the off-season much more critical for the team's success.  Link - @thesydneykings on Twitter.

Grade

C-