Kings need more from Oliver

Brian Goorjian took blame for Monday night's home loss to Adelaide, but ultimately what it showed was that Sydney Kings aren't getting what they need from Cam Oliver and that Jaylen Adams desperately needs a back court running mate.

Goorjian made it clear that he felt the Christmas night loss at home to the Illawarra Hawks was "D-Day" for the Kings.

Seeing what Tyler Harvey and Trey Kell III did against his team highlighted how badly Adams needed a back court partner, while they sorely missed the defensive presence of Bul Kuol.

More than anything, he realised that Oliver just isn’t giving the Kings what they need from him. That was only further reinforced in Monday's loss to Adelaide.

Goorjian's patience in his big man was again tested on on Monday night, after he went scoreless on four shot attempts with two turnovers in 10 minutes, as the Kings were outscored by 14 points with Oliver on the court.

He didn’t play again in the second half.

"The 10 minutes there, this isn’t helping what I'm talking about, so I elected right away at half-time when we're 20 down that we're going away (from Oliver) and going small," Goorjian said.

"If we needed to get another big into it, then it was time to give (Jason) Spurgin a shot and it wasn’t a personal thing at all, it's just trying to win a game and I just thought it was bad, not happening with him (Oliver).

"I couldn’t wait any more once we were 20 down and that's what I meant about "D-Day" ... if it wasn’t happening then it was time to move and obviously I'm just not pressing the right buttons.

"I think he's a much better basketball player than what's going on right now, but so many things took place that you say wow, and then the plus-minus was just going in such a bad direction every time we go with him."

Goorjian looks set to rely on a front court rotation of Xavier Cooks, Kouat Noi, Alex Toohey and Keli Leaupepe, unless Oliver can find form, and fast.

But there could be a spanner in the works there too, with Leaupepe suffering what looked to be a hamstring injury on Monday night.

"It looks like something to do with a hamstring and that's a big one for us, because he's become more important with the situation with Cam right now and the small ball," he said.

"He can virtually now play four and he can play five for us, and he can even play three and he can guard all those positions, so he's become more and more and more important. That's a big hit."

The Kings are still in a strong position in fourth spot with a run of home games to come, but after two straight losses at Qudos Bank Arena will need to turn the tide soon.