Sydney Kings

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Sydney Kings

Established	1988
Team Colours	Purple and gold
Home Venue	Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney
Major Sponsor	Firepower
Championships	2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05
Team History	City of Sydney Astros (1979-1981)/Sydney Supersonics (1982-1987) merged with Bankstown Bruins (1979-1985)/West Sydney Westars (1986/1987) to become the Sydney Kings (1988-Present)
Chief Executive	TBA
Coach	Brian Goorjian
Captain	Jason Smith
Website	www.sydneykings.com.au

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

1 History
2 Honour Roll
3 Retired numbers
4 Current Roster
5 External links

[edit] History

The Kings were formed from a merger between the Bankstown Bruins and the Sydney Supersonics in 1988. The team adopted the purple-and-gold colours traditionally linked with royalty.

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 eliminated by the Canberra Cannons.

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 to stumble in the fourth quarter.

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.

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 C.J. 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 Kings have been noted for a characteristic somewhat akin to 'cheque-book basketball'. Especially during the 1990's, in order to promote basketball in the largest media market in Australia, the NBL removed virtually all salary cap restrictions on the team. This still did not work, until the Kings were able to lure league best coach Brian Goorijan north to coach the Kings, after the demise of the Victoria Titans.

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.

Some commentators started to declare Sydney the new basketball capital of Australia, taking the title from Melbourne, however, basketball mogul Lindsay Gaze of the Melbourne Tigers was quick to point out this disparity, noting, 'Once Sydney and NSW start winning all the junior championships, then they can talk.'

[edit] Honour Roll

NBL Championships:	3 (2003, 2004, 2005)
NBL Finals Appearances:	Sydney Supersonics - 2 (1983, 1986) West Sydney Westars - 1 (1986) Sydney Kings - 10 (1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)
NBL Grand Final appearances:	4 (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)
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)
NBL Coach of the Year:	Robbie Cadee (1983 - Bankstown Bruins)
NBL Rookie of the Year:	Matt Nielsen (1997), Derek Moore (2000), Travis Lane (2002), Gary Boodnikoff (2003), Mark Worthington (2006)
NBL Best Defensive Player:	Isaac Burton (1996)

Source: www.nbl.com.au

[edit] Retired numbers

23 Shane Heal
33 Damian Keogh

[edit] Current Roster

Sydney Kings Current Roster
Head Coach: Brian Goorjian			Edit
G	1	Ed Scott	(USA; Clemson University)
G/F	20	David Barlow	(VIC; Metro State University, Denver, Colorado)
G	4	BJ Carter	(NSW)
C	25	Ian Crosswhite	(VIC; University of Oregon)
F/C	21	Russell Hinder	(NSW; University of San Francisco/Augusta State University)
G	21	Luke Kendall	(VIC), [[Metro State University, Denver, Colorado])
G/F	12	Bradley Sheridan	(VIC)
G/F	10	Jason Smith - Captain	(VIC;California Lutheran University)
F	9	Anthony Susnjara#	(NSW; Coastal Carolina University)
F	11	Cameron Tovey	(WA)
F	11	Rodney Elliott*	(University of Maryland)
F	22	Mark Worthington	(WA;Metro State University, Denver, Colorado)
G	8	Blake Borgia#	(NSW)
* = Import, # = Development Player			Sydney Kings