Coronation Complete for Champion Kings

By Liam Santamaria

Sydney’s odyssey back to the top of the National Basketball League is complete.

Their 17-year championship drought is over. The Kings are once again rulers of the competition.

Last night’s win over the gutsy Tasmania JackJumpers – claimed in front of a record Grand Final crowd at Qudos Bank Arena – was Sydney’s crowning moment. It was a victory that completed their undefeated post-season run and, in the process, put a knife through the heart of the NBL’s ‘Cinderella’ story.

Over the past three months, this Sydney squad has been a dominant force. Winners of 13 consecutive games late in the season, the Kings won 19 of their final 21 to storm their way to the title.

They weren’t just the best team in the comp, they were the best by some margin. Too talented, too deep… just way too good.

And now they’re the champs.

No longer the ‘Violet Crumbles’, this team has lived up to the ‘Hoops Capital’ label that majority owner Paul Smith created a few seasons ago. It was a far-fetched descriptor at the time – ridiculous even – but Smith didn’t care what people thought. He rarely does. He slapped that moniker on Sydney’s home court, created ‘Hoops Capital’ merchandise and even had it inked onto his body. All in anticipation of what happened last night, when his team would become champions and a sea of people would turn out to watch it happen.

Speaking on NBL Overtime this week, Smith even suggested that JackJumpers fans might like to design his next tattoo: a celebration of the Kings’ breakthrough title.

This is a championship that belongs to Smith and his co-owners, including NBA champion Andrew Bogut and Tesla chair Robyn Denholm (as director of Wollemi Capital Group).

It also belongs to Chase Buford and his coaching staff, as well as the talented roster of players constructed by outstanding CEO Chris Pongrass.

Guys like Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin, who last night combined for 45 points and 29 rebounds. Dejan Vasiljevic, who hit the biggest shot of his pro career to close out Game 2, and mid-season recruit Ian Clark, whose crunch-time scoring and stabilising influence were massive for this team.

And let’s not forget Jaylen Adams, who sat out Sydney’s final two games but whose fingerprints are all over this championship.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WE DID IT SYDNEY! We are so thankful for each of you who came out tonight and for those who have always supported us from the very beginning! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/6irHoca5vb">pic.twitter.com/6irHoca5vb</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1524370248681783296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Most of all, however, this title belongs to the die-hard Kings fans. That loyal group of supporters who have stuck by the purple and gold through thick and thin.

I’m talking about that group of Sydney fans who cheer their team on from the lower bowl of Qudos Bank Arena right throughout the regular season. Those supporters who were devastated by the club’s disappearance in 2008 and, two years later, rejoiced in their re-emergence. Who stuck with the club through the turbulent nine-year stretch that followed, where the Kings qualified for the finals just twice and failed to secure a single playoff victory.

Those fans who lost their biscuits in 2020 when Didi Louzada drilled that three from the corner and then sat in disbelief as Bryce Cotton, and then COVID, derailed their championship plans.

These are the folks that the NBL is all about. After all, without the fans there is no league. Without the fans there’s no glory to be attained for coming out on top. So, to all the long-suffering Kings supporters who woke up this morning to a world in which their team are the champs… congratulations.

And wow, what a team the 2021/22 Kings turned out to be. A squad driven by the mantra of playing like dogs, the Kings found their identity over the course of the season. And when they did… man, they became almost impossible to stop.

Of course, that process didn’t happen without adversity. In fact, at one point early in the season, the Kings looked almost gone.

*          *          *

Chase Buford sat slumped in a chair, in the middle of his team’s locker room.

It was mid-January and the Kings had just dropped their fourth consecutive game. Second-half collapses were ruining their season and for the third straight time, Sydney had let a double-digit lead slip through their fingers.

The frustration was visible on Buford as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Oh my God! It f**king hurts to be a better team and lose, over and over again,” he said.

Shown in its entirety in Sydney’s terrific doco series, Building the Kingdom, this was a clear ‘line in the sand’ moment for the Kings. After entering the season as the title favourites, they had claimed just three wins from their first nine games and were at risk of slipping completely out of contention.

“We’ve got a chance in 36 hours to go redeem ourselves, (but) it’s going to be our last chance at redemption, I promise you,” Buford said.

“If we don’t come out and play like it’s our last game, that could be it before we know it.”

He was right. Time was running out. But he was also right about one other thing: the message he delivered his players next.

“Remember this moment in this locker room,” Buford said, “as the catalyst for our season turning around.”

That’s exactly what it was. The Kings came out and belted Brisbane in the return bout and a 15-point win over Perth the following week helped strengthen their resolve.

The key to turning their season around was improving their fourth-quarter execution and the key to that improvement was Jaylen Adams. He was their closer and the Kings were becoming more adept at playing off him in crunch-time. A few weeks later, Adams put all of that on display when he delivered one of the signature moments of NBL22.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SHUT IT DOWN.<br><br>JAYLEN ADAMS.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> Freebies ? <a href="https://t.co/6rDihapwJb">pic.twitter.com/6rDihapwJb</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1492737834507124739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Labelled by many as the dunk of the season, that ferocious smash was a massive moment in Sydney’s year. They were just starting to build some momentum, having won four of their previous five, and a home loss to Brisbane would’ve halted that surge.

They also needed to start winning close games. They’d closed out South East Melbourne a couple of nights prior but yet another close loss would have really tested their confidence.

But as Adams drove down that lane, he was not going to be denied. He had signed on to be the man for this team and in one violent action, he showed everyone – his teammates, the fans and the entire league – that he was that guy.

A few days later, as Ian Clark made his NBL debut, Adams delivered another emphatic statement as he put 31 and 10 on Cotton and the ‘Cats. Very few players outplay Bryce Cotton. Not in this league. But for the second time in three weeks, Adams had done just that. And as the buzzer sounded on that win, brilliant play-by-play man Jack Heverin captured the moment perfectly with how he described the Kings: “They are the real deal.”

Sydney were officially on a roll and the very next game, Adams did it again…

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It&#39;s becoming Jaylen Adams&#39; world and maybe we&#39;re just living in it ?<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> star guard sinks the game winner in dramatic fashion.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/RePWOEDoZZ">pic.twitter.com/RePWOEDoZZ</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1497781325851357187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


You know what happened from there. Win after win after win piled up for this team who compiled the second-longest winning streak in franchise history by peeling off 13 in-a-row.

They won 12 straight road games – the most in a single season in NBL history – and marched their way to the title with a 5-0 record across the post-season.

But this championship is about more than just the achievements of the collective. It’s a win laced with plenty of individual stories.

It’s the story of Buford, the son of a legend who has made history during his first season in the NBL. The 33-year-old is now the fourth youngest championship-winning coach in league history, with Bob Turner (1983), Ken Richardson (1982) and Jim Ericksen (1981) the only coaches to win it at a younger age. Two of those were player-coaches.

He’s a passionate guy, Buford, an intense competitor, and a couple of times this season he’s let that passion get the better of him. But you can’t deny his elite basketball IQ and his ‘dogs’ clearly love playing for him.

It’s the story of Fleur McIntyre, who last night became the first woman to win an NBL title. Ask anyone within that organisation and they’ll tell you how crucial she’s been to their success.

It’s the story of Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, an injury-replacement who became a starter on a championship team. Yesterday, Swaka Lo Buluk, who ranked fourth on the Kings for minutes played, won his third title in just his 83rd NBL game. Only one man in league history, Casey Prather, has won that many rings in fewer.

It’s the comeback stories of Angus Glover, Shaun Bruce and Tom Vodanovich. Glover’s journey back from three ACL injuries has been well-documented while the Kings have played a role in resurrecting the careers of those other two guys. Bruce, remarkably, was out of the league a few years ago but has now won his first title just days after playing his 250th NBL game. His playmaking in Game 2 was crucial to that win. Vodanovich, meanwhile, was thrown a lifeline by Sydney back in January last year. Another guy originally signed as an injury-replacement, the Kiwi is now an NBL champion as a fully contracted player.

It’s the story of Makur Maker, who last night became the first Next Stars player to win an NBL championship. His rise over the course of this season has been wonderful to watch.

It’s also the behind-the-scenes stories of Luc Longley and Andrew Bogut. With all their championship-winning experience, both played important roles as mentors for this group.

And, of course, it’s the story of the team’s five star players: Adams, Cooks, Martin, Clark and Vasiljevic. The depth of talent on this squad was ridiculous. Any one of those guys could put up 30 on any given night and their ability to mould their games to fit together was impressive. In the end, Sydney’s sheer number of elite players helped cover for the loss of Adams, the league MVP, during the Grand Final Series.

And so, the title belongs to Sydney. As it turns out, that moment in the away locker room in Brisbane was, in fact, the catalyst for turning their season around. Buford called it. And now his team sits proudly on the NBL throne.

All hail the Kings.

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