Sydney Kings

Template:Infobox NBL club

The Sydney Kings are a professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. They are the only team to date to win three consecutive championships in the NBL. The Kings play their home games at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in Haymarket, Sydney.

History

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 basketball, 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.

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 Brad 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 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.

On 24 March 2008, coach Brian Goorjian quit the club after a mutual agreement. [1] 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.^[1]

On Wednesday, 24 April 2010, it was formally announced that the Sydney Kings would be a part of the reformed NBL competition. The reformed league was the result of a merger between Basketball Australia and the National Basketball League.

Current squad

Template:NBL roster footer

Honour roll

NBL Championships:	3 (2003, 2004, 2005)
NBL Finals Appearances:	Sydney Supersonics - 2 (1983, 1986) Fosters (West Sydney) Westars - 1 (1986) Sydney Kings - 12 (1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
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), CJ Bruton (2006), Mark Worthington (2008), Julian Khazzouh (2011)
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)
NBL Best Defensive Player:	Isaac Burton (1996)
NBL Best Sixth Man:	Dontaye Draper (2008)
Retired numbers	#23 Shane Heal

Source: www.nbl.com.au

References

^ NBL (2008). NBL terminates Kings licence. Retrieved 12 June 2008.

External links

[NBL-1] NBL (2008). NBL terminates Kings licence. Retrieved 12 June 2008.

[1]

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